Mark's story: how the foundation helps children with burns

How Zaporuka Foundation supports patients at St. Nicholas Children's Hospital

Mark from Lviv is 16 years old. On the night of September 27, a fire broke out at his home because the battery of his electric scooter caught fire in his room. The room was immediately engulfed in flames.

My mother was the first to wake up from the loud explosion and ran to help, but the door was already blocked. Marko woke up from the second explosion and immediately started to open the door. Together with his mother, they managed to break down the door.

"When I got outside, my T-shirt was already on fire and my hands were burned. But I remembered that our dog was still in the room, so I went back to save him, and I succeeded." - Marko recalls.

While waiting for the ambulance, the guy began to feel unbearable pain and saw the skin of his hands literally "hanging off". The paramedics took him to the intensive care unit of the burn unit at St. Nicholas Children's Hospital. His mother was hospitalized at St. Luke's Hospital.

Marko spent three days in intensive care, after which he was prepared for a skin transplant operation, which was successful. Recovery was difficult: he had to relearn how to hold a spoon, dress, use his arms and back. It took about two weeks to restore his arms.

All this time, his older brother's girlfriend, Diana, was by his side, helping him in the hospital: cooking, helping him get up, using gadgets, and dressing.

"The hardest thing was to go through this pain with him when he was coming out of anesthesia and the painkillers were not working. But I did not cry in front of him. I told him he was the strongest boy I had ever met." - Diana recalls.

Now Marko is at the stage of recovery. The skin grafts have taken root well, the wounds have healed, and the skin is beginning to acquire its natural color. The guy attends rehabilitation five times a week and dreams of returning to sports as soon as possible and helping his mother recover.

The whole family is sincerely grateful to the doctors and everyone who supported them on this difficult path, including philanthropists.

Zaporuka Foundation helps the hospital's burn unit with the necessary supplies - plasters, bandages and special ointments for burn care - worth about UAH 50,000. These materials are constantly needed by patients, as not all families can afford them. The hospital provides some of them, but without the help of philanthropists, it is often not enough to cover all the needs.