Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies

Chernobyl aftermath still haunts Fedotenko

Lightning left wing, who lived 90 miles from site of nuclear disaster, fears his and his unborn children's health may be affected.

The most vivid memory Ruslan Fedotenko has of that dreadful time in Ukraine is the syrup.

Sticky and sweet like honey, it was from Japan, he believes, and was given to survivors of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in an attempt to clear the radiation from their bodies.

Fedotenko was 10 and living with his parents and older brother Vitalie in Kiev, then part of the former Soviet Union. Three years earlier, on April 26, 1986, a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded. The radioactive cloud from the scene about 90 miles away most severely affected Belarus to the north, but effects have been documented across Europe and Scandinavia.

Three daily doses of the syrup were recommended.

"They tell you it's good to drink it so you just do what they say," Fedotenko said. "There was so much stuff going on, and we didn't know for sure if it's true or not.

"It's not like the United States where the press can find out anything. There it is still kind of corrupt that way so information doesn't leak so much."

Fedotenko, 24, said this is the best time of his life.

He and wife Debbie couldn't be happier. He makes a good living playing in the NHL. And an excellent training camp may have earned him a spot on one of the Lightning's marquee lines.

But there are worries. They are muted, but every now and then Fedotenko thinks about the possible consequences of being exposed to the fallout from a blast some say released 500 times more radiation into the atmosphere than the Hiroshima bomb.

How will it affect his health or the health of his future children? Fedotenko said Vitalie has stomach and bone problems, though he is not sure they are from radiation exposure. Either way, Fedotenko wants his brother David, 3, out of an environment the 2001 European Cancer Conference said had caused 2,000 cases of thyroid cancer.

The concern is such that Fedotenko is considering putting aside his dream of playing for Ukraine in the 2006 Olympics and applying for American citizenship so he can sponsor his family's move to the United States.

"Thank God I'm healthy and enjoying my life," Fedotenko said.

"I can find out I can be sick tomorrow, but I can't really think of that. If something happens I will think of it later."

Right now, Fedotenko is focused on the clean slate he has after a frustrating 2002-03.

Acquired in June 2002 for the No.4 pick in the draft, Fedotenko was expected to provide 20-25 goals and an acute defensive awareness. But he was inconsistent on both sides of the puck and bounced from the first line to the fourth and back.

He had a team-high six winning goals but lost power play time. He was supposed to provide a defensive anchor for Vinny Lecavalier's line but lost his spot on the penalty kill. He averaged 16 minutes of ice time, had 19 goals and was minus-7.

In a show of confidence Fedotenko said he appreciates, coach John Tortorella at the start of camp put him on a line with center Brad Richards and right wing Martin St. Louis. He also rejoined the penalty kill and, entering Saturday's preseason finale against the Panthers, was tied for the team lead with four points on three goals and an assist.

"Last year, I was trying to figure him out and he was trying to figure me out a little bit," Tortorella said.

"As we go through we get to know one another a little better. I understand his strengths, and we're going to continue to work on his weaknesses."

"I was trying to think too much rather than just playing my game," Fedotenko said. "It probably hurt me.

"It's a lot of mental, too, going from the first or second line to the fourth. Obviously the less ice time you have, the less of a chance you have to score. You just have to focus and play every game."

For a few moments last week, Fedotenko changed his focus. For a few moments, sitting in a locker room in Kitchener, Ontario, he was again 10 in Kiev.

Fedotenko said the government assured the people a hole had been dug under the reactor to swallow the core in case of a meltdown.

"But they built it on a swamp, so they couldn't do anything like that," Fedotenko said.

He said the blast created a fire so intense it evaporated the water used to douse it, further spreading radioactive particles. And imagine, he said, "a huge cemetery of vehicles - army trucks, helicopters, everything in good condition - they're not allowed to use" because of contamination.

Fedotenko said the government-controled media kept a lid on the story, and people in Kiev did not immediately find out what happened.

"You people found out earlier than we did," he said. "When they said the cloud went in the opposite direction, we didn't know for sure. Nobody told us what we should do.

"They should have had a plan. They didn't have that."

They had the syrup.

The Times' 12th annual NHL preview section offers a player-by-player look at the Lightning.