The story of a mother of three children who survived leg amputation and betrayal by her husband. And then she found love and became a champion – June 24, 2024 Posting in CHAT: Russia Ekaterina Kupriyanova coped with all the tasks. Now she has love, a new job... and a prosthesis Source: Ekaterina Kupriyanova’s archive “It was hospital hell,” Ekaterina Kupriyanova from Samara recalls the months spent in medical institutions, dozens of operations and blood transfusions. Six years ago, a young mother lost her leg, survived her husband’s betrayal, learned to walk again, drive a car, and three months after the amputation returned to work... The resilient red-haired beast told our colleagues from 63.RU about this. how she won the Eurasian powerlifting championship, won titles in sword fencing and sports knife throwing, got married for the second time, became a mother of many children and managed to climb the career ladder - using a prosthesis and high-heeled shoes. Source: Alexey Noginsky/63.RU A mother of two children arrived in a hospital bed straight from the trampoline center. There, in mid-June 2018, Katya celebrated her birthday with family and friends. Source: archive of Ekaterina Kupriyanova - Trampoline jumping. I failed miserably. Severe sharp pain. They thought it was a dislocation,” the girl describes the events of that day in intermittent, dotted sentences. – It was Friday evening. When they brought me to the hospital, it turned out that there were no places in the trauma department. The leg was bandaged in plaster. I was admitted to otolaryngology. On weekends, only doctors were on duty. It's just a combination of factors. By Monday the consequences were already irreversible. The doctors who came to work examined me and told my colleagues right in front of me: “Take her away, otherwise she will die with us.” Our film crew managed to intercept Ekaterina for an interview at the Samara championship in sports knife throwing Source: Roman Danilkin / 63.RU So Ekaterina was transported to another hospital. It turned out that the girl had damaged blood vessels in her leg. She underwent a complex, hours-long operation. But all the manipulations of an experienced surgeon could not correct the situation - I was given epidural anesthesia (a type of local anesthesia in which the patient remains conscious during the operation. - Ed.). I remember watching football with the doctor during surgery. Then we just had the World Championship,” says Ekaterina. - And then the operations followed one after another: necrosis - cleaning, necrosis - cleaning. I had wonderful doctors. They really tried to save my leg and didn't give up on me. Until the very end we believed that it would work. I lay in intensive care for a very long time; I could only open and close my eyes, and even then with difficulty. When I was warned about the amputation, I just nodded. She didn't specify anything at all. It didn't matter anymore. The doctor said: “It is necessary,” which means it is necessary. Since everything was really very serious, sepsis developed several times, which was extinguished by periodic blood transfusions. It was a long and difficult process: from mid-June to mid-August. I, my family, my children lived in this. Now I understand that it was certainly hell, hospital hell. After the amputation, I came to the clinic to see a traumatologist. His office is on the second floor, there is no elevator. I remember standing and just watching people go up and down the stairs with ease and joy. It seemed to me that I would never be able to do this Source: Roman Danilkin / 63.RU Ekaterina admits that when she woke up after the operation, the most difficult thing was to throw back the blanket: “I didn’t do it. understand the level of amputation. It seemed that my knee would remain. And it was a shock that there were very few legs. The doctors later explained that there was necrosis and everything had to be cleaned; Katya’s daughter, son and parents helped her survive all the horror and not break down. But the husband was in a hurry to ask for a divorce. The children were small then. We didn't know that this whole illness would last so long. I'll deal with this and everything will be as before. And, of course, it was never the same. When my son and daughter came to my room after the amputation, I was very worried about how they would see me like this. It turned out that for the children it doesn’t matter how many legs I have,” smiles the young mother. Ekaterina had to quickly learn to walk on crutches and work - she needed to feed the children something: Roman Danilkin / 63.RU— I was bedridden for a long time sick. When they told me to take my crutches and go to the dressing room (which is right next to the hospital room), I panicked. I didn't get up. Plus, it's incredibly painful. But the doctor insisted that I do it myself. And barely, trembling like a wet mouse, I went out into the corridor. I saw people running on crutches! I thought I would never be able to walk on them that fast. Now these thoughts seem so stupid. A person can learn anything. At the hospital they helped me master crutches and taught me how to go up and down stairs. It would seem such a small thing. But I didn’t have this important skill,” says Katya Source: Roman Danilkin/63.RU Just three months after the amputation, in November 2018, Ekaterina returned to the company’s office. I didn’t have a prosthesis then, I walked on a walker. Thanks to the bandages, the stump has not yet healed; And a colleague with whom I communicated quite closely (at that time I had already worked there for 10 years) asked: “Have you come to write a letter of resignation?” I was shocked! I couldn't imagine that there could be such a reaction. Amputation does not in any way interfere with intellectual work. Apparently, the person simply turned the situation on himself and thought that in this case he would give up,” says Katya. – But then, on the contrary, a certain sporting anger awoke in me Source: Roman Danilkin/63.RU Partly, this healthy feeling helped the girl learn to walk on a prosthesis: – Before receiving the first prosthesis, they told me: “Be patient a little, there will be a prosthesis - and you will continue to walk." And this was the main disappointment, because I could not walk like before. It was incredibly painful and unpleasant. The prosthesis was on leather straps that were attached to me. And even to go to the toilet, I had to completely loosen everything and then fasten it again. The prosthesis was imperfect, and I was a difficult primary patient and, of course, did everything wrong. While walking, she threw her leg out and tried to straighten it. Flexible and easy walking was out of the question - it was difficult to withstand an 8-hour working day on a prosthesis. At first I was very embarrassed to take it off. But since most of the time I sat at the computer, when it became completely unbearable, I started filming and putting my “foot” next to it. Fortunately, now I have a prosthesis that does not need to be removed Source: Roman Danilkin / 63.RU After Ekaterina got used to the prosthesis, she hired a driving instructor - it’s very important to just keep up. pick up children from school and kindergarten and take them to clubs - I got my license at the age of 18. But I've never driven a car. Then I had a teacher who cursed all the time. According to him, a woman driving is like a monkey with a grenade, and I’m generally stupid and will never be able to drive a car. So, I passed my license, but immediately gave it up and never drove again. It seemed to me that this was for some superintelligence, and not for me. But because of the situation with my leg, I had to remember all my abilities. This time I had a wonderful teacher. His program is designed for a person to master driving in a week. Of course, I didn’t believe that I could do it either. But I took a vacation for 7 days and from early morning until late evening he and I traveled out of town and around the city. We have trained parking and all possible intersections. And indeed, a week later I came to work by car, it was amazing! — I have a car with an automatic transmission. Two legs are not needed here. My grandfather gave me a car. He rode along Kopeyka all his life, and for his 80th birthday, his dad gave him a Hyundai. When my grandfather got behind the wheel, he commented: “This is a car for a disabled person. Why did you buy it for me?” And it’s so funny that a few years later they gave me a car, my grandfather’s prophecy came true. Source: Archive of Ekaterina Kupriyanova showed herself capable of great sports. The girl is the champion of Eurasia in powerlifting. She has also won several titles in modern sword fighting. The first sport she took up was modern sword fighting, and sword fighting turned out to be the best rehabilitation for it, I was able…
