At the Unbroken center in Lviv, Ukrainians are given leg and arm prostheses, re-taught to hold a fork and run — a photo report that gives hope

Because of the war, more and more military and civilian Ukrainians are in need of physical rehabilitation. People without limbs, with burns or damage to the nervous system have to learn to move again on crutches or prostheses, and there are dozens of thousands of such cases. The largest project in Ukraine that comprehensively helps in such cases is the Unbroken center in Lviv. Since February 2022, more than 11,000 Ukrainians have been rehabilitated there, and since last fall, hundreds have received prostheses made at the center. Journalist Tetyana Leonova and photographer Mykhailo Melnychenko visited the center, where they saw in detail how people are taught anew to make a bed or stand straight, and how Lviv residents managed to create a state-of-the-art rehabilitation center during a full-scale war.

The Unbroken Rehabilitation and Prosthetics Center operates on the basis of the First Medical Association of Lviv, the largest medical organization in Ukraine. Its buildings take a whole block in the north of the city. One of the buildings after the start of a full-scale war became a rehabilitation center.

The Unbroken building has seven floors. For the convenience of patients, a bridge was built from the main building of the hospital to the rehabilitation center. Funds for the creation and development of the center were provided by private donors, the state and international organizations — in total, more than 90 countries participated. The largest item of expenditure is high-tech equipment for rehabilitation. For example, Walkbot, a robotic walking trainer, costs half a million dollars. The German government helped with it.

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, more than 11 thousand wounded, many of them military, have already been treated at the center. For example, 31-year-old Oleksiy Ponomarchuk from the Kherson region, who is a tanker driver. He was wounded near Vuhledar, while withdrawing a tank from fire zone. He felt pain in his left leg, but continued to press on the pedals with it. After the fight, it turned out that Ponomarchuk had numerous fractures. The doctors tried to save his leg for a long time, pictures were sent to American doctors, but later they jointly came to the conclusion that amputation was unavoidable. Oleksiy has been receiving treatment for three months: first in the city of Dnipro, now here.

At the beginning of June, Oleksiy was fitted with a prosthesis. For now, he can only wear it for part of the day — it is necessary for the body to get used to it gradually. However, Oleksiy no longer wants to take it off: it is much more comfortable with a prosthesis than on crutches. "Youʼre used to feeling your leg," he says. And plans to apply for a running prosthesis.

The prosthetic workshop at Unbroken started working in September 2022. Since then, approximately 200 prostheses have been made here, and more are being made every month. Prosthetist Anton Haydesh told how exactly this happens.

To create a prosthesis, first positive leg casts from plaster have to be made. Then the limb-receiver and the rest of the device are made using the large-node assembly method. If the prosthesis is bionic, it must be charged and its software updated. However, as doctors admit, in everyday life, patients often use ordinary non-electrified prostheses. Bionic ones are worn when going out into the city — they are heavy and not as comfortable as mechanical ones.

After the prosthesis is made, it needs to be adjusted for a long time in accordance with the characteristics of the patientʼs limb and gait.

Rehabilitation doctors constantly work with the wounded. Not only on the territory of the medical center: the employees of the center regularly go to the racetrack and the archery range together with the patients.

Most rooms in Unbroken, other than chambers, are training rooms. On the third floor is the so-called occupational therapy apartment. There, patients learn to do ordinary everyday things in new conditions: cook food, wash clothes, arrange things in the closet. Some household items are quite special.

For example, these ergonomic kitchen appliances are designed for people with limited hand mobility. Thick handles are easier to grip firmly.

Natalia Shevelyeva allowed us to accompany her during rehabilitation exercises. Here she is helped to get from the ward to the "apartment". Above Natalia is a walking simulator: a person with limited mobility clings to it and learns to walk back and forth. A special rail under the ceiling stretches to the end of the corridor.

Natalia, 48, is from Slovyansk. She was injured in May of last year: she sat near the basement to hide there in case of something, but it did not save her from the landmine. “It was faster than me," says Shevelyeva. "I donʼt even remember how it arrived."

A military hospital is located a few minutesʼ walk from Nataliaʼs house in Slovyansk. Her mother ran there for help. “I was covered in blood, my robe was taken off, they wrapped me in foil. A military ambulance took me to Kramatorsk. When doctors saw me there, they said I should be taken to the hospital in Dnipro. Because they couldnʼt do anything: my head was too damaged,” says the woman.

Natalia was put in intensive care. From there, she remembers only one episode: when she opened her eyes, and in front of her lay a naked man — all burnt to black. Shevelyeva, on the other hand, has a broken shoulder, an injured leg and a craniocerebral injury, due to which it is difficult for her to walk. Doctors say that eventually she will be able to replace her walker with a cane.

Unbroken plans to expand, as more and more people want to undergo rehabilitation. Now a special park is being built there, where the paths have a certain angle of inclination — so that people in wheelchairs and prostheses learn to overcome descents and ascents. There is already a plan to complete two new floors of the center. According to the general director of the First Medical Association of Lviv Oleg Samchuk, they decided not to wait for the end of the war for capital works. Both international donors and private supporters understand that the center needs to be expanded now — so construction will begin very soon.

Translated from Ukrainian by Anton Semyzhenko

You donʼt have to be the German government to help Unbroken. The center is now accepting donations for the treatment of affected children.