A Ukrainian soldier who fought on the front lines in Luhansk province is now in Silver Spring, Maryland, one of six Ukrainian soldiers getting prosthetic limbs from Medical Center Orthotics and Prosthetics.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, who is also an amputee veteran, joined Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen and visited Oleksandr Chaika at the clinic, where the artificial-intelligence-infused limb was fitted for him.
“There is a real connection. There was somebody who did this for me when I was first injured. It’s why I became a peer visitor,” said Duckworth. “That connection is really important for a new amputee — to see someone who’s further along in recovery, to know what’s possible.”
Chaika came to the U.S. two weeks ago and is already walking on his complex prosthetic pro bono.
“From when he stepped off the plane to when he was walking with a prosthesis was less than a week,” said Mike Corcoran, a certified prosthetist and orthotist and CEO of the medical center.
Before the war, Chaika was a choreographer. When Russia invaded, he enlisted in the Ukrainian Army’s 24th Combat Brigade. The unit was sent to the frontlines in Luhansk. On April 4, just a month after he joined, a tank shell exploded, sending shrapnel into his right leg.
Chaika was unable to get to a hospital for over a day; when he arrived, he had a severe gangrene infection. Surgeons decided to amputate his right leg all the way to his pelvis. He was in intensive care in Ukraine for three months.
“He has a hip disarticulation,” said Corcoran. “So that means his whole leg is gone. The hip joint is disarticulated; he still has his pelvis. But he doesn’t have a femur coming out of there.”
The Future for Ukraine Foundation decided to help Chaika find a prosthetics clinic. That’s when he was sent to Corcoran, who had worked with the U.S. military for over 17 years at Walter Reed. He is known for handling the most severe prosthetic cases.
Chaika’s new leg involves a mechanical hip joint wrapped around his waist. They measure his stride length to adjust the hip joint to perform the right gait.
“The beauty of the knee is artificial intelligence. It learns how he walks,” said Corcoran. “So the knee is controlled by an algorithm on how he walks.”
Corcoran hopes that the new limb will help Chaika return to choreography when he returns to Ukraine.
Duckworth did leave some final advice: “Use the tools that are at your disposal; don’t think that you only have to walk. Sometimes a wheelchair is the best way forward.”
Chaika, in his native tongue, thanked MCOP for their work and said the new leg changed his life. He also thanked the U.S. for their support of Ukraine.
