Yekaterinburg girl survives Kamaz accident, loses arm, gains family

Thirteen-year-old Sasha, a sixth-grader, has already been through a lot. At age five, she was in a horrific car accident. The girl had come to Yekaterinburg with her parents from Kirovgrad, and on Avtomagistralnaya Street she was hit by a Kamaz truck. The little girl lost her left arm, and doctors at the 9th Hospital fought for her life.

After the incident, Sasha and her three-year-old brother Nikita ended up in an orphanage. Their parents were deprived of their rights to their daughter and son. Fortunately, the children didn«t stay in the social institution for long and found a new family. A businesswoman from Yekaterinburg took them in and became their guardian.

For eight years now, the children have called Natalya mom and try not to remember how they lived before meeting her.

Walking with Dad

Nikita doesn«t remember how his sister lost her arm. He was too young at the time, so he only knows about the incident from her stories. In June 2017, the children were walking hand-in-hand with their dad, who decided to cross them over a busy road against a red traffic light.

«We were all walking together at first: Nikita, me, and dad, then I let go of his hand and ran. I thought I would overtake them and be the fastest,» Sasha recalls that terrible day. «I remember what it was like under the Kamaz truck. I was lying under the vehicle, there was a crack, and people were looking at me through it, peeking in.»

Sasha says she didn«t feel any pain at all — apparently, she was in shock. Then she lost consciousness and woke up in the hospital, where doctors were fighting for her life.

«She had a severe combined injury, very serious. Thanks to the fact that Sasha is such a life-loving person, very positive, very open, I think she clung to life and survived. And thanks to the doctors, of course. They still remember her,» says the girl«s guardian.

From the hospital, Sasha returned home to Kirovgrad. She needed long-term rehabilitation, but her parents couldn«t provide proper care, and the girl started having complications. The guardianship authorities began checking the family, and it turned out that the children were growing up in terrible conditions. The brother and sister were taken from their parents and sent to an orphanage.

Sasha recalls: even before the accident, her father and mother often locked them and their brother alone at home. Once, this almost ended in tragedy. The little ones climbed onto the window and sat on the upper floor of the house, dangling their legs down. They were rescued by firefighters called by concerned neighbors.

«We have no secrets with the children; we sometimes discuss these topics. Honestly, thanks to Sasha, they now have the life they do. Thanks to the fact that she ended up under that Kamaz truck back then, everything changed for them,» says Natalya.

Second Mom

Natalya has her own business selling medical equipment, has an adult daughter who is now 33 years old, and grandchildren. To the orphanage where Sasha and Nikita ended up, she and her husband brought gifts for the children and held master classes for them. For several years, the woman had been considering becoming a guardian. She had the means and time, but couldn«t make up her mind until she saw two newcomers in the younger group — a brother and sister.

«From the first glance, it was clear that these were my children. Nikita was so tiny, so small. He was three years old, but looked like he wasn«t even two. He was always in clothes that didn»t fit, pants pulled up almost to his chest. He«s very sensitive, gentle, empathetic — and Sasha is our rock. She has such willpower, such character and strength,» says Natalya.

Sasha and Nikita moved into Natalya«s apartment, and later they all moved together to a spacious house. The children are the same age as their new mom»s eldest grandson. In the family, the three of them are called the gang, and the youngest grandson adores his young uncle and aunt.

«People talk about adaptation. For us, it wasn«t the children — they were perfectly fine from the start. The adaptation was mine. The period after my first child, of course, had relaxed me, and here suddenly my personal space shrank, it just disappeared. Everything was covered in toys. For me, an adult who had made this step consciously, it was hard, but they settled in right away,» Natalya recounts.

Natalya soon divorced the husband with whom she had taken the children from the orphanage. Now she has another marriage, and Sasha and Nikita call her new husband dad.

At first, the children studied in a private school; this year they switched to a public one — Sasha is in sixth grade, Nikita in fifth. The boy is studying programming, and the girl has a real talent for drawing. She attends art school and is making progress, is passionate about art, and even won the school stage of the Olympiad in World Art Culture. At home, she and her brother help their mom with chores and cook dinner themselves.

Sasha has cosmetic prostheses that only visually mimic her lost arm, but she doesn«t wear them — she says they»re uncomfortable. It«s too early to order a functional prosthesis: the girl is growing very fast.

«At first, when she joins a new group, she«s shy. And the children also look around, examine her. But, thank God, there»s no aggression, nothing like that happens. They don«t tease her. She has many friends and is very loved,» Natalya says.

The brother and sister say they are truly happy in their new home. Perhaps the main confirmation of this is that the children, who have been through so many hard times, now have the most ordinary childhood dreams: for New Year, Nikita is waiting for a toy gun with caps, and Sasha — a purse and a makeup set.

Read also the story of a woman from Yekaterinburg who without a hand and a foot climbed Mount Elbrus.