When she saw the consul of her country enter the room where she is hospitalized, Tatiana could not hold back the tears. She can’t move yet, she is undergoing rehabilitation after an operation on her femur. Not a trivial operation because Tatiana broke that bone in Ukraine 18 months ago. And if the war that we know began in February 2022, in Donetsk, the region from which it comes, it has already been going on for several years.
“In the beginning the situation was normal – says the 60-year-old woman – then, as time went by, everything got worse. When I arrived in Kiev there was no more electricity. My son told me it would be I had to go to Italy to have the operation. But it was too expensive and very complicated”. Thus, Tatiana’s family gets in touch with acquaintances who live in Naples, who in turn tell the story to Adriano, a pharmaceutical entrepreneur who did not want to make her name public.
It is he who mentions Tatiana to the doctors of the Vanvitelli Polyclinic in Naples who activate the protocol for refugees. The Ukrainian woman arrived in Naples by bus with a broken femur for a year and a half. “It was a complex operation – explains Giuseppe Toro, medical director of the Polyclinic – because she was no longer able to walk. The muscle and bone tissues were atrophied from non-use, so we replaced the fractured portion of the femur with a prosthesis” .
After her rehabilitation at Villa Angela, Tatiana hopes to return to Ukraine, even if the situation remains critical: “I sincerely thank everyone. I thank Mr. Adriano, Dr. Giuseppe Toro, the Italians for the welcome they are giving our people “. For the Ukrainian consul general in Naples Maksim Kovalenko “… this story demonstrates once again the great heart of this city”.