Whereas the Boston Marathon is all the time crammed with heartening tales of runners, this 12 months’s story about 12-year-old double amputee Yana Stepanenko taking over the 5K is especially poignant.
Stepanenko, a naturally sporty younger lady, has not given up her athletic desires since shedding each her legs in a Russian missile assault on her Ukranian hometown that left her household stranded. (The household finally emigrated to the U.S.)
When the assault killed 59 folks, together with seven kids, Stepanenko and her mom and siblings managed to flee, although her mom additionally misplaced a leg within the assault. Stepanenko and her household have acquired rehabilitative care in San Diego after fleeing Ukraine in April 2022.
Since her rehabilitation, Stepanenko has two prosthetic legs and has tailored to her new actuality. Within the fall of 2023, she ran a small portion of the Lviv Half Marathon in Ukraine.
“I used to be initially scared after I ran for the primary time,” Stepanenko informed Unbroken Ukraine, a company that has adopted, documented and translated her rehabilitation story on its YouTube channel. She provides, “I’ve lived via very powerful moments and am very completely happy to stroll and run once more.”
Stepanenko trains “a number of occasions every week” and can tackle the 5K race on the Boston Marathon on April 13. She hopes to encourage others via her feat.
