«Love Your Fate» – A Ukrainian Woman Returning to a Full Life After Prosthetics

“No one in Chornobaivka has a leg like mine,” says 36-year-old Yuliya Hryhorieva in her room at the Superhumans Center.

Her mechanical prosthesis stands next to her bed. Yuliya has already managed to walk around her entire home village in the Kherson region with it, repeatedly catching the surprised glances of her fellow villagers. But she doesn’t mind: she’s still the same Yuliya.

But now she has several hospitals in three cities of Ukraine, twelve surgeries, and half a year of ongoing rehabilitation behind her. Yuliya has returned to Lviv for the second time and has gotten two tattoos: an infinity symbol on her left wrist and the phrase “Amor Fati” on the other. “Love of fate”—that’s what it means in Latin, reflecting what Yuliya has felt all these months.

“Unfortunately, this happened. But it’s okay, I’ve accepted this situation. I’m alive. That’s the most important thing,” Yuliya explains.

After returning to Chornobaivka from rehabilitation, Yuliya gathered fragments of the cluster munition that almost took her life from her yard. She placed them in a small box. Many things at home reminded her of the day that changed everything.

It happened on November 23, 2023. Chornobaivka is a village located a few kilometers from Kherson. At the beginning of the full-scale war, fierce battles raged around it. In February 2022, Russian troops occupied the village. On November 11 of the same year, Ukrainian forces liberated it. Following this, the enemy army began to terrorize the village with constant shelling.

Yuliya vividly remembers the sound of rustling overhead, a dull thud nearby, and a pool of blood. Her beloved dog fell silent, which meant something was wrong. Her parents were confused, but Yuliya herself called an ambulance while her neighbor was calling for help outside. Two Ukrainian soldiers responded to the call and saved her. She remains in contact with Denys and Vasyl to this day.

“The soldiers bandaged my legs. If it weren’t for them, I don’t know if I’d be talking now. Denys and I often call each other and refer to each other as brother and sister,” Yuliya says adding, “He also has a prosthesis.”

The attack on Chornobaivka left five people injured, with Yuliya Hryhorieva being the most wounded. Hospitalized in Kherson, her condition was deemed “extremely critical.” However, on the way to Kherson, Yuliya remained conscious the entire time and saw what was happening to her. At the hospital, it became clear that her left leg was severely damaged, and a fragment had caused nerve damage in her right foot.

“When I read the diagnosis, it scares me,” Yuliya Hryhorieva shares.

In Kherson, it was decided that she should be evacuated to Mykolaiv. There, doctors tried to save Yuliya’s right leg, but complications left no time. On December 2, severe bleeding started. The last thing Yuliya saw was a doctor and nurses rushing into the room.

When Yuliya regained consciousness after the surgery, the nurses were in the room. They were happy that the patient had opened her eyes. Yuliya’s first words made both the medical staff and herself laugh:

“With such a dose of adrenaline, how could I not open my eyes?”

But this surgery was a turning point. It became clear that her leg couldn’t be saved. A few days later, the doctor said that they couldn’t delay. Yuliya agreed. On St. Nicholas Day night, a holiday with deep cultural and spiritual significance in Ukraine, an unscheduled surgery took place.

“Tears rolled down, and I didn’t even know why. Then the head doctor talked to me. He told me about his twenty-year-old patient who also had her leg amputated. He showed me pictures: here she is with a prosthesis, looking so beautiful. Since then, I haven’t cried. He motivated me,” Yuliya recalls.

Soon, the most painful stage began— wound dressing. Every day, Yuliya would bite her hand from the pain, and sometimes it even required anesthesia.

We Are Full-Fledged People

Yuliya is talkative and easily connects with many people: her silent roommate who has just survived a stroke, soldiers in the hospital, and random grandmothers outside. She only shows displeasure when people pity her.

“When people call and say, ‘Don’t be discouraged,’ I feel like saying something into the phone that would make them discouraged themselves,” Yuliya admits.

One day, a neighbor from Chornobaivka called her in Lviv and said something like, “Poor you, how can you manage without a leg?”

“I replied, ‘I’ll come to Chornobaivka, take off my prosthesis, and give you a good punch'” Yuliya recalls.

Since then, he hasn’t pitted her anymore.

Yuliya transfers to her wheelchair and leaves the room. She has a busy day ahead: stopping by the pharmacy and going to art therapy with psychologists who have become friends. Additionally, at any moment, the prosthetist or doctors might call, and she’ll need to head to them quickly. On the way to the pharmacy, at the green island—a local smoking area—Yuliya struck up a conversation with an unfamiliar girl. It turned out that Marina had come with her young daughter to support her husband Oleksandr, who lost both legs while defending Donetsk.

“I don’t help him. He asks me to call the nurse, and I say, ‘No, do it yourself,’” Marina says.

“Exactly. Don’t indulge yourself. We are full-fledged people,” Yuliya agrees.

Marina nods: “That’s what I tell him. You still have to raise a daughter. Everyone says how poor he is, with a wife like that.”

Marina admits she’s concerned about her daughter, who is growing up too soft and tender for this reality. Yuliya confirms that one must rely only on oneself. She is convinced that she must forge her own path. Therefore, her main goal now is to stand on the prosthesis again.

“How lucky he is to have such a wife,” Yuliya says as she bids farewell to her new acquaintance.

Techno Party

In the prosthetist’s office, Yuliya was in for a surprise.

“I see my sneakers, but no prosthesis. I thought, ‘I must be imagining things,’” she recounts.

The prosthetist explained that she would now have an electronic knee. Yuliya had hoped he would only adjust the socket on her prosthesis, but now she would need to adapt her skills to the new one during training.

Yuliya trains every day. She steps over obstacles, learns to fall and get up, moves along a line, and performs other exercises. After an hour of training, Yuliya sits down on the sofa to rest. Here, she strikes up a conversation with a soldier about the sensations of technologies and electronic prosthetics.

“Wow, there’s a whole Techno Party here,” notes a Superhumans Center staff member, passing by.

Yuliya admits that the exercises are challenging because each step causes foot pain and her leg swells significantly.

“Well, it hurts, but I have to get up because the therapist will say I’ve gotten lazy,” she says, rising from the sofa.

Next, she needs to tackle the stairs. She had been thinking about them all night. Her fixation is on stepping over one step at a time. She feels a bit disappointed when she can’t manage it, but she’s not about to give up:

“That’s my character. If I want something, I have to learn,” she comments on her persistence.

 

 

At the end of the training, Yuliya asks her physical therapist Andriy Pityulya, “Did I perform poorly?”

“Everything is great,” Andriy replies.

Relieved, Yuliya heads back to her room.

“For this injury, Yuliya walks perfectly. She came to us in a wheelchair and is leaving with just one crutch,” Andriy explains.

Yuliya recalls the first time she stood on a prosthesis—an emotional storm. That day, she came to the session to rehabilitate her surviving leg. Suddenly, the physical therapist said, “Do you have a pair of shoes with you? No? Then go to your room. Today, you’re standing on the prosthesis.”

That day, Yuliya was supported by everyone: two physical therapists, a photographer, and the director of the Superhumans Center.

“It was so pleasant. It would have been a sin not to go through with it. Everyone cares about you so much that you’re practically flying on wings of happiness and joy,” Yuliya remembers.

Yuliya is beginning to feel confident on her new prosthesis. Nearly a month of treatment is coming to an end. Discharges at Superhumans are always grand affairs, with notable guests attending and patients giving speeches. This week, more than ten people are being discharged, and Yuliya is the only woman among them. In her speech, she thanks everyone who helped her through rehabilitation when she arrived at Superhumans this winter.

After her discharge, Yuliya Hryhorieva took a direct train from Lviv to Kherson. She is confident that her life is just beginning: she will definitely start a family, move to a big city, and return to work.

Author: Diana Delyurman; Translation: Margo Dobrovolska