Sviatlana, Lithuania

Hello! I am Sviatlana, I was born in Belarus. In 2020, after the unfair presidential elections, I had to emigrate to Lithuania. Here in 2022 I faced Hodgkin's lymphoma. It was the most difficult time in my life. I was alone, without money and job, my legal status was about to end, and I have been waiting for the refugee status (and nobody guaranteed I would receive it). In this situation I arrived to the hospital in Vilnius, to pulmonology department, because my doctor thought it might be lung cancer. And here I met a wonderful and vary caring young doctor, who helped me to believe that everything will be ok. After two weeks in pulmonology department, I started treatment in oncohematology department. And chemotherapy was not so awful as I have thought before. After the first stage of chemotherapy, my friends invited me to live with them. I continued my activities against Lukashenka. And soon, I have received refugee status and an opportunity to live in Lithuania. I also started going to the acting courses, and they really helped me, because every Thursday I wanted to feel good enough to go to the courses. After 4 courses of chemotherapy my lymphoma disappeared, but, unfortunately, in 2024, it returned. And I had to start everything from scratch. And at this time muaythai and religion helped me. After the second chemotherapy course I started visiting muaythai trainings. And I started going to the church. The hospital's chaplain helped me with first steps to God. He answered my questions, explained, how to pray and what to do in the church. Church visits and talks to God became a part of my daily routine. Today, in the World Cancer Day, I am starting the last step of my treatment - stem cells transplantation. And I hope I will win this battle.