Andrea Dal Ponte 🇺🇦🇪🇺

Little Maryna lost her leg at the age of 5 as a result of shelling of the Kherson region by Russian occupiers in May 2022. The shrapnel injury resulted in amputation at the level of the lower third of the left thigh. Since then, Maryna has been undergoing comprehensive rehabilitation together with specialists from OKHMADYT and the Kyiv Rehabilitation Institute. In August 2022, the Stetsenko Center manufactured her first prosthesis for the girl. Alexander Stetsenko, a prosthetics engineer and ISPO-certified prosthetist/orthotist, works with her all the time. According to him, pediatric prosthetics is very complicated, because the child is constantly growing, and the volume and shape of the residual limb changes. "In three months alone, Marinka has grown by 3 cm, so we adjust the prosthesis almost weekly," he says. The parents decided to prosthetize their daughter in Ukraine in order to have experts' help at all times - the prosthesis needs to be regularly maintained. The components for the prosthesis were provided free of charge by Ossür. Fritz-Kreuzer-Stiftung provided ultralight materials for its manufacture. After a year and a half of joint efforts, Marina is already walking, climbing stairs, jumping on the trampoline and riding a bicycle independently.