METALLICA's JAMES HETFIELD visits Ukrainian soldiers at Colorado hospital
23-05-2023
According to Vail Daily, James Hetfield visited a Ukrainian soldier who was brought to the METALLICA frontman’s hometown of Vail, Colorado for medical treatment through the assistance of locally founded non-profit Limbs For Liberty.
While Roman Denysiuk was recovering at Vail Health hospital last week, Kelli Rohrig, co-founder of Limbs For Liberty, asked Hetfield to pay a visit to the soldier. Hetfield agreed, and, after meeting Denysiuk and Igor Voinyi, Hetfield left a sticky note on Rohrig‘s car saying, “You made my day.”
“It was unexpected,” Voinyi told Vail Daily. “I didn’t even believe it at the first moment that it was him. It was very short, but it was a very warm meeting. It would be nice to meet him at a campfire and have a drink, instead of the hospital.”
Limbs For Liberty partners with physicians and physical therapists to provide prosthetics to Ukrainians who have lost their limbs in war.
Unlike other non-profits, Limbs For Liberty does not receive a penny for their efforts. In fact, Rohrig and her husband have spent about $30,000 paying for their multiple trips to Ukraine and related expenses, according to The Aspen Times.
Kelli is a native Coloradoan who found herself at the Polish border in March 2022 looking for volunteer work to help the many Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion. She subsequently crossed into Ukraine where she met many incredible people and formed lifelong friendships. Upon returning from Ukraine on her second trip in May 2022, she and another Avon local established Limbs For Liberty.
“I’ve always been super fascinated by people who put their lives on the line to help others,” she told Vail magazine. “So when the war started, I just figured, this is the time that you go and help the people. And that’s what I did.”
METALLICA is currently on tour to promote their recently released album ’72 Seasons’, out on the band’s own imprint Blackened Records.
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