After Afghanistan's fall, a Canadian veteran turned his grief into hope for Ukraine

Former corporal John Lowe was angry andoverwhelmed by a sense ofhelplessness as he watched the breathtaking collapse of Afghanistan a year ago.

Everything he and other Canadian combat veterans had fought for there seemed to have been swept away in the wake of the Taliban takeover a brutal event after two decades of unrelenting guerilla warfare.

The B.C. resident was just coming to terms withhis disillusionment when Russian tanks roared across the border into Ukraine last winter.

"I remember some of the images coming out of Bucha and particularly an image of a child that had died," Lowe said, referring to the Kyiv suburb that has been the source of widespread reports ofRussian troops murdering civilians. "It brought me back to some of those experiences that I had in Afghanistan."

The images, he said, made him "quite upset and angry." There was regret, mixed with a little guilt a sense that he somehow hadn't doneenough to help.

But what could he do?

A choice between despair and hope

"I knew,at a certain point,that I would have to make a choice between being angry and miserable about what was happening to innocent people, or whether I was going to make a difference on my own," Lowe toldCBC News.

He chose to make a difference. In late winter, Lowe went door-to-door at doctor's offices in Chilliwack, B.C., collecting medical supplies for civilian Ukrainian hospitals.

His efforts were rewarded with a few boxes of gauze. But Lowe collected business cards and persisted.

He researched the surplus and waste in Canadian hospitals. He wrote letters to health care facilities and assisted living homes.

Joining forces with other veterans and volunteers under the banner of the non-profit HERO Society a group started by another former Canadian soldier, Steve Krsnik the floodgates started to open.

WATCH |Combat veteran John Lowe explains why he's sending medical supplies toUkraine:

What inspired a Canadian veteran to help Ukraine

2 years ago

Duration 0:56

Retired corporal John Lowe chose action over anger, which got him into collecting and delivering medical aid to Ukraine.

Soon they were collecting tourniquets, Quikclot (a hemostatic dressing for wounds), thermal imagers and a lot of bandages, said Lowe, who added that the initial focus was on medical supplies"requested by frontline soldiers."

They moved on to collecting bedsheets and hand-held medicalinstruments.

The HERO Society and Lowe were able to fill just a few suitcases at first.In late springthey started making runs into Ukraine, where more volunteers on the ground helped distribute the suppliesto hospitals. Lowe personally delivered 26 suitcases in June.

The donations kept pouring in throughout the summer. Lowe and the other volunteers started getting donations of bigger things:hospital gurneys, stretchers andsophisticated monitoring equipment, items that had been decommissioned by local health authoritiesbut were still in good condition.

Connections in Kyiv

Suddenly, theyneeded a sea container to move everything.

Enter Roman Sawychy, a consultant, business executive and president of Ukrainian-Canada Social Services in Vancouver. Hehas deep connections in Kyiv going back decades.

Sawychy has shipped five containers of humanitarian supplies to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion.

He hadseen the condition of hospitals in eastern Ukraine up close. When the HERO Society asked him for help, he said, hewas onboard right away.

Last weekend in theAbbotsford, B.C. region, a40-foot shipping container was loaded up with medical suppliescollected by HERO volunteers for Ukraine.Sawychy said he hopes it's the first of many.

"As long as they supply equipment, we're going to keep shipping this equipment," he said.

The container will travel overland to Halifax, where it will be loaded on a container ship for Poland and then transported to the Ukrainian border. At some point, the shipmentwill have to be broken up forindividual deliveries. The entire journey is expected to take a few weeks.

Waiting to receive the contents in Ukraine is another Canadian, 27-year-old Alex Nau.The Reginaresidentinterrupted his masters studies in computer science to volunteer in the war-torn country.

He's been helping to ferry supplies and food to some of the hardest-hit regions of Ukraine. One such place isKharkiv, the country's second-largest city, whichhas been under constant shellfire since February. Another is Zaporizhzhia, asouthern city that has at timesbeen flooded bydisplaced civilians seeking safety and now sits on the edge of a potential nuclear disaster as fighting rages around a nearby reactor plant.

WATCH | A Canadian volunteer marvels at the toughnessof Ukrainians:

A Canadian volunteer marvels at Ukrainians' resilience

2 years ago

Duration 0:48

Canadian HERO Society volunteer Alex Nau says he's deeply impressed by Ukrainians' ability to continue normal life in a war zone.

He said he has nothing but admiration for the Ukrainians.

"I can't believe how strong some people can be ... that people can still live in this and live through bombings all the time," Nau toldCBC News from Kharkiv.

The strain showed on Nau'sface as he told CBC News about the risks involved inrunning supplies into bombed-out hospitals and clinics. That stress is taking its toll, he said buthe doesn't want to leave until he knows the network he and others have built will be able to carry on without him.

Bracing for evacuation

"I usually wake up at 7 or 8 before mission days ... [I] got woken up at 6 in the morning the other day because there was bombs about five kilometres away," he said.

"The night before that, I got woken up at 4 in the morning two explosions very, very close ... We had to get ready to possibly evacuate, and that happens quite often.

"And when the bombs are going off during the day, it's not too scary. Like, I'm kind of used to runningin the middle of the night and you get woken up and you don't want to get out of bed but you have to ... That can be pretty scary sometimes."

Nau said it's all worth it, though.

It's also appreciated, said Vitaly Lynycky, a former web developer who acts as Nau'sUkrainian translator and guide. The two of them returned recently to the rubble-filled Kharkiv neighbourhood where Lynycky grew up to deliver food.

"I know every metre of this place," he told CBC News, adding the medical supplies that are on their way now are desperately needed.

"Many hospitals [are] bombed and doctors [still] need to make some operations in hospitals," Lynycky said.

The hospitals, he said, have "very big traffic" these days.