Factory Worker Survives 2.5-Ton Accident and Rebuilds His Life
Svetlana is Alexandr«s main helper, she even enrolled in studies together with her husband.
Our colleagues at E1.RU met Alexandr Lyskov two years ago. He had just managed to pull through — surviving a terrible injury and amputation. Irina Volkova, the head of the rehabilitation center, has seen hundreds of human destinies, and everyone copes with misfortune differently. Alexandr«s story touched the doctor.
The plant helped install the ramp, allowing Alexandr to get outside independently.
In her 36 years of work, Irina Gennadyevna had only once encountered a patient who had lost not only his legs but even his hip joints. The first was a disabled veteran of the Great Patriotic War, and the second was 26-year-old Alexandr Lyskov, a worker at a Nizhny Tagil plant, who survived being crushed by a 2.5-ton beam. Before the accident, he was a strong, healthy, athletic guy, 178 centimeters (5«10») tall. After the amputations, his height became 83 centimeters (2«9»).
Sasha has taken up chess and participates in tournaments.
Two years later, E1.RU journalist Elena Pankratyeva visited Alexandr in Nizhny Tagil to find out how his life had turned out.
Svetlana and Alexandr.
Alexandr was brought to rehabilitation in a very serious condition. It was too early to start rehabilitation; he was almost unconscious: open wounds, unable to sit up, his blood pressure dropping. He was fed with a spoon like a child — «for mom, for dad».
First rehabilitation sessions after numerous surgeries, with center head Irina Volkova.
Later, when Sasha could talk, he said he was from an orphanage. He was then transferred to the burn unit of the 40th Hospital, where they performed complex skin graft surgeries. Everything took root, and he began to recover, exercising and training to return to a normal life as much as possible.
At competitions for people with disabilities.
«How many people do you know who always have everything well?» Irina Volkova shared her thoughts about the new patient at the time. «And I mean genuinely well. I walk into one of the wards and from the doorway ask the guy lying by the window: »Sasha, how are you doing today?« The response: »Everything«s fine, Irina Gennadyevna.» A beautiful smile and some puzzlement: what could possibly be wrong? Look at him and think: are we happy with life, do we complain about trifles, do we whine for no reason, and do we even have any real problems?«
They named their cat «Bro».
Returned to the Plant
Alexandr trains every day and can now do 30 pull-ups, matching his pre-injury count.
Sasha greets us together with his wife, Svetlana. They live with their son in an old two-story building, built in the post-war years, very close to the plant. It«s clean, cozy, and spacious: wide doorways — the wheelchair easily passes everywhere.
The leg prosthetics are attached to a special support structure.
Sasha has just returned from work; he works part-time. He receives a pension and all disability payments; in his case, it«s his full previous salary because the injury is work-related. But, as he admits, he simply couldn»t sit at home and not work. Alexandr is a trainee in the industrial safety department at the same metal structures plant, conducting safety briefings. He understood how important they are from his own bitter experience, when a combination of different mistakes led to the emergency.
Alexandr demonstrated how he now manages household chores and keeps up his training.
«Sometimes very young guys come, around 18. I roll out in my wheelchair from behind the desk and say: you see how important it is for everyone to follow safety regulations? And I explain, I conduct the briefing,» says our hero.
Alexandr was injured in 2023. He was working as a slinger, securing loads. A 2.5-ton beam came off the crane hook and crushed him. The worker remembers all the details: how he lay there, not feeling severe pain at first due to shock, how they extracted him, how he rode in the ambulance with his wife to the hospital, talking about some trifles, like how his phone broke. He didn«t yet know how difficult everything would be. At the hospital, Sasha fell into a coma and spent three weeks in that state.
«The plant helped a lot then: both the management and the union. Our manager there is a woman, a wonderful, caring person. She visited the hospital, brought care packages. And then she was there with us, supporting us,» recalls Alexandr.
At that time, he and his wife had just bought an apartment with a mortgage. To avoid delays, the plant immediately paid off the debt to the bank, and then helped them buy a new apartment, more spacious and on the first floor, where the family now lives. They also installed a modern ramp with a remote control, so Alexandr can get out of the house on his own. Every morning a company car picks him up, takes him to work, and then brings him home.
They also paid for operations — those not covered by compulsory health insurance:
«At first I lived with urine bags. Everything was damaged, and this is a very important moment, an important part of a full life. Even when the beam fell, that»s what I thought about in the first moment. You can adapt without legs if your head is in the right place. But… for a man it«s not just legs that are important, any guy will understand me. Here in the region they couldn»t help me. I remember sitting at an appointment, and a doctor, a candidate of science, tells me he can«t restore anything. And I don»t understand why. I say: you have an academic degree, how can you not? And he says: «I can»t.«»
Apparently, the damage to his genitals after the injury was severe; not everyone was ready to undertake the complex surgery. A full restorative urological reconstruction surgery was performed at a large private medical center in the Moscow region, where some of the best specialists work. The surgery important for a normal life was also paid for by the plant.
«I was operated on by a doctor from Israel. Apparently, he also collaborates with this center. He restored everything excellently. I was discharged after just five days. They drove me from home to Moscow in a car specially equipped for bedridden patients; I can»t sit for long. My wife had just returned home — I call her: I«ve already been discharged, and she drove back to get me,» says Sasha.
They Went Through Hell and High Water
Alexandr is now 28 years old. His wife Svetlana has been his main helper all these years: accompanied him to all commissions and operations, helped with important everyday things: taking a bath, carried him down from the sixth floor to the street on her back.
They met six years ago: Alexandr saw Svetlana«s social media page, wrote to her, she replied. At first they corresponded, then met, and a year later got married. He accepted her son from her first marriage as his own. Sveta worked as a salesperson for many years; Sasha invited her to work at his plant. And three years later, the disaster happened.
Svetlana was also at home during our meeting.
«We went through hell and high water together,» she recalls. «The first weeks were very scary, my hands were shaking. The doctors said: if you know any prayers, pray. I went to a psychologist. The psychologist explained everything to me, about the stages of acceptance: denial, anger, described all the steps. And that»s exactly how I experienced it, all the spectra of feelings.
I was very scared for him, how he would live in this world, because our infrastructure and environment are not designed for people with disabilities like him: streets you can«t get through in a wheelchair, snow in winter, high curbs. At first there was confusion, you don»t know what to do. And when he regained consciousness, I already had a plan of action: rehabilitation, the VTEC (Medical and Labor Expert Commission) commission, establishing disability.
My mom was very worried about Sasha then, she supported him. No talk like: how are you going to live with a disabled person now? She is as faithful as I am. And my dad, and my brother, all the relatives. We are a family, and there can be no other options. Friends helped too. The people around us are like that, there are no others.«
Sasha continues the conversation:
— The most important thing is when you are loved and supported. So many friends responded when they found out what happened to me. They wrote, asked how they could help.
— And your mom? (Sasha ended up in an orphanage at the age of ten when his mother was stripped of parental rights. — Ed.)
— Mom needs help herself. Even if at the beginning of life she didn«t do so much for me, a mother is a mother. I help morally and try to help financially. She is raising my younger brother alone. He is only eight years old, and it»s hard for her.
«I»ll Learn Everything«
Over these two years, Alexandr has relearned the simplest and most important things: getting into the shower, washing himself, and then doing the cleaning at home himself to help his wife.
«It»s still hard to wash the floors, the apartment is big. I«m lazy, but I do it,» admits Sasha.
He not only returned to work but also enrolled part-time in a construction technical school to become a specialist instead of a trainee. Svetlana also started studying together with Alexandr. Together they listen to lectures, take exams. Their son Danil graduated from school during this time and enrolled in a medical college to become a nurse. He dreams of becoming a surgeon and will apply to medical school.
«We bought a garden plot,» Alexandr shares another simple joy. «We wanted it for a long time, we fulfilled our dream. We»ll work tirelessly. We«ll make a workshop, a pool, a sauna. I can»t wait for summer to go there and start working.
Also planning to get a driver«s license, get behind the wheel. I»m ready even now, but the problem is that in Tagil there isn«t a single driving school that teaches people with disabilities, only in Yekaterinburg. Options: either travel to Yekaterinburg for driving lessons and study theory remotely, or rent an apartment in Yekaterinburg for the duration of the courses. But we»ll solve that. I also want to get a higher education to develop further in my profession. But my nearest goal is to get prosthetics.«
Now, thanks to technological advances, prosthetics can be installed even in such a severe case where there are no hip joints. In such a case, the prosthetics themselves are attached to a special, very complex structure, resembling a basket, although movement will still be possible with the help of crutches.
«Recently I tried on these prosthetics, they were made in Yekaterinburg, at a prosthetic enterprise, there are very good specialists there. I stood up right away. Took two steps forward, two steps back. Now they»ll finish them completely, and everything will be fine. I«m not worried, I»ll learn everything,« says Sasha.
We also told the story of a legless taxi driver from the Ural village of Konevo. He grows potatoes and grapes in his garden and raises his grandchildren.
