"Hello everyone! My name is Oksana Antonova. I am 27 years old. I am from Tula. I lived a normal girlish life: as a child I played games and with dolls in the yard with my friends.
I studied at school. As a teenager, I participated in the drama club at our local house of culture. We put on small performances and participated in the holidays. In high school I became interested in volleyball and participated in sports. Of course, there were, like all young girls, discos and my first love. After that, I was admitted to the Tula branch of the Moscow University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, majoring in law. I studied from home and at the same time worked not in my specialty but in the production of plastic windows in a HR department.
And finally, after receiving a law degree, I proudly decided to go to Moscow to look for a job in my specialty. It's not for nothing that I studied for so long. After some interviews, I got a position in a law firm with a small salary and then found a better job with a more decent wage. I visited the south in September 2011 and St. Petersburg in October 2011. Life went on as usual.
In December 2011 I began to feel very weak and unwell. A lymph node popped out on my neck… And then, as if I were in a dream: a blood test, CT scans of the thoracic and abdominal cavities, and ultrasound of all peripheral lymph nodes. And as a result, a preliminary diagnosis of LGM (Hodgkin's lymphoma) was put on the table. I didn't understand those strange three letters then. My mother and I rushed around to doctors and examinations until they took a lymph node biopsy and made an accurate diagnosis — Hodgkin's lymphoma, in March 2012.
Many who have experienced what I have experienced will say that life divided into "before" and "after.” I realized that life "before" was trouble-free. I was a normal healthy person, but I often complained about life, took offense, was always looking for problems and adventures, and was often nervous about trifles.
I went through a very long tortuous path in treatment and managed to be treated at various hematology centers, including the NMRC for Hematology in Moscow. Only thanks to God, the efforts of doctors, the support of relatives and friends, as well as to you, donors, I am alive! Dear donors, come donate blood and thrombomass. Through my many courses of chemotherapy, my indicators fell to the lowest limits, and I received blood transfusions and blood components…
I couldn't have done it without your help. By giving a piece of yourself and your kindness, you thereby give life. Thank you very much! And you know, friends, no matter what, I like life "after" more: I began to appreciate life itself, I began to be less offended by trifles, and I began to rejoice every day. I also realized that giving is much more pleasant than receiving, knowing that someone really needs you in a difficult moment!"
