Toronto Star
Canadian doctors help turn around injured Ukrainian boy’s life
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/01/30/canadian-doctors-help-turn-around-injured-ukrainian-boys-life.html
By: Victor Malarek,  W5
Photo Credit: Adriana Luhovy
Published on Sat Jan 30 2016

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Photo – Mykola Nyzhnykovskyi , 11, lost both legs and an arm in an explosion in Ukraine. His future looked bleak until a Canadian medical mission to Ukraine got word of his situation. Dr. Oleh Antonyshyn tells CTV’s W5 about Mykola’s long road to recovery.

KYIV, UKRAINE—Mykola Nyzhnykovskyi was like any typical 11-year-old boy — ever curious, adventurous, and at times a bit goofy. But last August, his curiosity got the better of him and changed his life forever.

While playing tag with a few friends and his four year old brother, Mykola found a grenade on an open field used for military training in eastern Ukraine. He didn’t know it was live.

“We put it in the middle of the road and then a friend of mine pushed me towards it. I stepped on it and it exploded,” the boy recounted from a hospital bed in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Alla, Mykola’s mother, heard the explosion. “I ran out into the street and saw pieces of flesh and skin and bones all around. Everything was covered in blood. I was praying to God he would survive.”

Doctors saved Mykola’s life but he lost both legs and his right arm. He also suffered serious internal injuries and massive facial and cranial trauma.

But what he didn’t know for months was that the blast, while wounding his friends, killed his 4-year-old brother, Danyo. His mother kept that a secret, fearing the news would devastate him.

Read Full Toronto Star Article Here.