Daria Dontsova: Writing speed is genetically determined. This does not affect the quality of the text

Preface

Our spiritual literature, although it is rich in guides for those seeking the salvation of the soul, but since such books as the works of St. Ephraim the Syrian, St. Abba Barsanuphius, St. Isaac the Syrian and the like are quite expensive, and therefore not accessible to everyone, a compilation was undertaken this book, in which, like a treasury, a lot of good things have been collected, and brevity and clarity of presentation were meant.

Many of the female monastics, living by their labors, do not have enough time to read lengthy works; This book is especially convenient for such people.

There are many paths leading to God, but we believe we won’t go wrong if we put God at the head of everything. remembrance of death the most precious of all spiritual feats, for it, and only this one, separates a person from the vanities of this age, makes him dead world, destroys all sinful passions in him, replaces all exploits, embraces a person’s whole life, cleanses his heart, attracts the grace of the Holy Spirit to him and thereby grants him free ascent to heaven, without hindrance from the aerial authorities of the world ruler of the darkness of this age.

The great of the ascetics, Saint Isaac of Syria, discusses the remembrance of death as follows: “Satan hates this craft and attacks with all his might to destroy it in a person, for he knows, the insidious one, that if this thought abides in a person, then his mind no longer stands. in this land there is deception, and its wiles do not come close to man.”

Since remembering death in action is nothing more than the continuous directing of the attention of the mind - and with it all the forces of the soul - to the future eternal life, then the goal of all the efforts of the tempter is to entertain the attention of the ascetic of Christ and direct it to the worries of everyday life or scatter it over the vain objects of the present world. “And therefore,” says the Monk Isaac, “if it were possible, Satan would give man the kingdom of the whole world, just to blot out such a thought in his mind through entertainment. And if he could,” confirms the holy father, “he would do it willingly.”

So, here is the right and shortest path for everyone those seeking salvation souls. The methods for acquiring such an incomparable benefit are presented in this work with proper consistency.

Also included here is a wonderful extract from the miterik of the monk Isaiah, compiled by him exclusively for female monastics and hitherto not published in Russian.

We invoke the blessing of the Almighty on our small work and ask that the minds and hearts of those who honor and strive to fulfill His holy will will be opened by His grace, according to what is spoken: Tell me Your ways, O Lord, and teach me Your paths.

I. Arseny.

Saint Athos, Russik, 1875

About faith in God

He who has faith and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not have faith will be condemned.

Mk.

The evidence of faith in the existence of God is obvious: the first place among them is occupied by what God inscribed on the tablets of the human heart domestic law, convincing of the existence of the Divine. Among rude peoples this was expressed in worship inanimate objects: the sun, moon, fire and others, and among some we even find a temple created by them to an unknown God, from which we are fully convinced that at the very creation of man, worship of God was implanted in him as something natural. And if at the present time atheists have appeared who deny the existence of God, then these are people who have not only corrupted their concepts, but even distorted the natural law.

The internal law given to us by God shows us good and evil, and for the good done it rewards us with a joyful feeling of the soul, and for evil it punishes us with torment of conscience, which serves as obvious proof of the infinite wisdom of our Creator, Who, although He gave us free will, but at the same time instilled within us, as it were, a kind of leader who, with inner suggestions and sensations, encourages us to fulfill the will of God. Then given to us Holy Bible, which with all clarity leads us to the knowledge of the existence of God and His Divine and wise purposes for the creation of the universe, for everything visible and invisible to us in this world silently tells us about the Creator and Creator, about His goodness, omnipotence and wisdom.

In this world, every plant, animal, and man, as we see, comes from one another: plants from seeds, animals from their own kind, and so does man. Who started it all? Where did the first plants and the first man come from? That nothing could come into being by itself, we are convinced of this from the fact that during the entire existence of the world, nothing was created or appeared by itself, except for what Almighty God created in the beginning; and if there are madmen who claim that everything came from some kind of matter or was created by itself, then this is obviously just resistance to the truth or an arrogant desire to express something new. This direction, unfortunately, is in Lately developed mainly among young people due to the fact that, having not received a real religious education, driven by the spirit of pride, they think that they have become smarter than everyone else and that they were mistaken before them. It is obvious that such absurd ideas can only take place in the heads of those thinkers who are under the special influence of the original enemy of our eternal salvation.

Faith will save a person only when his deeds are consistent with it, faith without works is dead(Ik. 2:26); and our good deeds are only pleasing to God when they are done with faith in Jesus Christ (Gal. 2:16). Faith is a heavenly ray that enlightens the darkness of our life, guiding us to our heavenly homeland. Faith is the voice with which the blind man shouted: Son of David, have mercy on me! Although we do not see Jesus Christ, by the power of faith we know that He is the never-evening Light, dispelling the darkness of delusion, that He is the Guardian, protecting us from misfortunes, that He is the heavenly Physician, healing our sinful ulcers. But faith is a gift of God, which is confirmed and rooted in us from the fulfillment of God’s commandments, from the constant striving for good. For teaching and confirmation in faith and piety, one must resort to our mother St. The Church, into which, as into a rich repository, the apostles placed everything that is true and saving, so that those who thirst would flow to this life-giving source and draw abundantly from it the water of life.

In the matter of our salvation, faith is the same as the foundation in a building: if the foundation is undermined, the building inevitably collapses. Where there is no faith, there is unbridled passions, dragging a person into the abyss of evil; for unbelief he suffers the wrath of God; we see this in destruction ancient world in the flood and in the absorption of several cities by the earth. Unbelievers are worse than a dumb animal, because it also knows its master: the donkey and his master's manger knew the will of him who had acquired it(Isa. 1:3). Unbelief destroys human well-being, not only private and family, but also public. Faith, like any virtue, is subject to temptation; he who is not tempted is unskilled, as Holy Scripture says; The enemy of our salvation, by God’s permission, strives to shake our faith, but we must repel his attacks with fervent prayer to God, - this is how the Lord taught the holy apostles when their faith became weak.

The holy fathers call souls alien to faith in God their Creator dead; So says Saint Callistus: “Many dead have souls, in a living body, like in a tomb, buried.” “Listen,” exclaims Saint Demetrius of Rostov, “for the body of a sinful man is a living tomb. dead soul called."

Diligent prayer, frequent and heartfelt confession and communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, love for neighbors, humility, avoidance of acquaintances and conversations with corrupt people, and especially with non-believers - these are the most reliable means for preserving and strengthening the faith.

“Pray to God,” teaches Saint Tikhon, “so that He will give you true living faith; take care of your faith more than your life, for we must lay down our life for faith.”

We owe not only the right to believe, but also to know which faith is most acceptable to God. In this, as in everything, we will seek guidance in the word of God. The Apostle Thomas believed in the resurrection only when he felt the Savior’s wounds; but the Lord said to him: “You have seen and believed, but those are more worthy of praise who, having not seen, believe.” If we believe what we see, then this is no longer faith. True Faith there is confidence in the invisible as if in the visible and in the expected as if in the present; So, we do not see God, but we believe that He exists; We do not see the future bliss prepared for the righteous, and the eternal torment awaiting sinners, but we believe that they exist - such faith is true, pleasing to God.

Perfect faith consists of complete devotion to the will of God, as mentioned in the Holy Gospel: Whoever says to this mountain, “Be moved and thrown into the sea,” and does not think in his heart, but has faith, even as he says, it happens, it will be done to him, even if he says.(Mark 11:23). Such faith is a great gift of God, bestowed primarily on simple and kind hearts - hid the ecu cue from the wise and revealed the ecu cue to babes. Yes, Father, for such was the favor before You(Matt. 11:21–25). The martyrs had such faith when they went into the fire, and it did not burn them; they were thrown into the sea, and it spewed them out unharmed; they were taken out to be devoured by bloodthirsty beasts, and they meekly licked their feet. Such is the power of faith that overcomes natural laws!

So the paralytic was once brought to the Lord with faith to receive healing and received it (Matthew 9: 2). A wife who suffered from bleeding for twelve years was instantly healed by just touching the Lord’s garment with faith (Matthew 9:22). The blind man cried out in faith: Son of David, have mercy on me!- and his eyes were opened (Mark 10:52). He fell with faith and prayer at the feet of the Life-Giver Uar, and deceased daughter he rose from his deathbed (Mark 5:42). And in our time, although poor in faith, there have been many cases where those possessed by long-term and uncured illnesses, having exhausted all their property for healing and not receiving any relief, when they resorted with faith to the Source of life, the Lord, they received perfect healing: the blind despised , the crooked were corrected, the lame began to walk, the mute began to speak, and other countless ailments, with just the invocation of His most holy name with faith, were instantly healed by His omnipotence, which was, without a doubt, witnessed by many of those reading these lines, and on some the very grace-filled effect of healing took place . Let us remember the recent cases that took place in the God-saved city of Moscow: in 1867, when the Athos shrine was brought there, how many long-term ill people were instantly healed by just touching the shrine! Let us also pay attention to miraculous phenomenon, what happens with Epiphany water, which others have preserved and preserve for decades and is always fresh, as if just drawn! Isn’t visible in all this the action of the omnipotent Providence of God, paternally caring for the establishment of faith in us, which is the basis of all our salvation?

O depth of wealth, and wisdom, and understanding of God, for you have not tested His judgment, and have not explored His ways(Rom. 11:33), - cries the holy Apostle Paul, teaching us not to become arrogant about Divine objects that are inaccessible to the concepts of our limited mind, but rather to be guided by humility, for the works of God are incomprehensible. Let us believe in simplicity of heart, as the holy apostles believed, and we will be saved.

Faith produces in the heart of the believer joy and gladness about the Lord Savior, about His goodness and love for mankind; it softens suffering and sorrow with the hope of heavenly reward for them, makes a person cold towards everything earthly, transitory, encourages him to seek the eternal, incorruptible, heavenly; it mysteriously unites the soul of the believer with Christ, like a bride with a groom: I will betroth you to Myself in faith,- says the prophet on behalf of God, - and hang the Lord(Hos. 2:20); and the Holy Apostle Paul: For I have betrothed you to a single husband, a pure virgin, to present Christ's(2 Cor. 11:2).

Great is the power of faith: it caught some alive into heaven, and snatched others from the flood waters; she made the barren bear children and saved them from the edge of the sword; she brought the poor and humiliated out of the ditch and made them rich and great; brought down fire from the sky, divided the sea, cut the stone and poured out water from it; fed the hungry, called the dead to life, tamed the waves; healed the sick, defeated armies, overthrew walls, stopped the mouths of lions, extinguished the flames of fire, humbled the proud and exalted the humble; in a word, everything is possible for believers, as the holy Apostle Paul confirms when he said about himself: I can do everything about Jesus who strengthens me(Phil. 4:13)

The spread of the Christian faith at its very beginning met fierce resistance from the spirit of malice, which continues to this day; its offspring: atheists, apostates, leaders of heresies, schismatics and others - no matter how much they strive to eclipse the truth, the Orthodox Christian faith shines in all its purity and will remain so until the end of the world, according to the word of the Lord: On this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.(Matthew 16:18). The devil strives for nothing more than to plunge us into the abyss of unbelief; but let us firmly resist him, according to the word of the apostle: Take the shield of faith over everything, in it you will be able to extinguish all the arrows of the evil one.(Eph.6:16).

Since faith in God is the basis of our salvation, our conversation began with it. Next we will talk about other virtues necessary for the salvation of the soul.

To build a house, you need different Construction Materials: brick, wood, iron, etc.; Likewise, to establish an eternal heavenly dwelling, many virtues are needed.

When starting any good work, and especially reading soul-helping works, it is necessary to pray to God, inwardly from the depths of our hearts to ask Him to bless our undertaking and make it fruitful, otherwise our work will be according to the word of the Lord: without Me you cannot do anything(John 15:5)

About prayer

Pray unceasingly, give thanks in everything, and whatever you ask in prayer as a believer, accept.

1 Sol. 5:18; Matt. 21:22

Just as in the natural state a child does not suddenly become an adult, but reaches full maturity little by little, so in a spiritual state, a person cannot suddenly become spiritual, pleasing to God from being carnal and sinful, but ascends to this height gradually, striving in virtues, in the head which prayer is worth, for through prayer we ask God for everything, according to what He said: ask and it will be given to you(Luke 11:9); and if we do not ask, then we will not receive anything, we will not perform a single virtue, if we do not turn in prayer to the Lord, asking for His help. But before we begin to pray, we must know what prayer is? How and what should you pray for?

What is prayer

Prayer is the reverent striving of the human soul towards God or a heartfelt conversation between a person and God, during which a person, imagining God invisibly present with him, pours out the feelings of his soul before Him. In the Old and New Testaments there are many indications about the need for prayer and its high importance, which is fully confirmed by the examples of the Savior and His apostles, who spent days and nights in prayer. Their followers, who practiced this high virtue throughout their entire lives and experienced the necessity and beneficialness of it, called her the queen and leader of the ranks of virtues. Not a single virtue has been said so much as about prayer: it is the elevation of the mind and heart to God, with it a person enters into the host of angels and becomes a participant in their bliss, is illuminated by their wisdom; prayer is incense, most favorable to the Lord, the most reliable bridge for overcoming the waves of everyday temptations, the insurmountable wall of all believers, a safe haven, divine clothing, clothing the soul in great beauty and beauty. Prayer is the mother of all virtues, the guardian of chastity, the seal of virginity, a sure defense against all the tricks of our primordial enemy the devil. Smite your adversaries with the name of Christ, that is, with prayer, as the holy fathers teach, for there is no stronger weapon than this, neither in heaven nor on earth. Prayer is the affirmation of peace, the propitiation of God for sins, a pier unstormed by waves, enlightenment of the mind, an ax to despair, the destruction of sadness, the birth of hope, the quenching of anger, the intercessor of the judged, the consolation of prisoners, the salvation of the perishing: she made the whale a home for Jonah, returned Hezekiah from the gates of death to life, the youths of Babylon turned the flame into dew; Saint Elijah closed heaven with prayer: Elijah was a man like us, and he prayed that there would be no rain: and there was no rain on the earth for three years and six months.(James 5:17). Even the most holy apostles, when they could not cast out unclean spirits, the Lord said to them: This kind does not come forth except by prayer and fasting(Matt. 17:21).

There is nothing more precious in a person’s life than prayer: it makes the impossible possible, difficult easy, inconvenient comfortable: prayer is just as necessary human soul, how much air for breathing or water for the plant. He who does not pray is deprived of communion with God and is likened to a dry, barren tree, which is cut and thrown into the fire. He who does not pray does not receive God’s blessing on his deeds, according to what is said: Unless the Lord builds a house that has labored in vain to build(Ps. 127:1).

The misfortune of a blind man is not to see the light, but a much greater misfortune for a Christian is to lose the disposition to prayer, to deprive his soul of Divine light: darkness settles in such a soul, and upon leaving the body its lot will be eternal darkness.

Here is a brief outline of the meaning and power of prayer, and at the same time its advantages, and the plight in which people find themselves who are alien to the spirit of prayer.

What and how should you pray for?

The Lord's Prayer “Our Father” is the highest of all prayers, as poured out from the most pure lips of the Savior Himself; it summarizes all human needs.

“When we come before the King and God and speak in prayer,” says Saint John Climacus, “let us not approach this without preparing; lest he, having seen us from afar, not having weapons and clothing befitting a royal presence, command His servants and servants to bind us, to cast us far from His face, and to tear the charter of our petitions to pieces and cast them down on our face, and therefore, starting a conversation with God, one must reject everything worldly from oneself, not heeding any thoughts that arise with special force during prayer.”

Venerable Cassian the Roman, regarding prayer, gives next instruction: “In order for prayer to be offered with the proper fervor, one must certainly put aside all earthly cares and not only worry about, but not even think about, any everyday activity or undertaking.”

And Saint Macarius the Great says this: “When you direct your mind and thoughts to heaven and want to unite with the Lord, then Satan becomes lower than your thoughts. Just as the ancient walls of Jericho fell by the power of God, so now the walls of evil that hinder your mind will be thrown down by the power of God. When standing in prayer, remember Who you stand before! Be deaf and dumb to everything around you, call on the Lord for help, and He will help you. We must uproot every disposition to anger and completely destroy the destructive kindling of carnal lust, no matter where it is directed.”

A person standing in prayer is the same as a warrior on the battlefield: here is a time of acquisition, precious minutes of spiritual purchase for one who resists the enemy and, not heeding his suggestions, strengthens himself in prayer, works, struggles, calling on the Lord as an Ascetic for help. The temptations of the enemy during prayer are countless: at these moments he brings to mind such everyday affairs, the fulfillment of which seems necessary and urgent, and non-fulfillment worries him about important losses. But if you want your prayer to be heard, do not listen to anything; God’s grace will remind you of what you really need even after prayer; but even if it happened to forget something else and suffer from it a failure in everyday affairs, then, since this followed for the sake of God, He, the All-Merciful One, will reward it a hundredfold. During prayer, be deaf, blind and dumb to everything and everyone except God. “The beginning of prayer,” as St. John Climacus writes, “is to drive away thoughts at their very appearance; its middle is that state when our mind is not plundered by thoughts, and the perfection of prayer consists in the admiration of our entire being to God.”

Rising from sleep, your first thought will be thanksgiving to God; Go to sleep with the same thought, having in mind that your bed, perhaps, will become your coffin. Forgiveness of offenses, even the most serious ones, is necessary for success in prayer, remembering the words of the apostle: Let the sun not set on your anger(Eph. 4:26).

The Angel of the Lord revealed to one of the monastics the following form of prayer most pleasing to God: first of all, let us offer sincere thanks to God, then confession of sins and contrition of the soul in feeling, and, finally, let us present all our petitions to the Tsar.

We see from the Holy Gospel that the judge fulfilled the widow’s request, convinced only by her persistence, as did the friend, who at first refused his friend’s request, but when he, without leaving him, continued to beg, he finally gave in to his persistence ( Luke 18:5). With these parables the Lord teaches us how we must act in order to receive what we ask.

After the article is published “Alexander Gomelsky: I know how to defeat cancer!” , in which the famous basketball coach told how he overcame his terrible illness, the editorial office received non-stop calls for two weeks. And those who are already doomed, and those who, despite doctors’ diagnoses, found the strength to defeat this “incurable infection”

Daria Dontsova speaks about her terrible illness without fear or embarrassment. Her battle with breast cancer ended in victory. All this happened back in the late 90s. Chemotherapy, radiation, surgery. When she read the material about Alexander Gomelsky, “I know how to beat cancer,” the writer herself called the editor.

This is a sore subject for me. And I am very grateful to Alexander Yakovlevich for finding the strength to talk about his illness. This is very important for those who are sick. There are a lot of us cancer patients. We are all soldiers of the same army and must help each other. If not physically, then at least mentally. People need to understand that cancer is not a death sentence. A cancer patient is not a leper. A person must live and fight. I know several ballerinas, several dramatic actresses who also received this diagnosis. But people are afraid to talk about their pain. You have to understand that cancer is not a shame. This is a challenge, and if you fought and won, then you are a hero. And if he managed to somehow help others, he is a doubly hero.

But both you and Gomelsky are famous people. It turns out that only wealthy people can fight the disease?

It is not true that treatment can only be done abroad. There is such an opportunity - great. No, you don’t have to give up, cover yourself with a blanket and die. When I was diagnosed, I had not yet been famous writer. My husband is a public sector psychologist, I am a translator from German. Special money there was none in our family. I was operated on in a regular district hospital. An ordinary surgeon, not a professor, not a candidate. A man who stands at the operating table from morning to evening. And for some reason people leave him on their own feet. And I never tire of praying that the Lord will give health to Igor Anatolyevich Groshev, who, by performing three operations a day, saves the population of a small town from death within a year. They gave me chemotherapy for free, as well as radiation. It is not true that everything depends on money.

What should a person diagnosed with cancer do?

Grab the phone book and look for a doctor. Call everyone you know. And there will definitely be a doctor. If you're unlucky once, look for another. Doctors are different. In one place, they started talking to me about money from the doorway, and I realized that they were not going to cut me, but my wallet. And at the dispensary, after the operation, they completely buried me. I wasn’t monitored for a year, I didn’t prescribe free medications for myself, we could buy them ourselves instead of standing in line for six hours. And then the medicine disappeared from pharmacies. I'm back. An aunt sits there in felt slippers and says: shame on you, Dontsova died, and you want to get medicine for her! Showed me my passport. It turns out that if a person does not appear for a year, then a stamp is put on his card - “Dead”. I ask: what if the person recovered? And she, an oncologist, says to her face: “This doesn’t happen!” Imagine what will happen to an impressionable patient after such words?! So, don’t trust women in felt slippers. Believe me. Believe Gomelsky - it happens!

Without faith in recovery, nothing will happen?

If, upon hearing the diagnosis of “oncology”, you begin to cry, ask: “why”, “why me”, harass your husband, children, mother, fall into bed and say: I am terminally ill - you will die. A young woman came into the room where I was lying. 36 years. She sadly sat down on the bed and said: “I raised my son, he is 16 years old, now I can die.” And she died. Although her disease was curable, it was just a tiny nodule. The disease is in the head.

We have to work and live. The day should be compressed so that death cannot penetrate there. Medicine has come a long way, they can save you. But you yourself must want it and not give up. Don’t lie at home, bringing everything to a critical state, and then go to the healers and sorcerers. Under no circumstances should this be done. May you live 5 to 7 years after surgery. But these will be years snatched from death. It depends only on you how you will remain in the memory of your family and friends - a disgusting, whining creature or a mother who did not break in this difficult life situation.

It’s probably even harder for women, because cancer has a significant impact on one’s appearance.

This is true. Standing in front of a man scary picture- a bald fat woman without nails or teeth. The man who will be abandoned by everyone - husband, colleagues, children

The points. Prosthetics have now gone so far that even on the beach in a swimsuit, no one will even guess that you are missing some parts. Is surgery painful? No. Is chemotherapy terrible? Yes, but you can endure it. Your hair will grow back, your teeth will be done by a dentist, your nails will be glued on at a salon. And then, no one will cut off your soul! Many women are afraid that their husband will leave them. And I saw husbands who said to their spouses: “Why do I need you now?” So, this one will leave anyway. But most husbands stay.

How long did it take you personally to feel so optimistic about your diagnosis?

20 minutes. I left the clinic and asked myself all the questions: “Why?”, “Why to me?”, “I’m so young, and should I die?” She bellowed in the trolleybus. Then I wiped my snot and said to myself: I have three children, a husband, two grandmothers, three dogs, a cat. I'll die and everything will fall apart. Of course, I’m too small fry for humanity to notice the disappearance of Dasha Dontsova. But for 20 people close to me, this will be a loss. The main thing is to give yourself a mindset. Do you know who lives the longest among scientists? Genetics! Simply because their experiments are designed for many years in advance, only then do they get some results. They give themselves an instruction - they wait and live.

Can you give any advice to the relatives of those who are sick?

The main thing is not to put the person to bed. The patient subconsciously expects confirmation from you that everything is fine with him. Kick up! We came home from work, and you didn’t fry any potatoes! Is your hand not working? So adapt somehow, we want to eat! It helps.

It turns out that a person can only be helped by his family, himself and luck with a doctor. Is there simply no solution at the state level?

What to do if our world is created for the young, healthy and strong? It is believed that if you get sick, then you are a second-class citizen. Look, there are almost no disabled people on our streets. The city is not suitable for them. They are sitting at home. Can the state do something? I don't know. But famous people should talk about this problem. How Gomelsky did it. Let them come to Komsomolskaya Pravda and simply talk about how they are fighting this disease. I'm sure this will help many.

Alexander GOMELSKY:

I wanted to tell people - fight!

After the publication in Komsomolskaya Pravda they called me endlessly. The military, the doctors, and the Tseskovites called. They supported. I had a tomography done at a good clinic. The Americans were really able to kill this infection in my body.

But the most important thing I wanted to tell people is don't give up. Fight. Everyone has a chance! Yes, I spoke harshly about our doctors... But not about all of them, of course, but only about those whom I had the opportunity to meet last year and who almost buried me. And we have excellent specialists. And the technology is good. Everything is there, it’s just that our people have a stereotype in their heads that cancer is a sentence, death. That with such a diagnosis you can simply give up on a person. But doctors, like teachers, like police officers, are our ordinary people, the same as everyone else. And they were brought up the same way as everyone else, and live by the same laws as everyone else. We need to fight this idea. Cancer can be treated. But here we need the intervention of public opinion.

We have many skilled doctors, both in the Botkin hospital, and in the center on Kashirka, and in many places. But there are also those who have completely forgotten about the Hippocratic Oath. That being a doctor is a sacred profession. And if you’ve already taken it upon yourself, treat it, save it. If you can't, leave.

you were talking about possible creation fund in your name.

I'm currently dealing with this issue. And it's not about money. We need an information center so that a person can call and receive all the necessary information. What to do, how to treat this disease. To have a psychologist working there all the time. Now we need to create a public committee, connect television and the press. This is important and it can help. And all the same, the final word belongs to the state. In America, where I was treated, citizens of the country can stay in a hospital in Houston almost free of charge. As it was with us at one time. And it should be. Medicine for the elderly and children must be free.

WHAT READERS SAY

Valentina Fedorovna Ignatova,
Novosibirsk:

- Three years ago I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. They said I had to live for six months. I was treated in a Novosibirsk hospital, the doctors here are excellent. Of course, we had to pay, but only for the drugs. I am 65 years old, but I continue to work and gain weight. The main thing, I realized, is to believe! Like Gomelsky, and everything will be fine. We need more articles like this, but if you listen to the doctors, you need to go to bed and collect money for wreaths.

Spartak Nikitich Sazonov,
Ekaterinburg, 70 years old:

I have been dealing with the problem of cancer for a long time. Even Hippocrates two and a half thousand years ago said that before treating the body, the soul must be cured. English scientists have proven that cancer is a state of mind. So the main thing is to tune in and behave correctly. I read a lot of books, including “Diagnostics of Karma”. And I believe that only faith in God and in yourself will save you from this disease. My wife died. And I know why. There are no secrets. The Ministry of Health just doesn’t want to listen.

Irina, Moscow:

My child got cancer when he was 13 years old. And if there is hell on earth, it is medicine in Russia. We went all this way, we were treated, and it was incredibly expensive. Fortunately, the son is alive. Now he is 20 years old. But every year I am forced to go through a lot of humiliating procedures to prove that he is disabled. Bribes are demanded everywhere. And at the military registration and enlistment office they say: why are you bothering with him, he’ll die soon anyway. They are the mothers! What can they say or do to the child?

Iraida Yakovlevna, Moscow, 73 years old:

Nowadays you can find an advertisement in every newspaper: we can cure cancer. And a phone. Either the medicine is offered for 70 - 80 thousand, or the clinic is private. And no one knows whether they are deceiving us or not. But the Ministry of Health is silent! And you can feel the deception! The state doesn’t need sick people, they need to get rid of us.

Tatyana Mikhailovna Rosenthal,
Nizhny Novgorod:

Doctor Gordetsov works in our city. He has a method of spectral analysis of blood. In one and a half to two years you can find out whether a person will get sick or not. Diagnosis at an early stage! Progressive method. But it seems that no one except the doctor himself and the patients need this. How did you deal with your illness?

Famous Russian writer Daria Dontsova closely monitors her diet. After all, everyone wants not to get sick, not to get fat, and to live longer. In addition, Daria is an excellent example of how you can not give up even in the face of the most terrible disease and even find strength in it for new achievements.

- What did you experience at the moment when you learned the terrible diagnosis of breast cancer?

Well, first of all, the diagnosis is not terrible. It's just a diagnosis. I really don’t like it when journalists immediately automatically attach to oncology... they put on such a carriage: terrible, terrible, incurable, nightmare. No, it's just a disease. It's just a disease. And there is much more in this world and worse than the disease than oncology. These are diseases that have no cure at all. From them, if a person gets sick, he will certainly die. Fortunately, this is not the case with oncology. What emotions did you experience? The saddest ones. Honest... honestly. Nothing good. No one ever experiences any pleasant emotions when they learn that they have cancer.
You know I was like that a smart girl, I was so smart that no one should repeat my experience. Everything would hurt for me for probably six months. You should go to the doctor if you're in pain! But I’m a former Soviet girl. So I decided: well, maybe I’ll go later.

“Oncology, stage four. You have two months left to live.” I’m sitting there, thinking: this is a joke, right? How is it that I have two months left to live, so beautiful?

Well, I had a really bad chest pain on the left side. I was sick and sick. You know, the bust has grown. I, a girl with a minus first size, suddenly had such a beautiful, chic bust. I, fool, was delighted at my incredible beauty. And my friend, a surgeon, and my husband and I went on vacation to Tunisia. And my friend and I ended up in the same locker room. Well, we are changing clothes - she looked at me (she is an operating surgeon), her face changed so much, she said: “What is this?” I say: “Imagine, my bust grew at the age of 45!” And she said: “We’ll immediately return to Moscow on the next plane.” Well, how do we “return to Moscow”? We have children, we paid for the trip. I stayed there for another ten days. I arrived in Moscow and went to the doctor. The doctor looked at me and said: “Well, what can I say? Oncology, stage four. You have two months left to live." I'm sitting there thinking: this is a joke, right? How is it that I have two months left to live, so beautiful? This simply cannot happen to me at all. This was not a very pleasant situation.

I left this doctor covered in tears and snot. I didn’t cry in his office. But when I left there... The sun is shining, the weather is good. I look: people are walking. I think: fathers, I’m going to die in two months. In general, somehow it doesn’t fit in my head. And I started crying. So, I cried with such force - you know, I can’t even explain to you. I got on the bus to go home. And the bus stops at the “Oncological Hospital” stop. And then there was also the conductor... so somehow it was necessary to punch it with such a punch. And you had to buy tickets from the driver. I'm rummaging around and can't find it. He looks at me and says: “I’ll take you like this.” He understood: I was crying, the cancer hospital, something was wrong with me. My God, it was some kind of horror.

I got home, sat down in our kindergarten not far from the house, and just, you know, I’m just in complete tears. I think: where to go, where to go? Then my brain fell into place a little. I think: well, I have three children; okay, the boys are big, they are 20; and my daughter is 12. It’s very bad. I have a mother and mother-in-law. I loved them very much. They were very harmful. Who will need my harmful old women, right? And my husband, in general, is young, he is not fifty - a doctor of sciences, a professor. Will he live alone for long? No question - some graduate student will pick it up. And what will happen then to my children, my three dogs, my cat, my two old women? How will this woman treat them? I felt scared.

And then I remembered that I have a friend Oksana, with whom we went to Tunisia, my closest friend. She has three dogs, her son is my daughter Masha’s closest friend. Oksana is a wonderful woman: she cooks, washes, cleans and is not married. I rushed towards her. I arrived and said: “Stepanich, you must marry Alexander Ivanovich.” We must pay tribute to Oksana. She looked at me like that and said: “Oh, I agree. Just let’s discuss why first.” And she dragged me into her kitchen. Well, then, of course, I told her everything, the whole truth. She answered me that the doctor I saw—then those words are now forbidden to be uttered on television, but everyone understands what she told me: that this is not how a diagnosis is made, that you need to go to a normal specialist.

I didn't tell you the most interesting thing. Having told me that I had two months to live, the doctor told me that I could take the risk and have an operation. But it will cost me: so much for him, so much for the anesthesiologist, so much for the nurse. He gave me the calculation. But we didn’t have much money then, and somehow we weren’t very rich. She told me: “Let’s go to my doctor Igor Groshev. I worked with him." And she sent me to the 62nd city hospital. There was already another conversation. There was a young doctor there, with whom I am now very close friends, working on a regular basis (three operations a day), who told me that the situation, yes, is actually difficult, but we can somehow somehow manage fight her. “Let's get treatment,” he told me.

I suddenly remembered these curtains. And I think: I’ll die - they’ll take off my curtains. And this was the final decision to go for surgery.

And somehow, you know... somehow I perked up. But what finally inspired me to do this treatment was the curtains. You know, before they told me the diagnosis, I sewed new curtains myself and hung them. And everyone scolded me: my husband, my children, my mother and mother-in-law. “It’s dark, we need to take it off and hang up the others!” I was stubborn: “My curtains are expensive - I will never take them off!” Do you understand me, right? And at some point, when it was very bad, I thought: maybe I shouldn’t have the operation; well, I have so little time left to live; why bother? Yes? I suddenly remembered these curtains. And I think: I’ll die - they’ll take off my curtains. And this was the final decision to go for surgery. I understand that it's funny. But nonetheless.

- It was in the hospital that you started writing. How did your illness lead you to this activity?

Oh, you know, this is really, really, for me complex issue. Because I always answer all questions very honestly: how much do I weigh, what do I eat, how many teeth do I have, how many implants - please. I don't have a stopper. I'll tell you everything. But regarding books... First of all, I don't know where they come from. Don't ask me about this. I do not know myself. And with the books that turned out first... I settled in the intensive care ward. I've had several surgeries. Usually people stay there for two or three days and go to another ward. And I lived there. Because they operated on me, then they took me away for another operation, they brought me back again, and again they took me away for surgery. Somehow they didn’t take me away... they didn’t take me away.

And resuscitation is non-sexual. You, like men and women, lie mixed together naked, all of them, that is, on tubes. One fine day, two grandfathers were with me. And these grandfathers began to talk through me: we are going to die, we feel so bad. And then I firmly decided that I would not die. “We feel so bad, everything hurts!” I got angry and said: “Grandfathers, don’t you want to shut up?” One of them says to me: “You better shut up! I have oncology!” I say: “Hello! And I’m here with acne, which means I’m lying down. I have the same thing as you. And look at me in general. I'm covered in scars. Shut up, for God's sake." No! They whined and moaned.

Oncology is actually luck, it is your chance to change your life. Why is a person given cancer? Oncology - it is given to him so that a person has time to change in his life.

And I was so tired of it, just half to death. I complained to my husband this morning. And in the evening he brings me this little book “The Twelve Labors of Hercules,” a stack of paper and a pen. I don’t know how I got permission - nothing is allowed in the intensive care unit. And he told me: “You wanted to write books.” But I don’t remember at all that I wanted to write books. I was a journalist. “Write!” He handed me his pen and left. And you know: night; These nasty grandfathers finally fell asleep. They were injected with something to keep them quiet. And that means I’m half-sitting in this bed and thinking: hmm, how do people write books? I'm a journalist. There is a topic - I’m writing. But there is no topic - how will I write? And suddenly, you know, from somewhere above (I understand, it sounds very funny) a phrase falls: you got married four times and happily each time. Oops! All. This is how I wrote it - I can’t stop for the 18th year in a row. All. Don't ask where. It feels like the gates were opened, and somehow it started pouring out like that.

- So oncology is not a death sentence?

No. Speaking absolutely seriously. Oncology is actually luck, it is your chance to change your life. Why is a person given cancer? Oncology - it is given to him so that a person has time to change in his life. Just imagine: Small child goes to the open hatch (here is a hot one, with boiling water). It's coming. He doesn't realize there's a hot hatch ahead. And at that moment, some person runs up and throws him to the ground so that the child does not go further. The child hurts himself, he is in pain, he cries. Is it true? But he was saved from greater trouble: he did not fall into a pit of boiling water. Here is oncology - it knocks you down so that you don’t fall into this pit of boiling water: change, change, become different, become better, become kind, merciful, become a person who does not bring harm to others, try to change in some way.

I have enormous contact with cancer patients. I now have about thirty women on my phone who call me, who have undergone operations, they feel bad, they are scared. I talk to them, explain to them how to behave before or after the operation. People just come up on the street and I give them my phone number. When I start saying that we need to change, they usually ask me: how? I can't tell you how. Everyone finds the path themselves.

The trouble is that for many people illness becomes the main thing in their lives. They don’t have any such, maybe some interesting events. Suddenly he gets sick - he is the center of attention. Just imagine: a woman like this - Mary Ivanna - works in an accounting department in a small town, a small salary, two teenage children, a mother-in-law who doesn’t really love her, a husband who drinks. Yes? What was interesting in her life? In principle, no one needs her. Nobody loved her, didn’t particularly praise her, and didn’t pay her much money. Suddenly she gets sick with cancer. Kind colleagues seat her in the center of the room (she will catch a cold by the window). The boss leaves the room: “Masha, what a wonderful report she wrote!” The report is bad, as always, but he wants to support her. The children are scared that their mother is sick and start wearing three-piece suits. Husband - bah... didn’t get drunk on Saturday! He feels sorry for his wife. And the mother-in-law bites her tongue, because suddenly the daughter-in-law dies - the son will bring another; It's unlikely that it will be better. What if he kicks this old woman out altogether? Do you understand, right? And this Masha receives a huge chunk of love and attention that she hasn’t had all her life. Why did she get it? Because of illness. Does she want to get better? No! This is the biggest problem in oncology. No matter how you treat her, she will not recover. She will tell everyone: I want to get well! She will take pills. And inside her subconscious will tell her: no, Masha, you don’t need this, because you will sit by the window again, your boss will scold you again, and your husband will drink on Saturdays again.

If a person has stage four - cancer with metastases - then I always explain that now there is such chemotherapy, such drugs that prolong life by years.

This is the biggest problem in oncology - to explain to a person what he really needs, he needs to get better. And the other extreme is when a person demands incredible attention from loved ones and those around him. This is also very bad. You have to live with the disease like you live with a dog. So you got up in the morning, fed the dog, walked it, then said: dear dog, you stayed at home, I went to work. We worked all day. When we returned, we thought about the dog. It's the same with illness. In the morning they got up, fed her pills, I don’t know... they whimpered in the bathroom: oh, my poor illness, my unfortunate one; how poor I am! They wiped the snot, got dressed, and went to work. They worked and were busy all day. We returned home: husband, children, mother there. Yes, in the evening we lay down, fed the disease dog some pills, stroked its head - oh, how poor and unhappy I am - and fell asleep. You need to compress the day so that the disease does not have time to stick its finger in between your activities.

- What do you say when women who are also sick call you?

First of all, I say that everything will be fine. This time. Secondly, I explain that oncology is treatable. That's two. Thirdly, if a person has stage four - cancer with metastases - then I always explain that now there is such chemotherapy, such drugs that prolong life by years. For a year. Recently, one drug was registered in Russia, which people who were sick and were observed, there were clinical trials - stage four, oncology, breast cancer, metastases - people live for eight to nine years using this medicine. This is literally a breakthrough now in oncology. So please hold on, my dears. I explain that a person sends himself to the next world most often through despondency and some bad thoughts. All this needs to be driven away.

I know a woman who... she was simply no longer walking. But the cats picked her up. She was lying alone in bed at home. There were services going to her: both the volunteer service and the Red Cross. But at some point there was some kind of inconsistency. Someone went on vacation and they forgot. It happens. She couldn't get up. She was lying in bed, she could not move. That is, she was almost paralyzed for more than a year. And she has two cats. And the cats began to scream. The cats wanted to eat, the tray was full... The cats screamed for a day, then another. She was already prepared for death. She understood that no one would come. Well, they forgot about her. On the third day she felt sorry for the cats. She fell out of bed - rolled - and crawled into the kitchen.

That is, she crawled around this kitchen for several hours... around her small apartment. She went to sleep on the floor; she could not climb onto the bed. The next day she knelt down and walked. When a week later the Red Cross and a local police officer came to open the apartment, thinking that everything was bad, the “corpse” was briskly trying to wash something in the bathroom. She was taken to the hospital. What’s amazing is that she recovered. This is how the cats got on their feet. Do you understand what's going on? We need to find something to cling to.

What can I recommend? I can advise you not to go to oncology forums. My dreams are to close them. Because there are 90% of hysterical cliques who simply write lies. They just write lies. First, why do you need medical information about your illness? Do you even understand what Peyti resection is? Never in my life! So you don't need this. No need. Secondly, even if you receive some information, you will not be able to combine it, and you will have a mess in your head. Don’t believe the ladies who write that they had everything cut off, including their heads; and that's why they die. Well, they sit there for five or six years, and they haven’t died at all. And their heads were definitely cut off. Otherwise they wouldn't write this nonsense. At one time, one very large oncologist and I simply started checking. There, some women wrote that they were operated on in such and such a hospital, they did not get help, they were disfigured and all that. We checked them. It is not true. Patient records are stored for more than thirty years, and then sent to the general archive. None of these women who spoke about fears and horrors had ever been in this hospital. Do you understand what's going on?

I would like to tell our TV viewers about oncology. My dear, beloved! I really don't like the phrase “look at me.” I never say it. But in in this case look at me please. I'm not the smartest, I'm not the most beautiful, I'm not the luckiest. I'm just like you all. And my body, as an anatomical organism, it works the same way as the body of Masha from St. Petersburg, Katya from Solikamsk, Vera from some small village. My liver works like your liver; my heart is like your heart. If I - not the smartest, not the most beautiful, not the luckiest - was raised from the fourth stage of oncology, what prevents you from recovering?

- What to do to find out about the disease in time?

You need to undergo a medical examination every six months to a year. I'm talking about breast cancer now. Every woman should definitely go to the doctor. Once upon a time in Soviet years there were examination rooms. And we women hated these offices, because once a year the bosses obliged us to go to the gynecologist. God, we couldn't stand him. But how many cases of oncology were found in these offices! So they played very good role. But now we need to think about our health ourselves. Therefore, please, once every six months, once a year, depending on the situation in your family. There is no need to fall into cancerophobia. You just need to take a reasonable approach to your health. Fine. Once every six months we went to the doctor. Lose weight. That concerns oncology of female organs. Please keep in mind that many women have hormone-dependent tumors. Always keep yourself in shape. It's not about external beauty. This is about your health. Stop eating smoked, fried, fatty foods. Stop eating mayonnaise - it's not tasty at all. Stop eating ketchup and all sorts of different... you know, canned food is like that: canned food! Don't eat sprats. It has long been known that they are smoked with a substance that supposedly can cause certain cancers. Please be careful with everything you put in your mouth. Because food is not just a gobbled up pie. This is something that you put into your body, and then it wanders through your circulatory system, and you don’t know what it will bring to you. So please get busy healthy eating. Play sports, please.

- So, nutrition is also important?

I have written a book. It's called "I really want to live." The book was written specifically to help cancer patients. It tells very honestly and frankly everything that happened to me during this illness, throughout the five years that I was treated. Unfortunately for me, this book has an incredible circulation. Another thing is that her royalties go to a charitable foundation. But it's not that. But the fact is that I, as a writer, should be happy, yes, with the increase in circulation. But no! So I really want my editor to tell me one fine day: that’s it, we’ve removed it; she will never go out again; everyone recovered. But unfortunately, no. On the other hand, humanity once died from plague, cholera, and leprosy. Yes, all these diseases are a thing of the past. Perhaps very soon oncology will become a thing of the past.

- And about nutrition. What do you eat that makes you attractive and always healthy?

More like what I don't eat. Let's turn the question around. I don’t eat sausage and all the sausage products that exist. I don't eat red meat. I don't eat meat at all. If I think of something meaty, it will most likely be chicken. And then the questions begin: where do I get the protein? Cottage cheese and nuts are ideal, so to speak, suppliers of protein. If I eat butter, then I will eat no more than 15 grams of it per day - this is the physiological norm for a person. Sometimes people laugh at me when they find out that I count nuts. I, you know, like this? You take the nuts like this and start eating. Everything is fine, they are very high in calories. So I count: two walnuts, eight cashews, a few pine nuts. I try not to overeat. I understand that I have bad genetics. I had a very full father– Dad had several strokes. I honestly don't really want to turn into a pile. In my seventh decade, if I am fat, doughy, if I don’t exercise, and if I eat the cakes I adore with whipped cream, it won’t be very good for me. I don't eat after six in the evening, simply because it's hard for me to go to bed with a full stomach. In the morning you get up - you are a little pig: your eyes are slits. Do you understand, right?

- Which products do you consider the most correct?

I can only speak to myself. Broccoli, cauliflower - vegetables. For me it's all vegetables. For me it's fat sea fish(cheap mackerel, by the way). Beautiful, wonderful fish, worth two kopecks. Very good. Only not canned, but... alive - not smoked, not salted. Buy raw mackerel and bake it in the oven. Absolutely perfect thing.

Vegetables. Not everything is fruit. Well, in principle, I can probably eat any of them. I'm just a little careful with bananas there. I eat them before a fitness workout. Two bananas - and that means your energy is off the charts, you can push your weights. So. What else do I love? Cottage cheese, kefir, yogurt. My dairy products are of normal fat content, because I know very well that in order for low-fat products to have taste... You will not eat low-fat yogurt. It tastes disgusting, believe me. The manufacturer adds a lot of sugar to it. Sometimes they write: no sugar. Great! So there's a sweetener in there. It kills the liver. Eat sugar is better than a sweetener. It will be more useful to you. What else? Dried fruits. Just don’t gobble up a kilogram of dried apricots, thinking that they are very healthy. It is also very high in calories actually. Dried fruits. Then what else do I have? Hercules porridge - me rare person who adores her. Now there is a post. I'm deprived of mine oatmeal porridge on milk - this is the most difficult test for me during Lent. More cheese.

- How do you feel about cabbage?

It’s important for me because absolutely all cabbages are recognized by oncologists as food that protects against cancer. Therefore, I also eat cabbage, realizing that it is good for me. And secondly, I just love her. I'm very interested in her in different forms. You can make a lot of cabbage delicious salads, a lot of very tasty dishes. Cabbage – yes, my favorite in general.

- Do you think it somehow affects your well-being, your skin, that you eat a lot of cabbage?

If you eat a lot of cabbage, get angry at others, never exercise, drink carbonated drinks - no amount of cabbage will help you. This must be some kind of conglomerate of measures. Yes? First of all, some kind of work on yourself. Most of all, anger, envy, and greed age a person. Now, if you get rid of these... At least try to trample these bad feelings in yourself, you will immediately understand that you look much better.

- What can you say about buckwheat?

I really love buckwheat: regular, normal buckwheat. We eat it with onions and mushrooms. Children and husband sometimes eat it with meat. Buckwheat - yes. I love it very much. We treat her very well. There are 10 products that oncologists around the world (not only Russian - American, French, German) - this is where they all come together. 10 products that are declared to protect us from cancer and help cancer patients overcome the disease. Buckwheat goes in there. If you came to see my suitcase when I’m going to France, I’m taking my friend, who, unfortunately, had problems with oncology, a whole suitcase of buckwheat.

- How do you feel about spices?

Everything is in progress at home. I make ginger tea very often: orange, lemon, a little green tea, a lot of grated ginger, honey - this is a very common recipe. I use ginger in all sorts of sauces that I make for pasta, for example. I make ginger oil: I infuse sunflower oil with grated ginger - it turns out very tasty.

- Which product is your favorite?

And I love everything, I’m generally a gluttonous girl. Complex issue.

- How do you feel about sweets?

Somehow I don't want to. Then the trainer will have to report on fitness. And he will make me run around the gym with a barbell for an extra two laps. How can I think about this! By the way, I had a very interesting point. When I was being treated in oncology, I was on prednisone for five years. This is a medicine that just makes you gain weight from the air. When I gained seven kilograms, I realized that I needed to lower them back, and that’s when it arose new system nutrition. I remember very well how I stood in the store, I smelled these confectionery counters. She stood like this: ah-ah, how good it is! And once, it means I gave in, I thought: I’ll buy it, I’ll buy myself a cake. And that means I’m already being carried towards this counter. And suddenly an auntie drives up with such a cart. Auntie is like three hippopotamuses. And in this cart she has everything so fatty, salty, smoked. She drives up and says: “I’ll have ten of these cakes, ten of these, two cakes.” I looked at her and thought: I won’t eat the cake. And she left there.

Writer, screenwriter, TV presenter, public figure and, in his own apt expression - “a pill for depression” - all these are different sides Daria (Agrippina) Dontsova. She has record book circulations for Russia and many honorary titles, among which only “Writer of the Year” - more than 10 times. Daria Arkadyevna's assets include not only ironic detective stories, but also cookbooks, a series of children's works and an autobiographical book about the fight against cancer, “I really want to live.”

About oncology

— All interviews with you in one way or another relate to the topic of your illness. In a year you have a special date - 20 years since you were diagnosed with breast cancer. How do you feel now about what happened then? How has your attitude changed over the years?

- 20 years? Oh, that's right! 1998-2018... And I forgot! I'll have to call my doctor and congratulate him.

My attitude hasn’t changed at all over the years, and why set milestones at all? I was sick and recovered. You don’t mark the date of your next runny nose.

— That is, both then and now you are ready to call oncology your luck. How quickly did you come to realize this paradox? After all, many perceive the doctor’s words as a sentence and despair.

— Not everyone is desperate. I know great amount cancer patients who recovered on their own and saved a dozen other people. Yes, everyone goes through a stage of tears, frustration, questions that they ask themselves. But for some it goes away, while others become professional patients - and with such people, as a rule, everything ends badly.

Anyone can get sick, and there are different types of illnesses. And oncology, for the most part, is being treated - I’m now talking about the so-called conventional oncology, where there are established protocols, and not about complex cases. There are also more terrible illnesses for which no cure has yet been invented - for example, some genetic diseases.

Now experts say that standard oncology, which fits into the general treatment protocol, has slowly begun to turn into a chronic, sluggish disease. Yes, the patient will be given chemo, he will take pills, but he will be pushed and pulled, sometimes better, sometimes worse, and all this will continue for a long time.

For example, a Swiss-made drug will soon enter the Russian market; I will not name it for now; on it, patients with stage 4 breast cancer with metastases continued to live for 11 years, but previously they were given only one and a half to two years. Science and medicine do not stand still.

As for luck... Of course, it is more difficult for a non-believer to understand that this is luck. A churchgoer will understand why the illness was sent to him, and such people, as practice shows, recover more often and faster. A churchgoer asks himself the question: “Why did the Lord send me illness?” For what! And the unbeliever asks: “Why was this disease sent to me?” For what! Do you understand the difference, why and for what?

“They often say: a well-fed person does not understand a hungry person, and a healthy person does not understand a sick person.” This is true? At that moment, did you envy those who avoided cancer?

— Envy is not my emotion. And what is there to envy - money, cars, jewelry? There will always be someone who has more money, a better car, or brighter diamonds. Envy is a destructive emotion.

19 years ago, when I heard the diagnosis of breast cancer, I was not jealous healthy people. I was scared for my family.

At that time, my mother and mother-in-law, already elderly ladies, were alive. I treated them well, but to be honest, their character was wow, as they say, you can’t go around on a cart. And who needs my harmful grandmothers? I love them, but someone else probably won’t love them.

I have three children - my daughter Masha was 12, my sons were 18 and 20. They seem to be adults, but I still need my mother. I had dogs, a cat - where did it all go? And my husband Alexander Ivanovich is still young and quite handsome. He won’t be left alone, someone will definitely pick him up. And what will this woman who enters my house do to my family? The children have a stepmother, my grandmothers - who? And dogs will definitely not be needed. I was only thinking about this.

Photo from the personal archive of D. Dontsova

— In 1998, there was no Internet as such. What helped you gain positive information about your diagnosis and set yourself up to win?

— And it’s good that there was no Internet! I sincerely advise everyone not to go to cancer forums - there is a hysterical community of mostly women who write something like this: “My grandmother, grandfather, aunt, uncle, mother, father died and I myself am about to die from cancer " A doctor I know, a prominent oncologist, once got terribly angry and began to compare these stories from the Internet and real stories diseases that are stored in the archives of his clinic. And it turned out that there is nothing to do with the truth here. People with such names and diagnoses were not in his hospital, but wrote as if they knew everything about everyone.

If you really want to get information, read scientific and medical sites, preferably in English. But this path is long and unnecessary. Find a doctor and trust him. I was operated on by Igor Anatolyevich Groshev, now he is the head of the department at the 62nd hospital, and then he was just a surgeon. A friend recommended him to me, and then she said a very correct thing: don’t look for an academician who operates once a year, look for someone who is up to date.

— In 2015, you announced the creation of a website where cancer patients can get psychological assistance. How is this project developing now?

- It's more about a drop of positivity. When a person, having received a diagnosis, starts reading all sorts of horror stories on the Internet, this cannot help him in any way. And then he will come to our website, where real stories with a happy outcome are published.

- It turns out that you doubted it too. And then, in 1998, we asked ourselves the question: why do I need this?

- No. I just knew very well then why I needed it. In my case it was clear to me. But when you are with the Lord, you think: “The Lord will help. The Lord will rule,” and it’s already easier.

“But you came to faith precisely at a critical moment in your life.”

“Few cancer patients, having received a diagnosis, do not run to church. Even the most avid atheists will come in at least once and light a candle - just in case, what if?

I was a parishioner of several churches. Now every Sunday I stand at the liturgy in the Church of the Savior Not Made by Hands in the village of Ubory.

In my youth, I didn’t think about God at all. I remember the first time I went to church near the Sokol metro station - I was about 20 years old, and my grandmother asked me to go light a candle for my deceased grandfather. I went in, bought a candle, and asked what to do next. I lit a candle for the eve, and the woman who was behind the box came with me and said: “Well, at least cross yourself!” And I say: “How?” She showed, then I remember... I go up to the salt - and such joy falls on me! And only now I understand what it was! If only I had known then, maybe I would have avoided certain mistakes in my life.

— Is there anything in the Christian faith that is difficult or incomprehensible to you?

“I just couldn’t understand: they say, open your heart to Christ, but how can that be?” They told me: it opens through prayer, but I kept thinking, stupidly reading prayers in the morning and evening, how does it open?

And then one day you suddenly understand how it is. But you can’t explain it – there are no words. You just understand that the Lord will manage, the Lord will help, and you calm down. And then a completely different life begins.

But it’s impossible to teach someone this... You can’t have dinner and sleep for me, can you? Either the person himself came to this and received it, or he did not. I only know that you don’t pull a rope to the Lord God, and you can’t talk to an unchurched person about faith - it will be unpleasant for you yourself.

“It happens that a person stumbles over a small prohibition, and by refusing to accept it, he ultimately refuses God. For example, he begins to talk seriously about the incomprehensibility of the Church Slavonic language as a barrier between him and God, or about the “stupidity” of fasting. For example, you love dogs, but there are people who are ready to say: since a dog is an unclean animal, then I am not on the same path with such faith.

- You know, to everyone who says that I won’t believe in God, and I won’t go to church, because they will prohibit me from loving my dog, I can repeat the words of one priest, he said: “To everyone who complains, they say, in the church they cheated me and I never set foot there again, I answer: how I understand you! I was once treated so rudely in a bakery - I haven’t eaten bread since then!”

About books and heroes

— The number of your books is rapidly approaching 200. Where do you get so many characters? Is it really all from life?

- I just have a memory like an elephant! So the books include all the people I once saw and met. There are definitely all my relatives and friends there, and sometimes some who are not very good - but sometimes I communicate with not very good people.

Here was a case. In my series about Ivan Podushkin, his mother, Nicoletta, was based on the widow of one writer. Just taken in its entirety and transferred to the book. We were still living in Peredelkino then, renting a dacha. And this lady, as it turned out, was a fan of mine. And so she comes to meet me, holding a book about Podushkin under her arm. I think, well, that’s it, now I’ll make fluff and feathers fly. She comes up and says: “Oh, I laughed so much. Listen, this Nicoletta, this is...” and gives a completely different first and last name. I say - can I not tell you? That is, she did not recognize herself, although even her words were there.

— Do you really write all your books by hand?

- Is it true. And I still don’t understand why this fact surprises everyone so much.

— Is the book about your experience of fighting cancer still being republished?

- Unfortunately yes. It would be better not to publish it, of course. Or rather, it would be better if no one needed her anymore and everyone would recover. But I’ll be honest, I’m even quietly proud of the fact that I pulled cancer patients out of hiding. Because after I started shouting into every microphone that was put in front of me that it could be cured, that it was not a shame, people gradually began to come out into the world, stopped wearing wigs, and began to understand that there is nothing scary about a bald head. That it is not contagious, finally.

When people see me on TV, happy and cheerful, not at all worried about the fact that she is missing some parts of her body, they understand that their future is not dark at all. I am the bright future of many cancer patients (smiles).

- How to stop focusing on the bad - your recipe?

— You must try to see the good in everything bad. And understand that any situation is given to us so that we change in better side. And if in addition you want to be happy, then there is very simple advice,

A person becomes happy when he stops wanting what he doesn’t have. And he begins to rejoice in what he has.