CTV National News: Ukrainian boy who lost legs in grenade blast walking again in Montreal
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A boy whose legs and right arm were blown off when he stepped on a grenade in eastern Ukraine is once again walking unaided, thanks to a Canadian humanitarian mission and a hospital in Montreal.
Mykola Nyzhnykovskyi, now 12, was playing with his four-year-old brother Danyo and a few friends in a field in his village in Donetsk last August, when they came across the rocket-propelled grenade.
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When Ukrainian-Canadian physician Dr. Oleh Antonyshyn and a team of nearly two-dozen volunteers heard of the little boy’s ordeal, they decided to help.
The medical professionals were in Ukraine on a Canada-Ukraine Foundation mission funded partially by the Canadian government, operating on Ukrainian soldiers wounded in the ongoing war with Russian soldiers and separatists.
Mykola was given treatment for his facial injuries at a military hospital in Kiev, and then the foundation arranged for further treatment at the Canada Shriners Hospital in Montreal.
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Krystina Waler, director of humanitarian initiatives for the Canada-Ukraine Foundation, told CTV News Channel that Mykola is “so excited to finally have his prosthetics all working.”
Waler said the Montreal community has stepped up by offering free housing, food and clothing, but fundraising continues so that Mykola can afford to return Montreal for appointments once he’s back living in Ukraine.
“Canada-Ukraine Foundation is collecting funds to make sure Mykola can return every year to upgrade his prosthetics, because he’s a growing boy he’s going to need them changed,” she said.