Prostheses for Ukrainian war victims come from two specialists from Ann Arbor

ANN ARBOR, MI – Mike Schroeder had just spent a 12-hour day replacing the limbs of injured Ukrainian soldiers. Treating patients is the prosthetics specialist’s passion, and he was helping a country torn apart by bombs, airstrikes and invasions.

His pride grew. But he was also exhausted. When he left the hospital at the Superhumans Center in western Ukraine, he was shocked by the sight.

Patients were constantly streaming in and out of the hospital. People without limbs, hands and feet kept coming in. 282 Ukrainians are still waiting for a prosthesis in the center.

“It’s not just a constant flow of people in and out of that door,” Schroeder told MLive/The Ann Arbor News.

Schroeder fitted nine prosthetic arms to eight patients during a ten-day trip to Lviv, Ukraine. Together with his colleague Chris Perry, he traveled to the Superhumans Center, a specialist orthopedic clinic for the treatment and rehabilitation of war victims who rely on prosthetics.

The two work at Perry Prosthetics in Ann Arbor and were approached by a Polish medical company about helping in Ukraine. Superhumans employed only one specialist in upper limb prosthetics, Schroeder’s specialty. Most upper body injuries are accidental, while lower limb injuries are often associated with disease.

Two years after the Russian invasion, nearly 15 million people in the country need humanitarian aid amid war, according to Global Conflict Tracker. According to the New York Times, an average of just over 1,000 Russian soldiers were injured or killed every day in May.

As Perry and Schroeder crossed the Ukrainian border from Poland, they saw large tanks rolling down the street. On their first night in their hotel in Lviv, sirens blared at 3 a.m., warning citizens of possible Russian air strikes.

“Holy shit. Dude, are you awake?” Perry asked Schroeder.

“I’m going back to bed,” Schroeder replied.

The two worked long days, sometimes 12 to 13 hours, to treat all of their patients. Schroeder puts in three to four prosthetics a month in the U.S., he said. In Lviv, he did them daily.

“You’ll see 30 people come and go through the door every day,” Schroeder said.

The patients arrived from the war with devastating injuries. Some had to have all four limbs amputated, had no hands and had a reconstructed face.

“You could see the (war) stories when you saw the patients,” Perry said. “I mean, there were some pretty horrific injuries.”

The patients ranged in age from young adults to people in their mid-forties, and all were soldiers. Schroeder and Perry received a list of their patients before the trip and were able to perform the treatment without any complications with insurance.

The soldiers’ faces beamed with gratitude after the operation, Perry said. The language barrier was overcome after the procedure. For some, this moment was worth the wait.

“These guys have been waiting for the (prosthesis), some of them for over a year,” Schroeder said.

Wars advance prosthetics, Perry said. Research, investment and technology improve during and after a war. But in Ann Arbor, Perry Prosthetics is somewhat insulated from the effects of war.

“We don’t see war injuries that come back,” Perry said. “We see them after they’ve been through and healed. Many of the returning warriors I’ve seen aren’t just missing limbs, there’s a lot more going on (mentally).”

Ukraine was different for Perry. He experienced the reality of war first hand, although he also described the facilities and the city of Lviv as beautiful.

It was an unforgettable experience, Perry said. Schroeder’s wife and children told him how proud they were of him.

Schroeder also told his wife that he and Perry’s Ukrainian patients already miss her.

“They wanted us to stay,” Perry said.

Want more news from Ann Arbor? Bookmark local Ann Arbor news siteThe News site for the Ypsilanti area or sign up for the free “3@3 Ann Arbor“ daily newsletter.