Michael Gorski, general manager of Proteor Print, and Mariia Yelizarova, a Boston University alum, pose for a photo while Yelizarova holds a 3D printed socket for a prosthetic leg. Yelizarova, who was inspired after witnessing the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, helped kick off a fundraiser to give Ukrainian hospitals digital 3D printers to create prosthetic limbs for those injured in the invasion. PHOTO COURTESY OF MARIIA YELIZAROVA
Mariia Yelizarova was a sophomore at Boston University when she crossed the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon, the site of a bombing that left three dead and more than 200 injured. Thirteen years later, she plans to run the marathon again — only now, her finish line will be at a hospital in Lviv, Ukraine.
In 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion in Yelizarova’s home country of Ukraine. As of February, nearly 380,000 Ukrainians were reported injured, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an interview with NBC News.
In an effort to support those wounded in the war, Yelizarova is running to raise money for 3D printers that will create prosthetic limb sockets.
“My parents still live in Ukraine,” Yelizarova said. “So it’s really important for me to be able to help the war effort for the war to end as quickly as possible.”
While there were a variety of ways to fundraise for this cause, Yelizarova said she chose to run the marathon to symbolize the resilience both Boston and Ukraine have shown in face of tragedy.
“The following days after the bombing were the days where I truly felt like a Bostonian, because I felt a huge, deep connection to the city, and I felt really angry that it was attacked in this way,” she said.
A month after the invasion started, Yelizarova said she traveled to Poland with about 150 kilograms of humanitarian aid, donated to her by Boston residents. She then stayed for two weeks, volunteering as a translator and logistical coordinator for a refugee center housing people who fled from Ukraine, she said.
Upon returning to Boston, she joined the board of two charity organizations that regularly host fundraisers to support Ukrainians amid the war, she said.
“I can’t just stay at home and do nothing. I have to do something,” Yelizarova said. “So I do whatever I can to the best of my ability to help my home country.”
Last month, Yelizarova met Dave Fortier, founder and president of the One World Strong Foundation, a nonprofit started by Boston Marathon bombing survivors to support others who have endured traumatic events.
Each year, the foundation assembles a team of around 10 people to participate in the Boston Marathon, with each person supporting a different cause, Fortier said.
“It was a very easy decision to pick Mariia to be on the team,” he said. “Her passion was clear.”
Yelizarova knew she would run for Ukraine, but she wanted to “narrow down” her mission even further, she said.
Meanwhile, Michael Gorski, general manager of Proteor Print, traveled to Ukraine to showcase his 3D printers to humanitarian organizations.
The technology is “much more efficient and much cleaner” than traditional methods, Gorski said. With this technology, a technician can scan an amputated limb using an iPhone camera, upload the 3D file to the printer and create a socket that perfectly fits the residual limb for a prosthetic to be attached.
He added there is a growing need for prosthetic limbs due to an increasing rate of drone attacks, which he said is almost a guaranteed lower leg amputation for those hit.
Gorski said he has seen the impact these prosthetic limbs can have. For example, he shared how a Ukrainian veteran in his early 20s lost his leg in the war to a landmine, leaving him bedridden for months.
As soon as the man received his socket from the digital 3D printer, Gorski said, the man immediately burst into tears.
“Being able to see the technology that we developed here in Pennsylvania transforming the lives of those in Ukraine for such a horrible tragedy that’s happening over there, it’s just very meaningful to me,” Gorski said.
When he arrived in Ukraine in September, Gorski demonstrated this technology to Oleksandr Kobzarev, executive director of The UNBROKEN Charitable Foundation, a nonprofit hospital network dedicated to treating wounded Ukrainians.
Gorski said after their conversation, Kobzarev was intrigued and reached out to One World Strong to help raise money to implement these printers into UNBROKEN’s facilities.
Fortier connected them both to Yelizarova, and the fundraising kicked off on Oct. 7. Days after publicly launching the campaign, she has raised almost $1,000.
The price of one printer is $25,000, but Yelizarova aims to raise enough money for several due to the high demand for prosthetics in Ukraine, she said.
“There are lines of people waiting for prosthetics,” she said. “It really hugely improves the quality of life of a person who just suffered a hugely traumatic event.”
However, Yeliroza said this is only the first step toward her ultimate goal: for a recipient of one of these prosthetics to run the Boston Marathon.
“The same resilience that Boston had to show after the bombing is the same resilience that Ukrainians are showing right now, every day during the war,” she said. “Running the Boston Marathon would just be an ultimate testament to that.”
Yelizarova said it is really important for people to support their community, especially during a time of struggle.
“Sometimes, people hesitate to do anything because they don’t feel like what they’re doing is a lot,” she said. “But I think that in the grand scheme of things, every little bit helps.”