the site continues the section “ True story", in which ordinary women openly share with us unimagined stories from their lives. We are grateful to each of them for their sincerity and respect the desire of many to remain incognito. After all, reality, as we know, sometimes turns out to be more complicated than a twisted movie script, and ordinary people are forced to solve problems that Hollywood superheroes cannot do. This story is about a girl who was an ordinary person for most of her life, but five years ago she lost her leg in an accident. Today she claims that since then her life has only become brighter and more eventful. This girl not only told us her story, but also did not hide her name. Meet Alexandra Odoevskaya (@great_sa, - approx..
Alexandra Odoevskaya
Five years ago my life changed dramatically. I was 21 years old - a carefree youth, an active student life and a lot of global plans for the future.
It was the beginning of summer, my friends and I were walking in the VDNKh area. There was one guy with me - I can’t say that we met, but there was mutual sympathy. It was already about two in the morning when I started getting ready to go home, and this guy offered me a ride. Why not?
It had just rained outside - the roads were slippery, plus asphalt had recently been laid on our highway. We didn’t go far - the car skidded and flew straight into a pole. The blow fell on my side.
Then I remember only fragments of what was happening - I lost consciousness, came to my senses and “passed out” again. Upon impact, the pole pinned me in the car. Rescuers had to cut out part of the body to free me. I remember riding in the ambulance and being taken to the hospital.
It was very scary. I mentally asked myself a million questions: “Why me? Is this really happening to me? Maybe it's not so bad? Maybe it's nonsense? Then why does everyone have such frightened faces?” I lay there and couldn’t get up to see my body, and until the very end I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I also vaguely remember the first time in the hospital - I occasionally came to my senses and immediately forgot.
Both my legs were broken, the left one was especially damaged - an open fracture, the bone was completely crushed. The doctors tried unsuccessfully to save her - blood poisoning began, my life was in danger. I was put into an artificial coma to slow down all the processes occurring in the body, and my left leg was amputated at the knee.
Many people ask what I saw and felt while I was in a coma. I will answer you: nothing good. My imagination played a cruel joke on me. My brain tried to explain my bodily sensations - I dreamed that I was in a war or was captured by a primitive tribe in a tropical forest. The visions were constantly interrupted and were not connected with each other.
The dream was confused with reality, reality with the dream. I was lying in a single box and all I saw was a white ceiling, and around me there were only the sounds of beeping machines and the rustle of doctors occasionally passing by.
I lay in this state for a whole month - summer was in full swing. The next morning, a nurse came in and placed a thick outpatient card on my stomach, saying that I was finally being transferred to a regular ward. I immediately squealed: “Give me the phone, I’ll call my mom!” On the phone I said that I wouldn’t go anywhere until I put myself in order. It’s funny to remember now, but in fact, the time spent in boxing had a strong impact on my appearance. I've never looked so bad.
Sasha said that she lay in a single-occupancy box for a whole month, and visitors were not allowed to see her
This was the first time my mother was allowed into my boxing room. Now, fortunately, we have ensured that relatives are allowed into intensive care, but in 2012 this was out of the question. If they made their way, it was secretly.
Soon after being transferred to a regular ward, the guy with whom we had an accident came to see me. He was almost unharmed then - a couple of bruises and scratches. I admit honestly, at first I was angry with him, blamed him for what happened, but then I forgave him - he didn’t have any malicious intent. And now I completely believe that this accident should have happened...
I won’t deny that that guy behaved with dignity. For a whole year, while I was undergoing rehabilitation, he was there - supporting and helping with everything he could. He wanted a serious relationship, but I didn't want that.
Agree, building happiness on the misfortune we experienced, despite the fact that we had no feelings even before the accident, is at least strange. At some point I asked him not to come again. He did not agree for a long time, but still resigned himself. We don't communicate now.
Everyday hospital life dragged on very slowly, no one told me when I would be discharged. It was a real Groundhog Day. Due to numerous injuries (including traumatic brain injury), I was practically immobilized, I could not read, watch movies, or even just sit - I was constantly dizzy and nauseous.
I think it was only thanks to my friends that I was able to survive this period. During these difficult months I did not cry - unless from pain. For the first time I could not hold back my tears when I saw a crowd of my friends near the ward. They came to me every day, brought goodies and gifts, and told me what was happening outside the hospital walls.
Here you are friends with a person and you don’t know whether he will be there when you feel bad. No matter what, you bet on him, open up and trust him completely. This accident helped me understand that I was not mistaken in this life, since there are people next to me who care about me.
I spent the whole summer in the hospital and when I returned home I felt very strange. It seemed like I hadn’t been in my apartment for ten years. Houses and walls heal, but for me this became a new stage of understanding what happened to me. After discharge, I had no left leg, and the bones in my right leg had not yet fused. I was completely helpless in my wheelchair- until recently, independent, living separately from her parents, able to earn and feed herself, at that time she could not satisfy even her most basic needs.
A year after the car accident, Sasha was not afraid to get behind the wheel; her thirst for freedom of movement turned out to be stronger than her fears. The girl passed her license and is now driving a car
My helplessness got on my nerves. At first, my parents looked after me, and I took out all my indignation and anger on them. This often happens - we inflict the most severe pain on very close people. Today, of course, I am ashamed of my behavior. I understand that my family was very worried about me, and for them it was a powerful psychological trauma to realize what had happened to me. For myself, I realized that nothing could be changed, and I encouraged my parents as best I could.
The apartment had to be renovated - the hallway and bathroom were not suitable for a person in a wheelchair. During the renovation, I was sent to live with my aunt.
It was a period of being alone with myself. I remembered the past, thought about what awaited me next, tried to understand what I wanted to do with all this.
Of course, there was a moment when I refused to accept myself like this, I imagined what they would say around me. I was scared to meet classmates, fellow students, and acquaintances who had recently seen me successful and absolutely healthy. At that moment I would not have found words for them. When my parents did take me outside, I felt like I was in a zoo - an animal in a cage that everyone came to look at. In the end, I refused to leave the house.
Sasha assures that it’s easy to hide the prosthesis under clothes, but she doesn’t want to do it at all
I have about 600 friends on VKontakte, and I had to retell my story all these 600 times. This was difficult, because the memories were still fresh, I remembered every detail of that ill-fated night and relived it over and over again.
I got a prosthetic leg back in November, but I only started walking confidently in the spring. Then my parents returned to work, and for the first time I was able to leave the house on my own.
For a long time I could not decide to go for a walk alone, but I had a plan for an “escape” for a long time.
Oh, it’s an amazing feeling when you’re like a child going out “in public” for the first time without parents. I was delighted with the thought that I was going somewhere on my own, without anyone’s help. One. I didn’t have to ask anyone else or wait - I decided for myself where and when to go.
According to Sasha, she was happy as a child when she first went out for a walk alone
I got on the bus, then went down to the subway. I chose the route in advance to know exactly where I would have the opportunity to sit down and rest - during my stay in the hospital and at home, my muscles weakened, and even a short walk cost me a lot of effort. I walked around Tverskaya and Chekhovskaya, and saw how Moscow had changed over these months. It was a very happy spring.
Then I began to look for a way out for myself, how to move on. I tried to figure out how to play with what had become a part of me. Besides, I’m a girl - we all want to become better, more beautiful. On the Internet I found a lot of information about people who live with prosthetic limbs. And it was at that moment that I realized that I didn’t want to hide.
Previously, I tried to hide the prosthesis under my trousers, but if it became visible, I found myself in ridiculous situations, because people had very different reactions. One day an elderly woman came up to me and said: “Do you have a meniscus too? I see you have something wrong with your knee, here’s the healer’s number - it’ll all go away.”
When the prosthesis is immediately visible, half of the questions disappear by themselves. Of course, I notice amazed eyes and other strange reactions, but everything is clear to everyone, and no one interferes with unnecessary comments, advice and remarks. And in general, I like the way the prosthesis looks, I think it’s beautiful.
The girl told us that she has two prostheses. In the photo her favorite is carbon
After the accident, I realized that I wanted to try myself in everything. I found a theater studio and began acting in plays. Then I realized that I wanted to dance. Here a problem arose - choreographers refused to take unusual students into groups because they were afraid of harm. But I found an inclusive dance group, with whom we even performed at the Kremlin Christmas tree.
I also tried myself as a model - the general director of the cultural center “Without Borders” Yanina Urusova invited me to take part in a show as part of Moscow Fashion Week.
We demonstrated clothes that would be comfortable for people with physical disabilities.
I have two higher educations - costume design and arts and crafts teacher. At the time of the accident, I was just studying to become a designer and in September, like everyone else, I was transferred to the penultimate year. I occasionally attended lectures - friends helped me get to the place in a wheelchair, and already with a prosthesis I went to all classes. I didn’t want any concessions - I wrote a 100-page thesis myself, designed a clothing collection and defended myself. Later I received a second degree, and now I’m studying to become a TV and radio presenter and dream of finding a job in this field.
Today I want to convey to people that we are the same as everyone else. When you see us, you don’t need to make huge eyes or be scared. If a guy stares at me, I'll think that he likes me, not that there's something wrong with me.
Inside, I haven’t changed at all, and I want to constantly talk about it. Today I can help those who have lost limbs, so that it is at least a little easier for them than it was for me five years ago.
Sometimes I think: “Could I have been who I am now if this accident had not happened to me?” I think I would have come to this, but at about 35 years old. Over the years, I have matured a lot and learned to be responsible not only for myself, but also for my family. I learned not to lose heart and even in the pitch darkness to find a weak ray of light.
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Maria told MedNews about her struggle with Ewing's sarcoma, life after amputation, and why she needs an Instagram page.
How it all started
Three years ago, I felt numbness in my thumb right leg. I didn’t attach much importance to this (you don’t pay attention to such little things) and continued to live my life - raising children, going to training, taking care of the house. Then a slight nagging pain appeared in calf muscle. I’ve been involved in sports since childhood, and athletes always have pain and aches, so I didn’t pay attention to it either.
One day a lump grew on my leg. I went to the doctor and they told me it was . On the advice of doctors, for almost a whole year I smeared my leg with gels, warmed it, and massaged it. Then it so happened that I got an appointment with an oncologist. They did an MRI and took a puncture. The diagnosis - Ewing's sarcoma - floored me. To top it off, they found metastases in the lungs. And they said that my affairs were bad. 4th stage. I couldn't believe my ears. I didn't believe that this was the end.
I said that I don’t know anything, I will live. Then everything was like a bad dream.
Amputation. High-dose chemotherapy and all the accompanying consequences: feeling unwell, hair loss, mood swings and tears. But I wasn't going to give up. There is only one life, and it is worth fighting for it with all your might, even if it seems to you that the test is too difficult and it will never be the same.
Now everyone is going abroad for treatment - to Germany, Israel. But I had surgery and treatment at the Rostov Oncology Institute. Everything was on top level: international treatment protocols were used, I received all medications according to the general health insurance, for free.
New life
And here it is, the long-awaited remission, victory over the disease, my victory! AND new life. Life without a leg, without mine long hair. A comfortable and beautiful prosthesis was made for me at the Krasnodar prosthetic and rehabilitation center. I got a chance to be happy and interesting life. After all, prosthesis is different from prosthesis; a major role is played by the prosthetic socket, where the remaining limb is placed. The sleeve should not press, rub or be too loose.
My prosthetist Alexander Pereverzev has golden hands. He feels the patient and takes into account all his whims. And I'm very capricious. I asked him difficult task: return me completely to my previous life as much as possible. I remember taking my first steps on a prosthesis three months after the amputation. It was very painful and scary, but at the same time it was fun - I was overwhelmed with emotions because I was back on two legs, regaining my independence and freedom of movement.
Fall to go forward
I created a page on Instagram with one goal: I want people with disabilities in Russia to stop sitting at home within four walls and begin to appear in society. Especially girls. It's doubly hard for them.
It's hard to lose a leg. After all, legs are one of the symbols female beauty. It’s terrible to realize that if they used to look at you with admiration, now they look at you with pity.
For a long time I did not dare to go outside. I have come a difficult way - both psychological and physical. I trained eight hours a day, hobbling around my apartment on an uncomfortable training prosthesis after grueling high doses of chemotherapy. At first there were a lot of falls on the street, because our roads leave much to be desired. But I still continued to train, step by step, bump by bump, overcoming obstacles, I was moving towards my cherished goal - to walk a lot and well.
Before going outside, I looked out the window to see if there were people there. I was shy. When I went to the store and limped, I thought that everyone was looking at me because I didn’t have a leg. And when spring came, followed by summer, and everyone put on beautiful summer dresses and shorts, I cried and asked myself: why? But she quickly calmed herself down, because tears and regrets won’t fix the matter.
Then I went to my prosthetics company and asked them to make me a beautiful, stylish prosthesis, with patterns and drawings.
I decided: let them look at me, let them point fingers, but I will still wear summer things - shorts, skirts and dresses.
First with friends, now I walk alone. Of course, they turn on me, but I think this is normal for a country where people with disabilities are almost not socialized. I really hope that this situation will change. A person is determined not by how many arms and legs he has, but by what fills his soul, what he thinks about.
Now I take care of my family and household, drive a car, teach people to walk on prosthetics, and especially try to support those who have been diagnosed. Neither cancer nor the loss of limbs is a death sentence. Within each person there are inexhaustible resources of will and strength that can lead to victory. The main thing is not to give up. Never.
American Pnina Ullrich, who also lives with a prosthetic leg, maintains a video blog. In it, it’s not scary - so she wants to change society’s attitude towards people with disabilities.
Sasha is five years old and has no left forearm: after the elbow joint, the arm ends in a neat stump. She is waiting with her dad and grandfather to try on her first artificial arm. Every half hour, a specialist, the head of traction prosthetics, comes into the playroom. In his hands is a bathtub and a small soft tube made of hypoallergenic material. The tube is called a stump receiver, or sleeve; the stump is inserted into it, and due to this, the prosthesis is held on the limb. Each sleeve is individual, it must be ideally adjusted to the shape and size so that it sits on the hand as comfortably as possible and does not rub anywhere, while the prosthesis holds firmly. That’s why Sasha has been waiting in the children’s room for four hours: adjusting the sleeve is a painstaking task and requires a lot of patience. The specialist wets the cartridge case in water and carefully places it on Sasha’s hand: “Is it comfortable?”
Sasha trying on a prosthesis
Elizabeth QueenThe sleeve rubs the skin, the prosthetist remembers what needs to be corrected, and goes back to the laboratory to refine the device. The girl is thinking about something, sits down with ease cross twine on a bench and begins to draw. “Warm up for now,” her father says. Sasha practices taekwondo: one day a coach noticed her and invited her to the section.
Experts believe that people, especially those with hand injuries, mature age They get used to using one hand and it is much more difficult for them to learn to work with an artificial hand.
Usually than younger child, the faster he masters the prosthesis. For him, rehabilitation becomes a game, an interesting task to master a new gadget.
The pinnacle of mastery for people with artificial hands is to master fine motor skills(insert thread into a needle or paint your fingernails with varnish).
When Sasha finally receives her new prosthesis (which will also be modified if inconveniences are discovered during the first weeks), she quite quickly begins to take square cubes and thin wooden plates from the table, clamp them with artificial fingers and hold them suspended.
Ulyana is 11 years old; she and her parents came from Belarus to get her first forearm prosthesis. The new hand gives in to it much more difficult. The prosthesis is not bionic, but traction: it needs to be bent elbow joint, and due to the tension of the cables, the fingers will grab the desired object. Ulyana tries to take hold of door handle, but out of habit, her shoulder rises, and her fingers cannot hold the object.
Ulyana learns to use her new hand
Elizabeth QueenAlthough the prosthesis is lightweight, such an exercise is a heavy load for the muscles of the stump and shoulder, and the arm quickly gets tired. At home, the girl needs to learn how to tense her muscles correctly so that she can use the prosthesis like a normal arm and will not have any distortions in her posture.
Ulyana looks upset at her new hand and compares it with the real one, the right one. “I think that by the time you’re twenty-five, a robotic arm will be cooler than a real one. And now you need to develop the muscles of the stump so that in the future you will be ready to wear the most advanced prosthesis,” the prosthetist reassures her. “Okay,” the girl replies, but it is clear that she is not delighted with such exercises, which she will have to do regularly.
Rehabilitation specialist Konstantin Bitelev has been putting people on artificial legs for the last four years. In his experience, the most responsible students are women; they know how to clearly and conscientiously follow all the instructions of the instructor:
“The main thing in this matter is self-control. You definitely need to perform normal everyday activities at home using a prosthesis, and not just train in the gym for an hour a day. When a patient comes to me and I see that he does not work with the prosthesis at home - and this is immediately obvious - I stop working with him. You can begin to move somewhat on an artificial leg within a week, but learning to walk is a process that takes six months or longer.”
Creation of a children's traction prosthesis
Elizabeth QueenKonstantin talks and at the same time watches his student Dmitry, who masters his first prosthetic right hip. So far, the 25-year-old guy is moving unsteadily on a prosthesis, relying on crutches, but the result is still amazing, considering that this is his third lesson, and before that he spent a year in a wheelchair. “Dim, are you in a hurry somewhere? - asks the rehabilitation specialist. - Straighten your back and walk again correctly. Better slowly but clearly." The last words can be a motto for all people who are learning to use artificial legs and arms.
"Cyborg" from
A modern bionic prosthesis brings its user so close to the image of a cyborg man or a terminator that it seems that in just another fifteen years, artificial body parts will become more perfect than natural ones, and people will voluntarily implant fake arms and spines into themselves. The bionic prosthesis works as a reading device: sensors installed on inside prosthesis, they pick up electronic impulses that are sent by the muscles, and the fingers bend in the right way, that is, they make a certain grip.
Lend a shoulder to a person with a prosthesis
According to Deblikov, the lack of a society of people who use prosthetics greatly hampers prosthetics in our country: “People who lose limbs—dozens of people every day across the country—are in a complete information vacuum. They need information: they don’t know where to go, what prostheses to choose and how to get them, they don’t know what certificates need to be filled out. The Internet also does not give unambiguous answers to these questions; there is a lot of different information there, but it does not add up to a general picture.”
Tatyana Pustovalova found herself in such a situation. In 2014, she and her husband were riding a motorcycle and got into an accident due to the fault of a drunk driver. For a week, doctors tried to save the leg, but in the end they had to amputate it below the knee.
At the hospital, Tatyana was told almost nothing about rehabilitation and prosthetics, although the patient’s treatment is just beginning with amputation.
During the month that the girl was in the hospital, she developed a knee contracture: she could not fully straighten her leg. During rehabilitation, I had to first solve this problem and only then get used to the prosthesis. Tatyana did not know that immediately after amputation she needed to do exercise therapy and load the muscles of the stump, because at rest they constantly tend to shrink.
Tatyana, like Konstantin Deblikov, believes that a society of people with prosthetic limbs could greatly make life easier for everyone who has suffered an amputation: “While I was in the hospital, I started looking for people with amputations on the Internet, and I already had a certain idea in my head. the image of a disabled person: this is an unhappy, wretched person who asks for help. But I saw beautiful young girls and boys who were leading full lives, and I myself was greatly motivated by this. And the life hacks that the guys shared with me were also very important: they told me that for convenience you need to make a handle in the bathroom, they advised what creams to use, what kind of physical exercise to do.”
Before the accident, Tatyana went to the gym, and after that she decided that amputation of her leg was not a reason to quit classes. The girl turned to the trainer, but he rather rudely explained that he would not train with disabled people or people like her. “This was a big blow for me, because it is difficult for a person to feel complete despite the absence of a limb. It's also hard to overcome the fear that you have artificial leg and that you can fully step on it.” A gymnastics coach came to the girl’s aid and agreed to train with her for free. At first, Tatyana worked with a group of pensioners, and then individually with a trainer she learned to crawl again on all fours, squat, squat - do everything she could do before the accident.
Dreams of space
At the beginning of this summer, Tatyana’s dream came true - she had “cosmetics” done (a lining on the prosthesis that covers and protects its mechanism. - Gazeta.Ru) with space aerography. “There were times when I was asked to cover my prosthesis with a long skirt, because “you are so beautiful, but the prosthesis spoils you terribly.” In fact, I’ve always been very even-keeled about this and didn’t worry too much. But if boys can walk with their gears outside, then it is important for me to maintain the volume of the prosthesis so that I can wear skirts and easily put on tights on both legs. So I ordered "cosmetics" and
I really like the way my prosthesis looks, like a tattooed leg. Now I can walk with my skirt held up proudly."
- Tatiana laughs. By the way, Tanya returned to the motorcycle, as well as to the gym. At first it was uncomfortable to sit on the motorcycle, but the seat was adjusted specifically to suit her position, and now she is an avid motorcycle passenger.
This summer, Alexander Pankratov walked around the city with his girlfriend, wearing a T-shirt with short sleeves. This doesn't seem unusual, but not for a guy who wears a black prosthetic left hand. Passers-by stopped and asked him what was wrong with his hand, but Alexander was not bothered by such interest: “Let people come up, I will be happy to tell them about my prosthesis. It’s better to let them be interested than for you to go around and try to draw attention to your problem.”
