Belarusian Woman at 29 Survived Ischemic Stroke
Liliya Husarava told what a stroke looks like in young people and what could have been its cause.
Photo: interviewee's archive
«I Got Up and Realized That Everything Was Double in My Eyes»
Liliya lives in Warsaw. She recalls that she first felt unwell at the beginning of 2026. For the first three days of the new year, she barely left the house, except for coffee with an acquaintance. But on the morning of January 4, she realized she couldn't wake up, even though she clearly heard her alarm clock:
«I couldn't move, open my eyes. I just heard the music playing and I needed to turn it off, but I couldn't do it, which surprised me. I was in a strange state — one moment I heard music, then I was knocked out again, and then I regained consciousness.»
When the girl finally woke up, it was around 10 in the morning.
And then a new symptom appeared:
«I got up and realized that everything was double in my eyes. And this is despite having good eyesight and not wearing glasses.
I thought something had happened to my vision and my boyfriend's spare glasses would help. I started looking for them but couldn't find them.
I was very worried about being late. I don't even remember how I got dressed — probably the clothes were just lying on the chair.»
Then the girl realized she was swaying while walking, but she went to work anyway.
«I went out and barely made it to the bus stop. While walking, I covered one eye with my hand so that my vision wouldn't double. I don't know how I managed to get there — people probably thought I was drunk, because I was swaying so much,» Liliya recalls.
When the girl got to work, she realized she couldn't understand the security guard's Polish. At work, she had to discuss the day's tasks with colleagues, and Liliya was very worried about how to hide her strange symptoms from them. Then she came to her office and realized she couldn't remember her computer login and password.
Out of fear, she burst into tears; a colleague came and tried to calm her down — saying it was all due to stress. The girl realized that wasn't the case. After much hesitation and with a colleague's support, she decided to take time off work and go to the hospital's emergency department, but they responded to her vision complaint by saying they didn't have a specialist. The Belarusian woman made an appointment with an ophthalmologist at another institution.
Afterward, Liliya felt a little better, but her condition was still severe:
«I wrote very poorly: to write a sentence, I had to sit over it and make an effort. When I called a relative, I mixed up words during the conversation, speaking sometimes in Russian, sometimes in Belarusian, even though I always speak Belarusian with her.»
«At the Hospital, They Initially Didn't Take Me Seriously, Didn't Pay Much Attention, and Didn't Examine Me for Very Long»
The next morning, Liliya went to an ophthalmologist, and there she was told for the first time that the issue might be a neurological diagnosis. The girl was again referred to the hospital's emergency department. A neurologist referred her for examinations — but they weren't performed because they again couldn't find a specialist.
Liliya went to a private neurologist and again received a referral to the emergency department. Like the previous neurologist, the new doctor suspected a stroke or tumor. Immediately from there, Liliya went to another hospital, but found no understanding with the doctor and again was left without help.
In the morning, the Belarusian woman went to work and somehow managed to work a full day. And only the next day did her colleagues call an ambulance for her, so she wouldn't have to wait in lines and would have a better chance of getting help.
Photo: interviewee's archive
«I was ashamed that my colleagues called an ambulance, and at one point, I was angry with them. At the hospital, they initially didn't take me seriously, didn't pay much attention, and didn't examine me for very long. The doctors working with me couldn't understand me at first, so they called a colleague who knew Russian, and I told her everything.
They sent me for examinations. I really didn't want to stay in the hospital, asking them to tell me what tests needed to be done — saying I'd do everything myself,» Liliya recounts.
The girl was eventually persuaded to undergo a tomography scan. That's when they found a spot near her thalamus (the part of the brain that receives signals from sensory organs), and she was strongly advised to be hospitalized, as the matter was serious. They needed to determine if it was a stroke or a tumor, and the girl spent a week in the hospital.
A couple of months later, she underwent MR spectroscopy — an examination that helps clarify what doctors see on an MRI. At that time, doctors concluded that Liliya had suffered a microstroke.
Photo: interviewee's archive
In May, the girl was hospitalized again, had a new MRI, and her diagnosis was clarified. It turned out that the girl had suffered not a microstroke, but an ischemic stroke.
Liliya says that for her, the stroke left almost no trace:
«The only thing that remains is dizziness when I abruptly turn my head from bottom to top or from one side to another. I can also forget or mix up words, but this happens very rarely. I talked to acquaintances, friends — they didn't even guess I had such problems, because I learned, for example, to replace words I couldn't remember with synonyms.»
«My Roommates Were Surprised That Even Though I Was Alone Here, More People Visited Me Than Them»
As doctors explained to the girl, something blocked a blood vessel in her brain, preventing blood and, consequently, oxygen from reaching it. That part of the brain died. A scar remained, it's healing, and that's why the girl feels better.
Doctors are encouraging Liliya and say that she has a strong young body and is recovering quickly. Medics admit — they couldn't understand for a long time that it was a stroke, because they paid a lot of attention to the girl's young age and didn't expect to see such a picture in her.
It's even more mysterious where Liliya's problems came from:
«I myself have no illnesses, my relatives have not had early strokes. Doctors found this strange; they are still wondering how it happened. I said that I still couldn't see clearly. At first, this worried them, and they came to me daily and conducted some checks.
Photo: interviewee's archive
As a result, they told me that these are just the consequences of the stroke, and they might pass. Doctors think I should be happy that I only have these consequences, because after a stroke like mine, people recover for a year.»
In her new life, Liliya will have to monitor her health more closely. Doctors ordered her to drink enough water, not to drink alcohol, and to quit smoking, which the girl did. Now she carefully monitors her water intake, carries water in a bottle, and adds citrus for flavor.
Soon she will be hospitalized again — doctors want to check her heart, as they still haven't found the exact cause of the stroke. It is generally believed that strokes can be linked to overwork and stress, but Liliya believes this is not her case.
Photo: interviewee's archive
«When all this happened, I hadn't been working for three days because of the holidays. So I'm surprised that this happened. I'm trying to understand why I had a stroke and what to do to prevent it from happening again, because, frankly, I wouldn't wish this on anyone. It was very difficult for me.
Maybe if I were in Belarus and could speak my own language, it would have been easier for me, but here they treat migrants like this... There were also cases where, on the contrary, people helped me — doctors, my hospital roommates, but getting there was the hardest part,» says the Belarusian woman.
There were also pleasant surprises in her story. Liliya recalls how the hospital reacted to the solidarity from her acquaintances who didn't abandon the girl in need:
«I was very lucky with friends and colleagues, so my roommates were surprised: 'Wow, you have so many colleagues and people who care about you.' They were surprised that even though I don't have parents here and am essentially alone, more people visited me than them.»