In the bright but silent children’s oncology ward in Yaroslavl, renowned pediatric oncologist Dr. Andrei Kartashov stood powerless at his son Yegor’s bedside. The eight-year-old, pale and hairless from acute leukemia, barely clung to life. Monitors blinked weakly, and for the first time, the doctor once full of confidence—was simply a grieving father.A quiet knock interrupted the stillness.
Expecting a nurse, Andrei turned to find a boy of about ten in worn sneakers and a baggy shirt. “I came to help your son,” he said. Andrei, bitter and exhausted, dismissed the boy Nikita as just another misguided visitor. But Nikita insisted he wasn’t offering hope, only something real. He gently took Yegor’s hand, whispered something, and moments later, the dying boy stirred, then whispered, “Dad…”
Shocked, Andrei demanded to know who Nikita was. A nurse explained that Nikita had once been a mystery case—mute, motionless, and seemingly lost to a rare neurological condition. After months in a coma, he’d suddenly awoken during a thunderstorm and whispered a single word: “Live.” Since then, he had a strange ability to connect with other sick children, simply by being near them.
Three weeks later, Yegor was stronger still ill, but smiling, laughing, asking for juice, and living again. The disease had retreated for now. And Dr. Kartashov, once a man of science alone, began to tell every parent he met: “Medicine heals the body, but love, connection, and belief—those give us the will to survive.”