A BRADFORD mum has spoken of her pride and heartbreak in her brave son, who suffered horrific injuries in a missile strike on Ukraine but then recovered and returned to the war-torn country to help his fellow soldiers and civilians.
“He decided he wanted to do something to help,” said Bingley mum Amanda, who has kept her last name and her son’s full name anonymous for safety reasons.
The war in Ukraine started in February last year, and Amanda's son, a trained military officer, went over to the country in March to provide his skills to help train Ukrainian soldiers. However, he suffered serious injuries in a Russian missile strike in April 2022.
“There was a missile strike,” said Amanda. “He was in a building and they all saw the missile coming and they got out as quickly as they could.
“The missile caused a lot of damage. He lost a lot of friends and colleagues.
“My son was badly injured. All of the bones in his hand were shattered. He also suffered leg and arm injuries. He was medically evacuated back to the UK."
The recovery of Amanda’s son, who went to Bingley Grammar School, was a long one.
It took him four months to heal up until he was fit enough to decide he wanted to return.
She said: “Due to the horrors he has seen, he returned after being injured, to protect Ukrainian people.
“He spent all his savings on an all-terrain vehicle and drove back over to Ukraine so he could use it to rescue civilians, move soldiers and use it on the battleground.
"This vehicle has been hit by 120mm and 152mm rounds and almost blown up a couple of times, lost all the windows, but it still runs.
“He’s been in different places across the country and is based in central Ukraine at the moment,” said Amanda.
“I don’t hear from him for weeks at a time. I’m always on edge.
“When he decided to go back after recovering, it was heartbreaking.
“It was so hard to let him go. I wanted to lock him in his room."
She said her son has suffered from combat stress which comes from “bombs going off all the time around him”.
“He is selflessly putting himself in danger every minute of every day because he believes he can help.
“If he can make a difference to the people there, that is amazing.
“He is my son and I am so proud, but also so helpless. It’s been a very dark place this last year.””
He recently made a fundraising plea to his mother to help with much-needed medical supplies such as specialised tourniquets.
“My son called me from Ukraine and said ‘Mum, can you help?’
So Amanda has launched a Crowdfunder appeal this week to ask people to donate towards the cost of medical supplies.
“Everybody seems to have forgotten about it, but this war is still happening,” she said.
“They need specialised medical equipment to save the lives of both soldiers and civilians.”
In the Crowdfunder appeal, Amanda wrote: “Ukrainian soldiers and volunteers from other countries are being seriously wounded/dying because they do not have the right medical supplies.
“My son is one of those who was seriously injured during a missile strike on his barracks in Ukraine in April last year. Thank God he survived. Some of his friends didn’t.
“I cannot do anything other than worry, cry a lot and not sleep well while he is out there.
“But I can help to raise money for medical supplies to help not just the brave soldiers who are volunteers, fathers, sons, brothers and uncles who are defending an innocent country, but also the civilians caught up in this awful war that is continuing with no end in sight.
“Initially, my son went out there to defend Ukraine. They are now his family, his friends and he is losing them.
“They get the basic supplies, but not things like pelvic tourniquets which are expensive and can save lives.
“If the minimum I can do is get a few pelvic tourniquets out for my son and others to use, then I will at least have done something.
“Please help me to help him and all those other brave soldiers and innocent civilians by getting the equipment they need to save lives.”
To make a donation, visit crowdfunder.co.uk/p/medical-kit-for-soldiers-in-ukraine-inc-my-son
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