A lot can be said about Seryozha: that he is the same boy who survived, the same athlete who motivates hundreds of Russian guys to play sports and the same blogger who tells other people every day about life in a wheelchair. But the tattoo on his right leg with the inscription: “One foot in heaven” speaks best for Seryozha.
Five years ago, 22-year-old Sergei Kutovoy from Arkhangelsk had an accident with a truck, suffered an amputation, spent nine months in a hospital bed, and, despite all the difficulties, was able to become a successful blogger, lose 40 kilograms and find love.
"Why did this happen to me?"
My story began in 2013 in Arkhangelsk, on the day when I was returning home from sick leave.
While crossing a one-way road, I saw that two cars had stopped in front of me, and I began to cross the road without breaking the rules. Having already completed the transition, I turned around and realized that a KAMAZ was rushing in my direction - its brakes had failed, and in order to avoid a collision with cars, the driver drove to the side of the road.
The next moments faded into one: the truck dragged me 15 meters on the hood and slammed me into a pole at great speed. The leg was torn off on the spot. At the moment of the collision, she found herself between the bumper and the pole.
A few seconds later I woke up. I didn’t feel any pain, but there were a lot of people around, there was noise, someone was holding my head and clearly saying: “Just don’t look down.” Other passers-by at that moment called my parents and I heard: “Your son was in an accident. He is alive, but he has problems with his leg.”
For the next 15 or 20 minutes we could not call an ambulance - the city duty officers did not answer the phone. I was picked up by an emergency room that happened to be passing by. Passers-by moved the KAMAZ with their hands, then they loaded me onto a stretcher, and the doctors tried to apply a tourniquet for about an hour to stop the bleeding. It was thanks to that tourniquet that my life was saved. From pain and shock, I had a hard time understanding what was happening, but I remember strong bumps and pain in the ambulance. Then there was a flash of light in the hospital corridor, and I fell into a coma for 10 days.
When I woke up, my first reaction was: “Why? Why did this happen to me? After all, I always missed the grandmothers, because I always helped everyone who asked me!”
After a coma
After coming out of the coma, I spent another month in the hospital. For 16 days of them, with the help of hemodialysis, my kidneys were started to work, and they refused to recover from the consequences of the injury. The situation was critical, so at some point my twin brother Vanya was even ready to donate his kidney for a transplant.
After arriving at the hospital immediately after the injury, they tried to sew my leg back, but it didn’t take root, gangrene set in, and with a second operation they amputated part of my leg even higher - in the pelvic area. After both operations, very painful dressings occurred, which were difficult to endure, since the wounds were open, and 37 stitches had to be placed throughout the body.
In total, I spent 9 months in the hospital after the injury. I celebrated my 18th birthday in the ward, the last bell, graduation from school, and entered college.
The recovery took so long because the joint of the surviving leg had to be pulled out, and the pelvic bones were crushed. At that time we were unable to stretch the leg; a year after discharge, my family and I managed to get an operation in St. Petersburg according to the quota. There they installed a titanium bone for me, so now I can walk on crutches, but I don’t do it because I can’t feel my foot or the ground I’m stepping on.
The period in the hospital was the hardest. There were constant complications, kidney stones and bedsores appeared. It seemed that there would be no end to all this. It would be cool if someone told me then: “Serega, in three years you will have 400 thousand subscribers, you will be in great shape and will motivate everyone,” but I still wouldn’t believe it.
Life in a new body
Throughout this difficult period, my father and brother were next to me, who supported me with words and deeds, and showed me videos of Nick Vuychich. The only thing I slacked on during this time was weight gain, because in the hospital I ate everything and gained up to 120 kilograms.
When I arrived home and looked in the mirror, I was terribly upset: fat, bald, missing a leg. All this motivated me at the same time: I wanted to be successful, strong, realize my potential, and be friends with a beautiful girl.
The changes started with nutrition. First, I studied on the Internet how to eat properly, then gradually at home I started doing push-ups between two beds on parallel bars. My father installed a horizontal bar on which I worked out every day. In a few months, I lost 40 kilograms, posted a before/after photo on Instagram, and it hit the top posts. Thus, in parallel, my blog about weight loss, motivation, and injury began, to which people quickly began to subscribe.
I was glad to gain popularity on the Internet, because they began to recognize me, the opportunity to earn money appeared, I realized that people needed it and that they were interested in it, many began to send their examples of how they lost weight with me.
At the same time, I talked to many guys who, like me, experienced trauma. Most of them don’t give up, they work, they look for themselves: some get tattoos, some make cool handmade helmets, some write a blog. One of my close friends is blogger Rustam Nabiev, who lost two legs after the collapse of a barracks in Omsk.
Daddy Long Neck - what's wrong with it?
Daddy Longneck's real name is David Samuelson Jr. Little is known about the guy’s life, as well as the reasons for his unusual physique.
According to the stories of the guy with the long neck, he lives in Flint, Michigan. Born presumably on September 7, 1999. That is, contrary to popular opinion, in 2020 he was an adult.
In an interview with Michael McCruden, author of the Before They Were Famous channel, David shared some details from his life. He said that he does not suffer from any disease, although he visited doctors a lot as a child. The reason for his thinness is that his body does not metabolize food and does not allow him to gain weight, no matter how hard he tries. Otherwise, doctors say, Samuelson is healthy.
David's height is 1.6 meters. At the same time, he weighs only 40 kilograms at 19 years old.
“My trauma is a part of me...”
I met my girlfriend Ksyusha in September 2020, when I already had an audience of about 100 thousand subscribers. Before we met live, we communicated on the Internet for three months. It turned out that in the 90s our parents knew each other, so they calmly let Ksyusha go to the movies with me. There I took her hand and kissed her goodbye. From the first meeting we became a couple.
Ksyusha perceives my trauma adequately, understanding that this trauma is part of me. He often says that he doesn’t notice that I’m missing a leg, and I myself don’t like overprotection, I can joke about this topic and fool around. I don't need to be looked after, and I do all the main tasks myself.
During these five years, I managed to train for two years in the Paralympic sport of sledge hockey. He participated in the national championships twice, but eventually moved away from this, because, like in any sport, success in sledge hockey can only be achieved if you dedicate yourself completely to it.
Now I really like media, blogging. I take this as a profession and am sure that not every person is ready to become a blogger, write texts, give advice, share their life and take criticism. By the way, I take the negativity that always happens in the comments calmly, because the main thing is what I think about myself and what my girlfriend thinks about me. We can assume that I have developed immunity.
Personal life
Anton often shares pictures with his subscribers in which he is depicted with his charming girlfriend Camilla. She is his legal wife. The couple does not have children yet, but perhaps they will appear in the future.
Anton and Camilla never part with each other. They have been together for more than 7 years. At one point, the couple opened a confectionery shop, in which they worked together. But after the establishment was flooded with water, they had to close the business.
Anton and Camilla have been together for more than 7 years
About available cities
Our plans for the near future include moving to St. Petersburg. Ksyusha is going to university, I will do business, develop a blog, together we want to open a clothing store.
Just five years ago, when I first got injured, my hometown of Arkhangelsk was a very inconvenient place to move, but now the situation is changing a lot: there are many ramps, elevators, and convenient paths for strollers.
Moscow is worse in this regard than, for example, St. Petersburg, because the metro is completely unsuitable for people with disabilities. St. Petersburg is a more “friendly” city in this sense: the stations have been updated, escort service staff always help you get down and up, and there are escalators everywhere.
Now I receive a disability pension of the first group - 12,500 rubles. This is my main complaint against the state, because it is impossible to live on that kind of money, especially when you are a young guy, when you want to do something and do something. What's the matter, if you go to the store and buy food for two days it never ends up being less than 1000 rubles.
The good thing is that there are quotas for expensive prostheses. Each of them costs from 250 thousand to 1.7 million rubles - everything is individual, depending on the age of the patient and his activity. My prosthesis, which I am waiting for now, costs about one and a half million, but I don’t know if I will be able to use it, because it will be difficult for me to attach it to my belt and I have problems with my second leg. But I really hope that everything will work out for me.
Boy, who are you? The coolest guys on Russian Instagram
We at PEOPLETALK love to have a good laugh. Therefore, for a portion of the next bit of bullshit, we go to Instagram and watch videos of these guys.
Be careful, the video contains profanity!
Alexey Zhidkovsky (22)
Alexey is only 22 years old, but he talks about life as if he knows it inside and out (and with humor). The St. Petersburg resident primarily attracts attention with his appearance - he looks like a girl, sometimes talks about himself in the feminine gender, uses cosmetics and even talks about it in his Telegram channel. Be sure to follow his stories - there is practically a live broadcast of his entire life with sarcastic comments and dance songs.
View this post on Instagram
According to the classics, we tag such a friend, well, we put a “plus” if we have received and are receiving something similar in messages, and of course, if the life is a bitch, etc... And I slept for an hour on the train, as they managed to notice, it was fucking swollen and slightly not fresh ( how was it this morning??♀️?), now off to filming, and then straight back to St. Petersburg... swollen-headed ho-ho?
A post shared by ?Alexey? (@zhidkovskiy) on Aug 6, 2020 at 6:34am PDT
Kagramana (22)
Roman Kagramanov is, in fact, a singer - he participated in the “New Star” show on the “Zvezda” TV channel, but could not win. Now he is recording songs that his fans are not very interested in - they like funny videos. Cagramana parodies modern singers and their tracks, makes faces in front of the camera - and this is enough for a million people to subscribe to his Instagram.
View this post on Instagram
Is life no longer a bachelor life? @egorkreed be strong bro @video_xuligan #bachelor #top #hype #kagramana
A post shared by Roman Kagramanov (@kagramana) on Jun 4, 2020 at 7:59am PDT
Dmitry Gorodetsky (22)
The most provocative Instagram blogger was born in Kharkov (Ukraine) and since childhood dreamed of becoming an actor - he even entered the Kharkov State Academy of Culture. Then he realized that the conversational genre was closer to him, and began recording very frank videos on Instagram about relationships. The most relevant topics: “I love him, but he doesn’t love me”, “He cheated, what should I do?”, “How to love yourself?” and so on. The motto of his page is: “Fragile and virginal, put condoms on your ears.” And we subscribe to every word.
View this post on Instagram
Buying a pig in a poke is stupid in the 21st century. Do you agree? Or are you for old traditions?
A post shared by DMITRY GORODETSKY (@amendima) on Jul 25, 2018 at 8:58am PDT
Alexander Gudkov (35)
One of the heroes of the special issue “Vdudya” about humor, the man to whom we owe “Ibiza” (yes, he came up with a video balancing on the verge of a brilliant parody and madness), partner in crime of Ekaterina Varnava (we love their joint videos) and creator that same YouTube show “The League of Bad Jokes” that we’re sure you watch in the evenings.
View this post on Instagram
Vovka Marconi @vladimir_markoni invented, convinced, won one of the bravest and most desperate diamonds of our homemade necklace @chickencurryshow. Watch Vovkino's show CommentOut on the fucking web! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! #chickencurry #commentout #whatgenescollectedchickencurry
A post shared by (@gudokgudok) on Dec 1, 2020 at 3:23pm PST
Andrey Borisov (28)
Andrey Borisov
Andrey made a video with Liliya Abramova (“TatarkaFM”) and pulled out his lucky ticket! The number of subscribers has increased sharply, and now 3.7 million people are following the adventures of “mother and son”. Andrey films films on the topic of relationships - he puts on a wig and transforms into Svetka.
View this post on Instagram
Bullying at school is something that almost everyone has experienced. I don’t know about others, but at my school anyone could get into trouble. ? It's good that I have @tatarkafm Tag fighters and friends. And Galina Sergeevna asks the experts a question. “Where did the phone hide?”
A post shared by Andrey Borisov (@gan_13_) on May 24, 2020 at 6:19am PDT
Evgeniy Kulik (31)
The favorite chubby Russian Instagram Zhenya Kulik has been filming Vines for three years now, and since then the number of his subscribers has grown from 10 thousand to almost 4 million.
View this post on Instagram
Like it, you won't be jailed. Tag those you don't like - they will go to jail ??♀️- @rigina_gaisina
A post shared by EVGENIY KULIK ? (@evgeny_kulik) on Sep 6, 2018 at 8:01am PDT
Huseyn Hasanov (24)
Huseyn Hasanov
Huseyn Hasanov
Huseyn makes fun of modern youth, and does it very funny. Therefore, 7.3 million people have already subscribed to him, and the girls themselves write to Husein in direct messages asking for permission to star in his vines. They do not mind.
View this post on Instagram
When you like a guy, the main thing is not to show it right away??? ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ Put ?? tag your friends?? ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ Author? @Gusein.Gasanov ??♀️ @Razzvel
A post shared by GUSEIN GASANOV (@gusein.gasanov) on Jan 24, 2017 at 7:46am PST
“Every bad thing is compensated by the good...”
If I had the opportunity to convey a message to myself at the age of 16-17, I would ask myself to hold on and be patient a little, because everything bad is compensated by several times even cooler and happier. In the future, 10 years from now, I see myself as a person independent of my financial situation.
I would like to stay in good physical shape, get ahead, improve myself, learn new things, maybe speak to other people as a motivational speaker. I dream of a family, three children, I dream of having a life’s work.
Now, after so many years, I can sincerely say that I fell in love with myself. I understand that nothing can be changed. I am that I am. Even if someone now offered me to return everything back, I would refuse, because in five years I gained experience that many people do not get in their entire lives. Without this injury, I might never have understood what I was needed for in this life. Then, in 2013, I received a different, new awareness of myself and my capabilities.
The photographic materials used in the article are posted on the hero’s official Instagram account.
