For the past month, the entire country has been anxiously following the health of Olympic ice dancing champion Roman Kostomarov, who has been in a hospital in Kommunarka since January.
The athlete went to the doctors with severe pneumonia.
He had to be put into an artificial coma.
The skater was on a ventilator, and for some time he was connected to an artificial blood oxygen saturation system - ECMO.
Fortunately, Kostomarov's body managed to cope with this ailment: he came out of a coma and began to breathe on his own.
However, after a long stay on the machines, Roman began to have problems with blood circulation, which led to cell necrosis in the limbs.
There is still no confirmed information about the current state of the skater.
The athlete's relatives, including his wife Oksana Domnina, are not ready to communicate with journalists.
And, of course, they are easy to understand in this situation.
On February 8, Domnina asked to stop disturbing her, relatives, acquaintances and friends.
It is reported that the athlete’s medical history was even classified in the hospital after details about the treatment began to leak into the media.
However, information about the skater's condition still appears in the press.
So, last week there were reports of amputation of the figure skater's feet due to necrosis.
Moreover, according to the first coach of the athlete Lydia Karavaeva, he gave his consent to the operation himself.
“Well, of course, but how not to give?
Otherwise he would have died.
My mother-in-law also had two phalanges amputated.
They said: either you will live without legs, or say goodbye to life.
Of course, everyone chooses to live under any circumstances.
Nobody wants to die, ”Komsomolskaya Pravda quotes the words of the coach.
Almost immediately it became clear that this measure might not be enough: sepsis began to spread to the upper limbs.
At first, it was only about the three fingers most susceptible to necrosis.
However, on Monday, February 13, Komsomolskaya Pravda wrote about the amputation of both hands of Kostomarov.
The Match TV source also confirmed this.
“The first amputation on Kostomarov’s hand was carried out last week, the doctors postponed the decision to amputate the second hand until the beginning of this week,” the source said.
It is difficult to judge how accurate this information is.
According to a RIA Novosti source, the doctors, as planned, amputated only a few fingers, and the infection was stopped.
And Sport-Express reports that all necrosis was removed for Kostomarov, therefore, if a new one can be avoided (and the likelihood of this is high), the patient will only have to be removed from the ventilator.
Nevertheless, the figure skater's condition remains serious.
Oxygen and nutrition are supplied through a special tube in the larynx.
He lost a lot of weight.
According to Olympic medalist Ivan Skobrev, communication is difficult for an athlete.
“He is brought back to consciousness periodically.
Now more and more.
Physiotherapist is working with him.
Can't really speak.
He moves his lips, tries to get up, tosses and turns a little.
Oksana comes every day, ”said Skobrev.
Friends and colleagues of Kostomarov also do not abandon the athlete.
As the choreographer Ilya Averbukh said, the Ice Age show is organizing an all-Russian tour in support of the Olympic champion.
“We, as usual, planned this annual, already the 19th all-Russian tour, much in advance - last year, but life made very difficult adjustments.
We decided to change our plans and throw all our efforts into making this tour in support of Roma.
For us, this is not an entertainment event, but a unifying one - a tour that should unite all of us.
Roma is part of our ice family, we have come a long way together for 19 years, during which there were thousands of performances at various venues, ”TASS quotes the choreographer.
According to Averbukh, all funds will be directed to the rehabilitation of Kostomarov, which will be very long and difficult.
“At the moment, Roma is in the hospital and is provided with everything necessary.
However, we all understand that expensive rehabilitation will be required in the future, and we, as a company and as a large ice family, are ready to help in this.
I want to emphasize once again that we are not opening a separate fund or checking account for the audience, we rather call on everyone to support Roma morally so that he finds out what a huge number of people across the country are worried about him, ”added the choreographer.
Speaking about rehabilitation, specialists primarily discuss prosthetics.
At the same time, Olympic champion Elena Berezhnaya believes that Kostomarov will still be able to return to the ice.
“For us, legs and arms are a tool of work, a profession.
And how did it happen that it got to this point?
Very sad, scary.
I believe that Roma is a strong-willed person.
Athletes and Olympic champions cannot be weak.
They will make him the most fashionable prostheses, and I think that he will still be on the ice, ”Berezhnoy Channel Five quotes.
However, it is too early to talk about this.
Now, as the honored coach of the USSR Tatyana Tarasova noted, the main thing for Kostomarov is to survive.