Russian figure skater Roman Kostomarov himself agreed to a foot amputation due to the threat of death. This was announced on Thursday, February 9, by the first coach of the Olympic champion Lidia Karavaeva.
According to her, the doctors gave the athlete a tough ultimatum.
“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,” Karavaeva told KP.RU.
She added that her fingers are now at risk of being removed. At the same time, Kostomarov’s condition is still serious.
“Now they will solve the problem with the hands. For now, I don’t know how it will end. It’s not good there. The temperature keeps, he gets better, sometimes worse. Now the main thing for him is to survive, ”the coach said.
Kostomarov was hospitalized on January 10. Before that, he complained of weakness and pain in his chest. Later, the skater was transferred to intensive care. He was diagnosed with sepsis and left-sided pneumonia, which, according to some reports, progressed to bilateral. Kostomarov was connected to a ventilator. In addition, he underwent an ECMO procedure.
On February 7, it became known that Kostomarov’s foot was amputated on one leg. The operation was necessary to remove tissue necrosis that developed against the background of the inflammatory process. It was reported that dead tissue from the second leg was removed, but later there were reports that the athlete had to amputate the second foot.
On February 8, a source from Izvestia reported that specialists were monitoring the state of Kostomarov’s hands. Until the skater can shake hands and bend their fingers.
The mother of the skater Valentina Kostomarova told Izvestia that, according to doctors, the process of restoring her son’s health could take a long time. According to her, it all started after the skater worked in ice shows on New Year’s holidays. He developed a cough and severe chest pains. Then he turned to the doctors.
At the same time, doctors do not exclude that Kostomarov will be able to go on the ice and continue his sports career. As a sports doctor, surgeon Andrei Litvinenko told Izvestia, this is possible thanks to special prostheses.
Kostomarov is the winner of the 2006 Turin Olympics in a duet with Tatyana Navka. The couple twice became world champions, three times – European champions and winners of the Grand Prix series final.
