“You are our last hope,” writes a Belarusian woman in her appeal to open the fundraiser. “My parents are not aware of my condition, and it would be a shock for them – both psychologically and for their health.”
Kristina* was working in the media when the 2020 elections began. She immediately joined the volunteer movement and started helping those who were taken to the Minsk temporary detention facility and other detention centres where protesters were brought and tortured in Minsk.
“We collected humanitarian aid for political prisoners, organised solidarity chains, painted graffiti, and hung flags on residential buildings in one of the districts of Minsk,” Kristina recalls. “From 2020 to 2022, my husband and I were detained three times. And although it ended with administrative arrests, during the last one we were told that next time the ‘carousel’ would start – when days of administrative detention continue one after another while materials for a criminal case are being prepared.”
After another period of administrative detention in 2022, Kristina and her husband decided to leave Belarus, knowing that if they stayed, a criminal case and prison would be the most likely outcome.
According to her, nine months after their departure “all our close friends from the district activist group were detained, and two criminal cases were opened against me.” Already abroad, after what she had gone through, Kristina lost her baby at four months pregnant.
To cope with her grief more easily, the young woman continued her volunteer work and, after moving to Poland, helped political prisoners. Together with volunteers from the Belarusian-Ukrainian aid foundation for Ukraine, she worked as a driver, transporting vehicles for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Most of the time, the family lived on her husband’s income, but in December 2024, Kristina was diagnosed with stage II malignant breast cancer with regional lymph node involvement. “Since January 2025, I have undergone an aggressive course of chemotherapy,” Kristina shares. “In June, I had surgery to remove the tumour and lymph nodes, followed by rehabilitation because of a lymphatic cord.”
Now the Belarusian woman is undergoing radiation therapy. After that, she will have targeted and hormone therapy.
“We managed on our own: medical tests, medicines, food between chemo sessions,” Kristina stresses. “But our resources are exhausted. We now have to save even on medicines that relieve side effects.”
Kristina is asking for help to cover basic expenses during her ongoing treatment.
“We are on the edge because of this constant struggle and search for money. I have to save on medicines for the side effects of my therapy just to have enough to live – or rather, to exist, with constant pain and fear of what tomorrow will bring… You are our last hope.”
*This is an anonymous story. For security purposes, we have changed the hero's name.
Fundraising goal
€3000
€1500 – housing rent during the course of treatment
€700 – necessary medicines, creams for burns and other side effects
€600 – paid medical tests (waiting through the public health system would take too long), translations of analyses
€200 – food and basic recovery expenses