Ukraine's defenders, who were seriously injured on the battlefield, face unbearable pain daily. They experience phantom pain from the loss of limbs, acute pain from injuries, and chronic suffering after long surgeries. To alleviate this pain and give them a chance to live without suffering, the UNBROKEN Charitable Foundation and the dobro.ua charity platform are launching a new project called Heroes Without Pain.

Among those who can benefit from this project is 24-year-old Maksym Zhadanov from Vinnytsia, who lost an arm and a leg while defending Ukraine near Avdiivka. For more than six months now, Maksym has been forced to take painkillers three times a day and still experiences phantom and chronic pain. His story is just one of thousands of similar stories that are heard within the walls of the UNBROKEN National Rehabilitation Center.

“At first, it was challenging. I had severe pain, and I could not sleep at all. Two to four hours a night. I just endured it, and that was it! When my limbs were torn off, I thought that the pain was the worst, but I was wrong,” Maksym Zhadanov shares his feelings.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the UNBROKEN National Rehabilitation Center has helped 18,000 Ukrainians affected by the war, both military and civilians. Treatment for many of them lasts for months and requires constant pain management. According to statistics, 70% of veterans suffer from chronic pain syndrome after being wounded.

Injured Ukrainian defenders and civilians need Pain Treatment Centers, a specialized medical unit to diagnose, treat and control various types of pain, such as acute, chronic and war-related pain.

Currently, the First Medical Unit of Lviv is already treating 70 patients a day, but the number of people who need treatment for chronic pain syndrome is much higher - hundreds of thousands of patients.

The Pain Treatment Center will be able to provide quality and modern care to 200 patients daily!

“Heroes without Pain” is a project aimed at establishing Pain Treatment Centers in three medical institutions in Lviv: St. Panteleimon, St. Luke and St. Nicholas hospitals, where the UNBROKEN Center operates. These specialized units will be provided with modern equipment necessary for interventional pain management procedures. Among the techniques to be used by doctors are nerve blockade, pulsatile radiofrequency therapy (PRF), epidural injections and other innovative procedures.

The project will reduce the physical suffering of our soldiers and civilians affected by the war and help them return to a full life without depending on painkillers that can cause addiction.

Pain treatment centers should be in every hospital in Ukraine for the sake of:

- Preventing the development of chronic pain in patients with severe injuries and amputations

- Improving the quality and duration of physical rehabilitation

- Reducing the duration of treatment

- Improving the psychological stability of patients, adaptation to new living conditions

“Pain treatment has always been difficult because it is impossible to measure. The same irritation can cause different degrees of pain in different patients. We have an ambitious plan: to create a full-fledged Pain Treatment Center with an urgent acute pain service, including phantom pain (one of the most difficult processes to treat). We are already dealing with the most difficult cases, and with the creation of a full-fledged department, our team will be able to treat up to 200 patients a day. We have formed a team of anesthesiologists, neurologists, and neurosurgeons. They have been trained and cooperate with the world's best specialists,” says Natalia Matolinets, medical director of the First Medical Association of Lviv.

Each of these centers should be equipped with modern operating rooms. Here, surgeons and anesthesiologists will perform interventional pain management procedures: innovative specialized procedures such as nerve blocks, pulsatile radiofrequency therapy (PRF), epidural injections, and other pain management techniques.

“The operating rooms at St. Panteleimon Hospital, St. Luke's Hospital, and St. Mykola Children's Hospital do not meet international standards for high-tech interventions. That is why we need to repair them, equip them and buy the best equipment! This requires 67 million hryvnias,” says Oleksandr Kobzarev, Executive Director of the UNBROKEN Foundation.

The UNBROKEN Charitable Foundation together with the dobro.ua platform announce the launch of a large-scale fundraising campaign to implement this project. The total amount of money raised is 67 million hryvnias. This money will be used to equip Pain Treatment Centers (renovation of premises and purchase of medical equipment), which will become a hope for a pain-free life for tens of thousands of Ukrainians.

Let's help the Heroes get rid of pain!

https://dobro.ua/project/heroes_without_pain/

Contact information:

UNBROKEN Charitable Foundation

Phone: +380509832104

Email: foundation@unbroken.org.ua