“FAITH AS AN EMBODIMENT OF EVERYTHING I HAVE BEEN THROUGH”

Dear friends! 2024 has been declared the year of the family, and the unique story of a young mother (with an infant) who survived breast cancer is especially significant for us. Olga’s story began in 2019, when a woman began to experience pain in her axillary lymph node. She went to the doctor, but he hastened to reassure her, “this is quite normal,” and prescribed several medications. Olga started treatment, but the desired effect did not occur. And one day she noticed a sharp increase in the size of her breasts, in which “bumps” were clearly palpable.

“I was in total confusion, and I was immediately referred to an oncologist. After examinations, the diagnosis was confirmed. Doctors said that I have a HER2-positive subtype of breast cancer. And imagine, at that moment I found out that I was pregnant, Olga recalls. At that time, the gestation period was very short, I understood that the heavy chemotherapy and surgery that I was facing would not allow me to carry and give birth to a healthy child.”

Our heroine was forced to terminate her pregnancy and undergo difficult treatment. Olga shared how difficult it was for her to accept her diagnosis, but even more difficult to explain her condition to her husband and young children. The young woman faced difficult treatment. In total, she underwent 8 courses of chemotherapy, radical surgery to remove the mammary gland, and radiation.

After completing, Olga began to work on restoring her health, both physical and emotional: careful observation, sports, vitamins A, after which fate gave her a real gift: a long-awaited pregnancy.

“I immediately went to see my doctor, Anna Belokhvostova, a chemotherapist at the department of antitumor drug therapy at A.Tsyb Medical Radiological Research Centre, – branch of the FSBI of the “National Medical Research Radiological Centre” of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. She was my attending physician and was very supportive throughout the entire period. Anna Sergeevna immediately calmed me down and convinced me that I could carry and give birth to a healthy baby.”

Nine months later, our heroine gave birth to a healthy girl named Vera. “There simply couldn’t be another name, this little girl became the personification of everything I had to go through.”

Olga remembers with a smile and gratitude her doctors who treated and supported her during this difficult period of her life: “I have a very warm relationship with Anna Sergeevna and Denis Malik, a surgeon and oncologist at the department of new medical technologies at A.Tsyb Medical Radiological Research Centre, – branch of the FSBI “NMRRC’ of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. After these years, I understand why I was given this disease. I began to have a completely different attitude towards many things and truly appreciate life, because we have been given “today”.