“An amputated limb gets tired less than a healthy one”: a veteran athlete about a marathon on a prosthesis

26-year-old Roman Kashpur has been walking and running on a prosthesis for 4 years. The injury that led to the amputation of his limb gave him even more motivation to move forward and live life to the fullest.

In the conversation, Roman noted that he liked to run and do sports since childhood. Even during the service, he worked with his comrades on muscle endurance in improvised gyms at the positions.

After the amputation, he decided to prove to himself that disability is not a sentence, but just a note on paper. Thus, Roman won the competition among veterans twice in a row, pulled a 16-ton plane and covered a marathon distance of 42 km on a prosthesis.

Roman Kashpur spoke about life with an amputation, motivation and ambitious dreams for “Ukrainian Pravda. Life”.

Next is his direct speech.

Injury and active life

I have been doing sports, basically, for as long as I can remember. I ran a lot while still at school: I was a midfielder in the football team, I did street workout (it’s like street strength gymnastics). When he returned to sports after amputation, muscle memory worked: the years of training did not go in vain.

In 2016, when I was 19 years old, I decided to go to the front as a volunteer, secretly from my parents. Was engaged in intelligence.

Service photo from Roman’s archive

He was wounded on May 16, 2019, on Vyshyvanka Day, during a combat mission near Olenivka in Donetsk region. I stepped on an enemy landmine and lost my right foot.

I was taken to Volnovakha, where the severed limb was taken away, then transported to Mariupol, and from there by helicopter to Kharkiv.

In the hospital, the doctor came and said: “Your leg was well amputated, everything was cleaned, but the stump you have is not enough to properly install a prosthesis. It is necessary to re-ampute a little higher“.

I looked up and said, “Doctor, I need it so that I can run, sleep, do sports, live an active life. Cut as much as you need“.

Signed a voluntary consent for reamputation. The leg was cut a little higher: somewhere at the level of the berets.

Roman’s family photo

I broke my first prosthesis – a training one – very quickly. It was installed about 6 weeks after the amputation. It was intended only for walking: it was necessary to form a stump (a part of the limb after amputation), treat it and learn to live with a prosthesis.

But I didn’t want everything to happen so slowly. I wanted to return to a full life from the first seconds I stepped on the mine. When I woke up in the intensive care unit, I realized that I was not comfortable just walking with a prosthesis. You have to live to the fullest!

After a few days with the training prosthesis, I couldn’t stand it: I ran a few meters on it and jumped onto the curb. So he burst.

Read also: “Carry my legs back.” How a 24-year-old military man with a triple amputee learns to live

The first victories and the beginning of the invasion

My brothers, when I blew up, said – don’t stop, you’ll be fine. I could not let them down, so I decided to try myself in sports.

I have a rather stubborn character, and if I take on a task, I devote myself to it completely. That’s why I entered the first competitions to prove to myself, first of all, that I can do it.

9 months after the injury, he received a permanent prosthesis. He was not athletic, but suited for an active life. On it, I won the all-Ukrainian crossfit competition “Games of Heroes” in Kharkiv in 2020 and 2021.

After the second victory, I decided to do something individual to emphasize the prosthesis. I wanted to show all Ukrainians, including veterans, that amputation is definitely not a sentence and limitation, and disability is just a note on paper.

So on December 2, 2021, after six months of training, I set a national record at the Chuguyiv airfield: I pulled a 16-ton An-26 plane almost 7 meters on a prosthesis.

The next goal was to run a marathon, but in 2022 war broke out. I evacuated my family from Kharkiv and returned to the front. I have been in Northern Saltivka since the beginning of March.

After the airplane record, I had to send my prosthesis in for maintenance. I attached the paperwork to replace the stub receiver, but didn’t get around to doing it before the invasion. Therefore, I had to go to the front on the prosthesis that remained – on the bathing suit.

Its name speaks for itself: soft and not adapted even for comfortable walking. But, as practice has shown, when a tank fires point-blank and houses are blown up, you can run on it.

Photo from the 2022 service

I spent a month and a half in a gray area, but I was on par with combat fighters, going on an assault. Then he already moved to the position of instructor, began to teach people.

Half a year after the beginning of the invasion, he decided that he needed to return to sports. I wanted to make my dream come true and overcome the marathon distance.

Marathon, half marathon and plans for the future

I started full-fledged training with my trainer Nataliya Krushynska only 3 months before the marathon.

Every day it was a different training program with special athletics exercises. However, it was not possible to replace the liner (a part of the prosthesis that is worn over a part of the amputated limb) – I trained on the old one, which was rubbing, and complications arose with the stump. I was treated, and my trainer and I agreed on a schedule of exercises and runs every other day.

There were days when I ran an easy 10km cross country and didn’t feel very tired. There were days when I had to cover shorter distances (up to 7 km), but I had to run downhill or with acceleration. They felt like all 20 km in terms of fatigue.

On April 23, 2023, I ran the London Marathon. I became the first veteran in Ukraine who covered the full marathon distance – 42 km on a prosthesis.

Photo after the marathon in London

As a person who ran a marathon for the first time in his life – cool, of course! But as an athlete, I was not entirely satisfied with the result of 5 hours and 53 minutes. It should be improved.

Prostheses, by the way, are designed so that the amputated limb gets tired less than the healthy one. Therefore, on the morning after the marathon, a slight stiffness was felt in the stump, and there was severe pain in the healthy leg. It’s like she “got lost”.

So for the first 10 minutes I tried to get out of bed, because of the strength I was stretching my foot, but by the evening I went for a walk. A week after the marathon in London, I came to training.

Read also: The wife said: “Grow legs.” How does the first patient in Ukraine with prostheses implanted in the bone feel

Within a month, I returned to Europe and ran a half marathon in Brussels. Despite the fact that the distance was half the distance, it was more difficult to overcome due to the long and smooth climbs and the sudden heat of May. My wife was waiting at the finish line and told me that quite a few runners were passing out.

In Brussels, he also took care of certain diplomatic issues related to the rehabilitation, socialization and prosthetics of veterans. After our victory, Ukraine will have a golden chance to become a leading country in these matters.

What does the equipment for the marathon look like

In the fall, I will be running the Marine Corps Run in Washington. For several years, they allowed to choose a distance when registering – 10 or 42 km. This year – without appeal – only the marathon. The track and weather will be tougher, so the London race was a good scout.

I want to emphasize that I am not calling on all veterans to run marathons or tow airplanes after the war. I’m about finding myself and living life to the fullest.

Victoria Andreeva, UP. Life

Read also: Prosthesis is not a panacea. What you need to know about artificial arms and legs