Soldier Mykola, call sign PIRATE

I am Mykola, call sign PIRATE, which is a symbolic name for a person wearing a leg prothesis. 

I am currently serving in the territorial defence of my city. 

On 24 February 2022, at six in the morning, I came to the military enlistment office with my wife, despite my having a prosthesis, we decided to defend our homeland together. 

Before that, we had an interesting story...
 

From 2013 to 2016, I lived in Saint Petersburg, worked, and had plans to get married and stay there. But all this time, I was worried that Russian TV channels were blatantly lying. In the end, I couldn't stand it anymore, said goodbye to my fiancée and returned home. 

I arrived and went straight to the military registration and enlisted in our local battalion. After a few weeks at the training grounds, we went to the front line. There I met a young woman who became my wife (we have two children now). Then I convinced her to resign from the service and take care of the child, while I continued to defend Ukraine...

Second rotation of the battalion, I spent a month in the east and went on leave to see my daughter go to the first grade. I returned to service. 

Five days later at the position and during the following combat mission I got blown up by a mine. I remember my first thought: "That's it, Kolia, your life is going to be over". But my wife was with me during the entire treatment. Her faith and support brought me back to life.

In the hospital, I met Sasha Goncharov, and I am very grateful to him for his support. It was he who gave me faith that life with a prosthesis was possible. From the hospital I was transferred to the Kharkiv Institute of Prosthetics, where I was put back on my feet. It was more relaxed there because I was surrounded by amputees who inspired me. There I met Roma Kashpur and Ihor Murinets - they are the coolest guys!

Most of all, I am grateful for the great help of my beloved, these guys and the prosthetist Serhii. They did not let me lose heart, I continue living and enjoying life.

Then we lived a peaceful life until 24.02.22...

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, I was near the border of Sivershchyna, in Kharkiv region, and near Bakhmut. Now I am defending my homeland in the eastern Ukraine again. 

At the end of September, my son was born, and I dream of buying my own house. However, I do not plan on quitting the service yet. I can't tell my guys: "Goodbye everyone, I'm going to live a quiet life!" while they are in the trenches.

Unfortunately, due to excessive combat loads, the prosthesis wore out, the stump socket burst, and the liner, without which the prosthesis cannot be operated, ruptured. 

Now I need to have a new stump socket manufactured as soon as possible and the liner to be replaced to return to combat missions.