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After Irina Nakanna lost her left legsi missile attack that also killed her husband, the Ukrainian woman decided everything tied to her former self had to go. According to the associated press, she cut off her dark wavy hair and removed furniture, clothes, trinkets, and photographs from her home. Just one reminder of her previous life remained. portrait of herself and her husband Seriakencniai. Shedding her old identity was necessary, she said, to endure the painful reinvention required to build a life with a prosthetic.
Today, Nakekna is quick-witted and effervescent, her laughter loud and sudden. She wears a pixy haircut in bold red cat eye glasses and knit small toy capabaras, the animal that has become an unofficial symbol among amputees in Ukraine. But beneath the sparkle in her eyes lies a grief woven into the painful process of becoming someone new. It's an often unspoken reality beneath the narratives of resilient surroundings. The tens of thousands of people in Ukraine who have lost limbs in the war that began more than four years ago when Russia launched a full-scale invasion.
The hardest thing was accepting myself with these injuries, wounds that are not only physical, she said. Coming to terms with how much my life has changed has been very difficult. The exact number of war amputees in Ukraine is unknown, but it continues to rise as landmines, artillery, and missile and drone strikes inflict catastrophic injuries on soldiers and civilians. The increase has fueled an expansion of rehabilitation in prosthetic services while also reshaping Ukrainian society. Prosthetic limbs have become increasingly visible and powerful symbols of survival and defiance.
Nakekna 50 still walks with a limp and uses a cane as she learns to trust the prosthetic that reaches her upper thigh. We do twisting and on types of twisting. Ugh. Good. Types. Good. They sewed the handles and put them on. Come on, come on, come on, come on. Tighten. One, two. You sit there, she gets anemic, and then, you know, around 10 pm, the man suggested we go for a walk. It was such a warm evening. It was the beginning of March. March 5. It was very warm. And we went for a walk. And when we were going back, there was an explosion. But I already understood this when I came to. When I came to, my ears were ringing a lot
I heard a man screaming. I heard my phone ringing. I sat down, leaned on my arms, and felt a crunch in my left shoulder. And I realized that my bones were broken, but I didn't think it was that bad. And I leaned my left hand on my left leg. And I couldn't feel my left leg. About two months later, I sat down for the first time. And it was, you know, this feeling that came out of hell and are starting to recover. There were a lot of positive emotions, a lot of joy. I don't know how to describe these feelings, but it was really cool. The most difficult thing was to accept myself as I am, with these injuries, injuries that were not only physical.
You understand what I mean, coming to terms with the fact that life has turned out so cool is hard. It's hard, but you know, I've never worn shorts in my life Yesterday I wore shorts for the first time. I protested. I have accepted myself as I am. Not ours, not ours. Well, it's ours. And a sheepskin coat. Did you say how it would be? These are just all the blanks. This is the beginning of the work, let's say. There's a Sava there, a Sukhmantse sent a photo, but what's the photo of Sukh.
Ugh. No. Are do what there? Uh, no, no. This process alone is calming. When you count the loops, you only think about the loops, not about the life that could have been and which, unfortunately, is not. Although sometimes I lose track of the number of loops because I'm thinking about something else. Rain. Don't blow. Rain No, it's not rain, bunny. This is a gift. Rain. Do you want it to rain? A little. Rain. Well, he's walking somewhere. There's a cloud somewhere. Rain. Cloud. Right. Where are the clouds? But this is my whole life.
What do I feel? Joy, pride, happiness, great happiness. I love him very much. I would say, for both of us, for myself and for my husband. There's also a girl there. Tim called something wrong on the swing. Ugh. You are a model. Legs, legs. Wow, you're cool. Tim is a grandmother. That's not enough either.
