Natalya Stepanenko, 43, from Ukraine, and her 11-year-old daughter, Yana, who lost their legs in early April due to a Russian missile attack on a train station in Kramatorsk , received artificial limbs during rehabilitation in the United States. This was announced by Andrey Sadovy, the mayor of Lviv, where the mother and daughter were first treated.

On April 8, Natalia Stepanenko, together with her two children, the twins Yaroslav and Yana, arrived at the railway station in Kramatorsk to evacuate from the Donetsk region. The father of the children was not with them – he fought at the front. Mother and daughter departed, the boy remained to guard things. At that moment, a rocket attack was launched at the station. Yana lost both legs – one just above the ankle, the other below the knee, Natalya lost her left leg below the knee. Yaroslav was not hurt. At the end of June, Natalia Stepanenko and her children went to the USA, to a hospital in San Diego, California.

Natalia and Yana received prostheses under the program of The Right to Walk Foundation, which helps people in need of prosthetics, said the mayor of Lviv. According to him, now the mother and daughter are learning to take their first steps, and doctors are constantly working with them. The Right to Walk Foundation published photos and  videos of Natalia and Yana Stepanenko learning to walk with prostheses.

Republic journalist Farida Kurbangaleeva said that Natalya received a permanent prosthesis, and Yana will have to change prostheses as she grows up. Doctors in San Diego say she will “walk, run, swim – everything that all children do,” Kurbangaleeva said.

Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said that the Stepanenko family would spend a year in the United States, where the mother and daughter would undergo a rehabilitation course. The family has already found housing and paid insurance. After the end of rehabilitation, the family is going to return to Ukraine, where, they hope, the war will end.

(C)MEDUZA 2022