OAKDALE, Minn. — The Protez Foundation started shortly after the war started. And in the last two years they have brought more than 135 people to Minnesota — including two boys. One a soccer standout. The other a promising musician.
Miles from his home in Ukraine, 17-year-old Artem Sverhun works to learn how to walk again at the foundation.
Everything looked so promising for Sverhun. At the age of 15 he signed a professional contract to play soccer in Ukraine. A top talent. Then the war, and one afternoon at the soccer field a Russian drone dropped a bomb on the field.
"He was (at) practice (at the) stadium and (a) bomb was dropped, kill(ing) his friend and disabled him," said Yakov Gradinar, medical director of the Protez Foundation. "He's paralyzed (from the) waist down on his right side and amputated on the left side."
"I had a lot of injuries, but (the) worse situation for my friends who died, who lost their lives at 15 years old," Sverhun said.
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He has joined dozens of others, including many Ukrainian soldiers, who have lost limbs in the war. They have been coming to Minnesota to get prostheses at the Protez Foundation.
"It is very, very emotional . . . Whenever I have (the) chance, I like to say, 'Thank you, Americans for building (a) great country.' We're not only . . . come and thrive here, but we also are able to help our home country," Yakov said.
At 15 years old, Nazar Smolskiy came to Minnesota after he was electrocuted while playing with friends near a bombed building. A promising young violin player, he lost his right arm below the elbow.
"He likes music," said Andrii Smolskiy, Nazar's father.
So he not only got fitted with a prosthetic arm. He played violin in Minnesota, in front of a Lutheran church crowd, and is now back in Ukraine. He is even playing as a guest with the university he will soon attend.
"Sometimes it seems to be impossible, in my view, but it was the amputation of the right hand," Andrii Smolskiy said.
An amputation of the left hand would have made playing impossible because of the finger movements on the violin.
Phil Blom, a longtime pastor with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has been to Ukraine and has found a connection with the foundation. He was moved by the story of the soldiers and children like Nazar Smolskiy.
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"He was hoping to be a concert violin player when all this happened, and that was all taken away. And then he comes back and now he's playing again. Remarkable. What a story," Blom said.
The goal for these two teenagers is simple: To walk again, and to play again.
"Try to walk again, that is my goal for now," Sverhun said.
"Time will show what will be his future," Andrii Smolskiy said of his son.
More information on the Protez Foundation can be found on their website.
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