"My leg was torn off, but the child was alive"

This happened in the winter of 2014. It was an ordinary day. Nothing foretold danger. It was quiet and calm. We were doing our chores around the house. We were watching cartoons with the children when suddenly the shelling started. It started in the evening, but I wasn't panicking or feared that something would happen. The only thing was that the child could not fall asleep for a long time.

I put Masha in the playpen. She didn't want to sleep. I got a feeling that I should take the child. The lights went out. There was a very terrible shelling. We could hear whistling, roaring, as if all the houses were just falling down. The terrible roar was all over the city.

When I arrived, I took the baby in my arms. At that moment an explosion happened. All four of my children were behind me. Three of them were in the hall. One was right beside me. At that moment, I wasn't thinking about myself at all. I was only thinking about the children.

I closed the little girl with the back. I held her in my arms. And Varia was standing at my feet. My leg was torn off, but the child was alive. It was a real miracle. Indeed, there are miracles in this world.

It was hard with Vania. When I asked the child to get up, he got up, and I saw a hole in his leg. He asked for help, saying, "Mum, it hurts." Kolia also had a broken leg. He also had fragments. But it didn't hurt. I didn't feel any pain, nothing. It's just that you have a lot of responsibility for having injured children, and you have to do something for them.

When I lost consciousness, I heard their voices, "Mother, don't go away, don't fall asleep. Mum, we're in pain, stay with us." Then I could feel gas smell in the apartment. So we just tried our best to yell for help.

When I came to in the hospital, it was the first time I saw a man actually cry. God bless the surgeon who worked that day in Avdiivka. He saved many lives and helped many people. But when he just stood there crying, he tried to persuade me that I needed to hold on, that my had children, that I was young, and I would get back on my feet. So the decision had to be made — me or the leg. It was clear that my life was at risk. I lost a lot of blood. People gave blood. There were a lot of donors.

The help of caring people, the help of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation is very significant. They helped us both with medicines and recovery. My children were in Zaporizhzhia for health improvement. They also went to Odessa. For them, this is solace — an opportunity to escape from all the pressing problems. That was the first time they saw the sea.

I am very grateful to Rinat Leonidovich. I often watch his programs, how he helps children. I have nothing else to say. I just want to say "Thank you. Thanks for helping the kids. Thanks for helping me, for the help he gives, that he doesn't abandon people.

I'm still not used to the fact that I don't have a leg. I often feel depressed. I can't do things I used to do alone. I can't take them to school, take them to kindergarten, pick them up. I would really like to work, to be surrounded by people, to have someone to talk to.

I would like to start my own mini-bakery one day. I really like baking. The children say that everything I do is delicious.