Stories that you confided to us
Soon I will be 70. And my wife Zoya will be 68. Her whole life she worked in a pharmacy, and I - in a mine. When we retired, we believed that life would be secured as we had good pensions. I went to Kyiv with my wife. We attended concerts. We had everything we needed. Most importantly, we were happy and healthy.
Eight years ago, Zoya Ivanivna had a massive stroke that paralysed the left side of her body. She was then given the disability group 1. Thus, the life of our family has changed dramatically. Now every year my wife needs to undergo treatment in the Makiivka Clinical Mining Hospital.
I was a miner, and now I am both a nurse and a caretaker. I learned to give injections, cook, wash - al that just to make my beloved wife feel that she is being taken care of.I sold everything to cure my wife: my car, gold jewelry, and all our savings. And then the war broke out.
We moved to our relatives' private house – there was a basement there to hide from shelling. They came up with a device to move my wife to the basement.
This life lasted for two and a half months until things didn't settle down in Makiivka and returning to the apartment was possible.
We have not received our pension payments in months. Meanwhile, my wife still needs medication to improve cerebral circulation. Our children are abroad, and they can't send us some money physically. I started contacting friends and acquaintances, but almost everyone is going through hard times these days.
Everything around again kept banging from the explosions as Makiivka is only 30 kilometers from Donetsk.
These disturbances took its toll on the condition of my wife, and on 27 September, she had a hypertensive crisis. The ambulance arrived and gave her injections. They said that she needs to a course of medication is needed to undergo a medication treatment in order to stabilize blood pressure and heartbeat. Otherwise, a second stroke is inevitable. I watched my wife fade away right before my eyes. I just wanted to lie down and die.
The help finally came: we received expensive medicines from the Rinat Akhmetov Humanitarian Center. My wife was getting better. I want everyone to know that the Foundation saved my wife from death! And that is a fact! If only you knew how beautiful my wife is. I kiss her on the right cheek, and my Zoya smiles back at me!
When quoting a story, a reference to the source – the Museum of Civilian Voices of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation – is mandatory, as follows:
The Museum of Civilian Voices of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation https://civilvoicesmuseum.org/
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