We thought he was a mature man, a big robust Marine. Later we found out he was just a very young guy. Still despite his nice appearance of a teen, Dmytro is quite noticeably grey-haired at his 19. Besides, he faces the gloomy perspective to either suffer from pain for his lifetime or to lose his complete arm. As Dmytro fought in the hottest spot of the front and got severely wounded there.
Who can tell there is a heavy wound and a big caring heart under his jacket?
Today the guy arrived in the clinic for his regular check-up and x-rays. And we, the volunteers, came over to see and support him. The conversation did not really flow as Dmytro is rather shy and not too talkative; besides, the atmosphere has not been too joyous yet: we gathered there not on a happy occasion as a longtime and painful treatment is ahead. In view of the complicatedness of Dmytro’s wounds, it will most likely take over a year.
This is how Dmytro’s shoulder looks now. Should we clarify that his arm is totally motionless
Dmytro joined the army as a volunteer. As soon as he was 18, he signed a contract and joined the Marines. The guy fought with Vadym Sukharevsky’s battalion. Dmytro got injured in May, 2017: the enemy explosive bullet hit him right in the shoulder.
The arm went practically torn off: the explosion of the bullet destroyed the whole shoulder joint and torn both the soft tissues and blood vessels badly. Now the arm keeps attached to the body by remains of the muscles and skin; the joint is practically absent, and the shoulder bone consists of a half-sized fragment and a few small remainders. The state doctors gave up immediately as such set of leftovers made restoration of the limb impossible.
A massive defect, remainders of the bone and lots of minor fragments – this is what Dmytro has instead of his joint
By contrast, the Biotech’s medics are going to fight for Dmytro’s shoulder. The bioengineering specialists will grow up the missing fragments of the bones and get the cell materials prepared. Then the surgeons will assemble everything together and fill up the area of injury with the concentrate made of the guy’s own stem cells: these cells are responsible for fusion of fractures and formation of new bone tissue in the body. With time, this bone Tetris will fuse into a new joint allowing Dmytro to use his arm practically with no limitations.
Today Dmytro has undergone another examination. Having got the set of latest x-rays and evaluating tests the doctors will decide on the profile of the bones they are going to grow up out of the boy’s own cells. As early as in December Dmytro will start his treatment. He is to undergo the first surgery aimed to examine the injury and take out the cell materials for the biologists’ further work. Meanwhile we, the volunteers at People’s Project, need to raise the required amount of money. As before, the state is not going to sponsor this course of treatment, so Dmytro’s restoration can be carried out only at the expense of benevolent contributions. The amount we will need to accumulate makes almost 700 thousand hryvnias. That is why we are asking for your assistance: your donations into the «Bioengineering Rehabilitation for Wounded» project will give Dmytro the chance to recuperate in full and return to normal life. He got severely wounded defending our peaceful life. So this nice guy deserves our gratitude, does not he?
