People tend to think about the future
while still living in the present. We attempt to be successful and independent,
we are afraid of losing our earnings and savings and make plans for the future
because we do not know what to expect tomorrow. However, everything changes
when we face an accident, an illness, loss of our relatives or apprehension of
death. Those are followed by despair, pain and indifference towards the things
we had once considered our top priorities. We have to face problems we had never
anticipated. We stop dreaming and planning our lives because we encounter a
burning question, “What to do with it and how to live on?”
Victor had an accident over ten years ago,
and he had to live a life of a less able person for over a decade. It happened near
Slutsk on a warm summer day, when Victor, like most of the people who love to
spend time in the countryside, entered the woods in order to have rest from the
hustle and bustle of city life. A bite of an insect is a common thing,
especially in the forest: some people have swells, some have itches, some don't
feel anything and do not even pay attention to it. However, all insects are
different and there are some dangerous species among them.
Victor did not pay much attention to
the bite but it resulted in high temperature and swelling. These and other
symptoms showed that it was not a simple insect bite. It was a tick bite. A
tick is a dangerous insect whose bite may cause a wide range of complications,
from heart diseases to locomotive system disorders.
Victor extracted the tick, although
it is generally recommended to use spirits so that the tick goes out because
its head may be left behind in the tissues. Victor says that he felt better on
the third day but later he still had to seek medical assistance. They made
several injections and wanted to send him to hospital but he managed to return
home. But then... In autumn, he fell ill with Reiter's Syndrome. It is a
disease of unknown aetiology. He could not even walk, he was unable to raise
his arm or turn his head, it was painful for him to lie and impossible to
stand.
Finally, Victor found himself in
municipal hospital No. 10 in Minsk. According to him, successful treatment
mostly depends on the doctor and on the surrounding people, and one needs a
good example to follow in his struggle against the disease. The female doctor
who treated Victor had only three years of work experience but she persuaded
her patient that everything would be alright. The rest of people around him,
including other doctors, advised him to learn to ride a wheelchair and their
predictions left little hope.
“When I was thinking that I would
never be able to walk again, I was terrified,” Victor recalls. “One suddenly
begins to see the life differently and notices things he had never thought of.
For example, how steep the stairs in a bus or at the porch of one's house are.
It is so hard to climb them! I walk with difficulty but here are those
stairs... Same with clothes: I could not move one hand, and it was difficult to
do anything with the other one. Plus all those restrictions: no smoking, no
drinking, no hot showers. The situation was getting even worse because of the
tears and compassion of my relatives. I wanted to believe that anything could
change to the better but no one of my relatives and friends shared my hope.”
Thus, Victor had to overcome both physical and spiritual pain.
At that time, several doctors from
Germany visited the hospital where Victor stayed. They shared their experience
in treatment of similar diseases. Reiter's Syndrome affects both visceral
organs and bones. The Germans used their own methods of treatment, according to
which the treatment was to last for at least three months.
The doctor who was in charge of
Victor was very enthusiastic about their method and made her patient believe
that he would be cured. He wanted to believe in her words, the words of a young
and inexperienced doctor, with all his heart, in spite of those experts who
said that his disease was incurable.
It took just about a month for Victor
to be able to drive a wheelchair, and he started walking with a stick in half a
year. He still remembers his first steps, when the doctor ordered him to stand
up and walk three steps. Notwithstanding the predictions of other doctors, he
was capable of walking at last. This miracle happened not only because of the
method used by the German doctors but also thanks to Victor's own willpower.
There was a retired officer in the ward together with Victor. He had been
rescued from Reiter's syndrome. He had artificial limbs and a prosthetic valve
in his heart. It was him who suggested to Victor to learn to walk. “If you
don't move,” he said, “you will be like those guys who are glued to their
beds.” The patients in the ward were indeed glued to their beds and desperate.
“The local doctors disapproved of our
method because it was risky,” Victor says. “In spite of their prohibition, we
crawled around the ward and my movements were more and more confident day by
day. I went through all the stages of “growing up,” like children do: first you
crawl, then you rise up, then you stand and then you walk... If there is a
person around you who motivates you to practice all the time, it is possible;
otherwise, it is difficult and maybe even boring.”
Victor walked with a stick for more
than a year. The doctors said that it was a lucky coincidence; however, it is
said that people who believe in coincidences do not believe in themselves and
in God. Naturally, it is better for an individual to walk with a stick than to
sit in a wheelchair. It turned out that Victor had difficulty finding a job.
Who hires an invalid, when there are enough unemployed among the fit and
healthy? Victor's applications were always turned down so finally, he hid his
stick somewhere near the main entrance to the building where he was to have a
job interview and walked in without it. As a result, he landed a job of a welder at an metalwork production enterprise. Due to his illness, Victor had to
keep a strict diet and it caused many questions from his colleagues. He either
ignored them or gave a vague answer. Victor spent a year and a half working at
that enterprise. Later, he would find jobs at many other enterprises, even
abroad. Today Victor works in St Elisabeth Convent and when you look at him it
is difficult to tell that one day this man was, so to say, on the verge of an
abyss. It must be noted that the dreadful accident could not do away with his
love of nature. In his opinion, phobias are dangerous and one should not give
in to them because they may grab the person and then... Like in the past,
Victor likes strolling in the park or in the woods and relax in the wild.
Victor says, “The problems I had to
endure brought certain changes into my life and my worldview. I realized that
one should ask not only men but also the Lord for help. Perhaps, if I had realized it ten years ago, things would be different now. Maybe the Lord
allowed this to happen in order to teach and save me. If we compare life to a
chess game, He is the Grand Master and we are pawns that have to stick to the
rules of the game. It seems to me that God wanted me to discover faith and to
work in this holy place. I am not sure that I would be here without having
endured the troubles I had to face...”
There are many less able people among
us today. Some of them reconcile with their disabilities, some attempt to
struggle with them and some fall in despair. According to Victor, the latter is
the worst because despair causes infirmity of soul, which is hard to beat; that
is why one has to wage war against despair, and as soon as one overcomes it,
one is able to overcome his physical infirmity because every victory begins
with a victory over oneself.
P.S. Victor urged us not to publish his surname or his
obedience at the Convent.
CONVERSATION