This is the second in a series of brief profiles of some of the internally displaced people (“IDP”s) who have sheltered at the nursing home where I am volunteering as a nursing aid.

Sadly, we lost a friend today. Leonid Dmitrievich Tkachev was 82 years old. He was born in the peaceful town of Chasiv Yar, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, the youngest child of a large family. Six months after his birth, the Great Patriotic War broke out. Leonid’s family had a hard time. His parents struggled to feed their children, even though they labored hard wherever they could find work.
After the war years, young Leonid got his driver’s license and went to work as a driver at a mining plant near his home town. He worked there day in and day out for 40 years and received many compliments and commendations.
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Leonid was living all alone. His wife had died, and his only remaining family contact was his daughter-in-law. Finding it difficult to take care of his needs all alone at 80 years of age, especially with his home threatened by the ravages of another war, he turned to our charitable assisted living home for help. The home offered him shelter, which he gladly accepted. After moving into the hospice, he often said, “It’s like heaven on earth – peaceful, comfortable and, most important, good company.”
Unfortunately, during a spell of cold weather in February, Leonid slipped on a patch of ice and fell while he was taking his regular afternoon stroll outdoors. Ludmila, working in the kitchen on the second floor, heard him hollering below the kitchen window and quickly dashed downstairs to help. I brought a wheelchair outside and we lifted him into it and brought him back into the building. We laid him on his bed and let him settle down. We could see his leg was swollen and he felt shooting pain when the leg was bumped or moved. The pain did not subside overnight, and when the doctor visited the following day he estimated there was probably a 90% chance the hip or thigh was fractured. The condition did not improve over the next couple of days, so our director Gennadiy called an ambulance to take Leo to the hospital.
The fracture turned out to be complicated. The doctors performed surgery to set and stabilize the femur. Leonid was in the hospital for almost a month. When he returned home, he looked tired and pensive. He had a twelve-inch long incision in his upper thigh, a metal splint pinned to his femur and orders from the doctor to stay in bed-rest for the next 8 weeks. I think he was still in quite a lot of pain. His breathing was raspy and he had a phlegmy cough.
Leonid always had a great sense of mirth, good humor and zest for life. Even during those difficult days after he fell, Leonid kept a “stiff upper lip.” Certainly, it can’t be easy to keep a chuckle in your throat when you are continuously gritting your teeth in pain. Nevertheless, I could see his droll humor shining through from time to time.
Before he fell, he was one of the more active and independent residents at the assisted living home. Then, by a cruel twist of fate, he suddenly found himself facing a new daily reality of pain, discomfort and inconvenience. Even sitting up for a meal became a significant challenge for him.
Every time Leonid tried to eat a meal he would begin coughing up phlegm. The phlegm was so thick, it prevented him from eating adequate meals. Coughing and choking each and every time he tried to swallow a mouthful of food, he would invariably become utterly frustrated and worn out after taking just a few bites. The hospice staff tried various medications to try to clear up the respiratory congestion and all sorts of special meal preparations to try to get enough sustenance into him, but nothing seemed to work. A slight man to begin with, he gradually lost more and more weight, and by the time he passed away, he weighed about 80 pounds.
Leonid died in his sleep in the middle of a sunny, springtime afternoon. Despite the relentless respiratory congestion that eventually took his life, he passed as strong-willed and determined as ever to live each day with dignity. We will sorely miss him and will always remember him for his mirthful enthusiasm and gleeful spirit. He was our dear friend. Rest in peace, Leonid.