Circumstances of the Injury:

Ihor has been serving in the military since the very first days of the full-scale invasion. He volunteered to go to the front, knowing he had to protect his country and his loved ones.

While carrying out a combat mission, his unit came under heavy mortar fire. One of the explosions proved devastating — Ihor suffered a severe injury.

Now, he’s fighting to recover. Ahead lies a long and difficult journey of complex, multi-stage treatment and rehabilitation.

Diagnosis:

Status post blast injury (November 16, 2024).
Gunshot-related comminuted fracture of the head of the left humerus and the left scapula, with bone loss.
Bone defect temporarily stabilized with a metal-cement spacer (procedure performed on November 25, 2025).

What it means:

• Comminuted fracture of the humeral head: The top of the left upper arm bone — the part that forms the shoulder joint — was shattered into multiple fragments by a gunshot wound.

• Fracture of the left scapula: The left shoulder blade was also broken, with significant damage to the bone structure.

• Bone defect: Some portions of the bone were completely destroyed by the blast, leaving a gap or “void” that couldn’t be repaired naturally.

To stabilize the shoulder and preserve joint alignment, surgeons implanted a metal-cement spacer — a temporary device that partially replaces the missing bone.
This is not a permanent solution, but an essential step to prepare for future reconstructive surgery, specifically shoulder joint replacement (endoprosthesis).

Clinical Plan:

Replacement of the metal-cement spacer with a reverse shoulder arthroplasty (reverse shoulder replacement) of the left shoulder.

This means removing the temporary spacer implant and performing a complex orthopedic surgery to fully replace the damaged shoulder joint with an artificial implant.

Reverse shoulder arthroplasty is a specialized procedure designed to restore function when the natural joint is too damaged to be repaired.