Andriy Zhuzhelskyi: “I chose a prosthetics programme, taking into account the fact that prosthesis requires further service”
In peacetime, 38-year-old Andriy Zhuzhelskyi worked as an excavator driver at Zaporizhstal. When the war began in Ukraine, the man was mobilised into the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Andriy defended the country in hot Avdiivka region. He served as a driver in a mechanised brigade. On 15 August 2022, during a combat mission, he got blown up on an anti-tank mine. The soldier was seriously injured: wounds to the abdomen and arms, multiple fractures of the right leg, and part of the left leg had to be amputated.
Andriy has been undergoing treatment, which began in Dnipro and continues in Vinnytsia, for eight months. The man will have to go through another operation - the body does not accept the plates that the doctors put in so that the bones of his right leg could grow together.
To become a member of the joint programme of Metinvest's Saving Lives humanitarian initiative and Ukraine Prosthetics Assistance Project, Andriy was invited by a colleague from the trade union of Zaporizhstal. The man had other options, including a state programme and prosthetics under a volunteer programme abroad.
“Metinvest does not abandon its people. The company supported me financially. In addition, I studied all the conditions in detail. It is better to get prosthetics in Ukraine, because after the installation of the prosthesis, it needs to be serviced. If something breaks in the prosthesis, it can be repaired either in Zaporizhzhia or in neighbouring Dnipro,” Andriy explained his choice of the programme.
After the operation, the military man will undergo prosthetics and rehabilitation in Dnipro. The doctors promise to install a bionic prosthesis and an additional mechanical one.