At first, Adelina wasn’t worried about her constant tiredness and sleepiness. Who wouldn’t feel tired as a freshman in a medical university, studying for 12 hours a day?
She also wasn’t worried about bruises she found here and there: “I’m a little clumsy, so I constantly hit against something”
But when she came to a routine medical check, doctors were worried. Adelina was directed to a hematologist, who, one month later, told her the diagnosis — Chronic Myeloid Leukemia.
Adelina decided to become a doctor when she was 15. Before that she wanted to be a librarian, because she spent all her free time at a library. She read Margaret Mitchell and Bronte sisters book for hours and days.
“Of course, I read about love. Mostly,” she says with a shy smile.
But them, in high school, she decided that she wants something serious. She wants to be a doctor. She entered a medical university and now she reads about her future profession. Mostly.
When she found out about the diagnosis, she decided she’s going to be a hematologist. Not at the exact moment, of course. At that moment, she cried.
“My parents took it even harder that I,” she says, “My mom cried, my dad also cried. I think, they were more stressed that me. I cried for five days, and then I thought: well, I can’t cry it out. I can either live with it, or just cry for the rest of my live.”
Adelina decided that she wasn’t going to cry for the of her life. She started taking her medicine, overcame complications and switched her major to hematology. She wanted to be closer to the disease and to help people who have it. And to calm her parents as well.
Her hematologist supported that decision. He also explained to her that she could live with the disease, she could live a normal life. She just needed to take her medication and take tests regularly.
The only problem is there’s no medication available. To cope with the disease Adelina needs drug called Tasigna, which is not available. She needs to pay for it herself, but to her it’s a fortune. Neither her nor her family could afford it.
We ask you to help Adelina coping with her disease. And in just a few years she will help a lot of other people cope with that.
