When the doctors told Yuliia she had only a few months left to live, she asked her mother for just one thing: to take her home to Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region. After the rapid progression of her cancer, she weighed only 38 kilograms, could barely walk, and the doctors refused to perform surgery. That’s how her story began, a story her family still calls a miracle.

Yuliia was born and had lived her entire life in the Donetsk region. As a child, she survived a serious accident and clinical death, and struggled with the consequences of her injuries for years. In 2024, as the front line approached, the family evacuated to Kyiv. Along with the war, she suffered another tragedy - cancer. Within a few months, she was hanging between life and death.

But after returning to her family home, her condition began to improve. At first, she regained her ability to walk without assistance, and later she even started to ride her bike again. Her family recalls how they witnessed small but incredible changes every week.

But the war prevented her from returning to a normal life. When Russian drones were common to see over the city, Yuliia agreed to another evacuation. Before leaving, she decided to help an elderly neighbour whom she also wanted to get out of the frontline zone. It was then that the woman got under shelling. An acquaintance she was walking with was killed, and Yuliia herself sustained severe shrapnel wounds to her arm and leg.

Restoring movement to her limb required a complex surgery involving the insertion of a titanium plate. 

Today, Yuliia is undergoing rehabilitation and is gradually regaining mobility in her arm. Having settled into a large house in the village of Sukhorabivka, Yuliia’s family not only found a safe haven for themselves but also opened their doors to other Donetsk region residents. 

Today, several generations of the Liakishev family live under one roof, along with elderly people, people with disabilities, and internally displaced persons who had nowhere else to go.

The stories of Yuliia, her mother, and her older sister have become another contribution to the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation’s “Museum of Civilian Voices” - Ukraine’s largest archive of stories from civilians whose lives have been forever changed by the war.