Yana Stepanenko/Lviv City Council
On April 13, young Ukrainian Yana Stepanenko ran her first Boston Marathon. The girl overcame a distance of five kilometers on prostheses.
This weekend, one of the world's most prestigious marathons in Boston welcomed Yana Stepanenko, the ambassador of the Lviv UNBROKEN rehabilitation center. This is stated on the page of the Lviv City Council.
The goal of the indomitable athlete was to fulfill the dream of defender Olexander Ryasny, who lost a leg in the war. The girl prefers that he, like her, also had the opportunity to run. She also wanted to demonstrate to the whole world the indomitability of the Ukrainian people.
For two months, Yana was actively preparing to participate in the marathon. She trained four times a week with the UNBROKEN center's physical therapist and professional trainers. For the first time in her life, the girl overcame such a distance. She went to the USA at the invitation of the One World Strong foundation.
Jana uses movement to heal. And our foundation also helps to do similar things to those who have survived serious injuries and psychological trauma. You can come to the marathon, focus and move forward. We're excited to take this step forward with UNBROKEN and hopefully do even more next year. So that your defenders can also run the upcoming 5 kilometers at the Boston Marathon, says Dave Fortier, head of the One World Strong Foundation.
Yana Stepanenko/Lviv city council
The girl's mother and brother were waiting for the girl at the finish line, and the fighter Oleksandr Ryasny was on the video link, who congratulated Yana on her first marathon.
Very cool! Yano, you are an incredible girl! Young girl! Congratulations, said Oleksandr. And Yana replied: “It was all for your sake. I hope that we will run my next distance together.”
You can support Yana and her charity on the dobro.ua platform.
Yana Stepanenko/Lviv City Council
30-year-old soldier Oleksandr from the Zaporizhzhia region. At the age of 18, he joined the military under a contract, and later joined the ranks of the National Guard. Passed all stages of this war: ATO, OOS and, in the end, a full-scale invasion. He was severely wounded last year in September: a fragment of a projectile tore his thigh. Currently, the man is already at the stage of active rehabilitation and prosthetics.
We remind you that Yana Stepanenko lost both legs on April 8, 2022, as a result of a terrorist attack by Russians on the railway station in Kramatorsk. The photo of her being carried in the arms of a surgeon from the St. Nicholas Children's Hospital of the First Medical Association of Lviv went viral all over the world. Yana received the first prostheses for walking and running in the USA.