UCU Helps Ukraine: Roman Havrylchak

Roman was born in the city of Novoyavorivsk in 1984. He graduated from the Hetman Sahaidachny Lviv Land Forces Academy. Roman is short of breath when he is telling his story: ...He signed a contract with the Armed Forces. Fought in Dovzhansk, Zelenopillia. Within his second rotation, fought in Lysychans'k, Checkpoint 29, during the battle for Сheckpoint 32, eight fighters from his battalion were killed... 

He was stationed in Donetsk, and they were ordered to free the village of Logvinove. The village was hard to get, the mortars and 120 mm guns were shelling at them constantly - breathing heavily, tells Roman. For a time they stayed in the basement of the store and waited for instructions. They were ordered to occupy the positions under fire. They decided to move away a little from the line of fire and take a position. They began sending the cars out one by one. He jumped in the last car (where there was a wounded Mykhailo Lialia), and in about two or three minutes the car got hit with a rocket and thrown against the tank. 

Roman sustained a compression stroke, smashed vertebrae, took hematoma in the head, seriously wounded hands, and lost consciousness... He regained consciousness in the Artemivsk hospital where they put braces on the injured arm, injected anesthetic and sent him by a helicopter to Dnipropetrovsk, then to Kyiv, the Central Military Hospital and later to the Institute of Neurosurgery named after Romodanov. Diagnosis: severe combined vertebral-thoraco-skeletal injury, closed spine-spinal trauma, compression multiple vertebral body fracture and contusion of the spinal cord. Broken ribs, left-sided hemothorax, fracture of both bones of the left forearm.

Unfortunately, the treatment prescribed at the Military hospital had a negative impact on Roman’s health: his kidneys and liver failed, and he got hidradenitis. From there, Roman was moved to the NAMN Ukraine hospital. Here they first cured his kidneys and the hand. Later, he underwent a surgery on the spine (doctor Yaminskyy Yuri). They injected gel in his spine and used electric stimulation. Roman is now having severe pain in the legs and spasticity. His dream is to walk again. He is facing a long and expensive rehabilitation. His family does not enough money, so they are forced to seek help from caring people.

Roman father Ivan’s Pryvatbank card number is 4149 4978 0289 2804.

To contribute toward Roman's treatments and therapies, please visit your branch or contact the call centre at 1.800.461.0777 to make a donation.

Lots of photos of the injured soldiers we are helping can be found on our Facebook page in the album UCU Helps Ukraine.

Read the stories of some of our other heroes:

Mykhaylo, Andriy, Mykhaylo, Serhiy K., Olexander, Victor, Serhiy, Olexander, Andriy, Anton, Oleksij, Yevhen, Yurij, Serhij, and Ruslan.

Questions and inquiries about this initative can be directed to the UCU Helps Ukraine committee: 
Kateryna Litvinjuk klitvinjuk@ukrainiancu.com
Michael Zienchuk mzienchuk@ukrainiancu.com
Roman Mlynko rmlynko@ukrainiancu.com