Albina Gabdullina is 32 years old, she comes from Kazan.

Albina has been working as a child and family psychologist for more than six years, and now she provides psychological assistance to the wives and relatives of wounded soldiers free of charge.

When and why did you decide to become a volunteer?

— I have been doing charity work for many years, but right now all my strength and energy go to support our guys.

In early September, a friend called me.

Her husband ended up in the hospital with a serious wound.

Mentally, it was hard for her to bear it.

She asked me to come, stay with her, support her as a psychologist.

After some time, she told about me as a specialist to her friends, whose relatives were also in Burdenko - almost all families of military personnel communicate with each other.

At the same time, I learned from the chat of our classmates that the guy with whom we sat at the same desk was also in the hospital.

I found him and started taking care of him.

During this entire period, I met three of my friends. 

- How do medical staff treat you?

We 

have become friends with the medical staff.

They are grateful for the help, and I never cease to admire their hard work.

I would like to note the professionalism of the team of doctors and medical staff.

Complicated operations, proper care.

Sometimes they seem to be doing the impossible.

But not always, of course, they have the opportunity to devote enough time to everyone.

Therefore, I help the nurses - I sit next to them, I hold hands, I help them eat, I follow the guys in every possible way.

  • Albina with Koran and holy water

  • © Photo from personal archive

- Tell me, is it easy to establish contact with the wounded and their relatives?

- In most cases, relatives of wounded soldiers are not just open to help, they are waiting and asking for it.

Mothers came up to me and asked me to read the Koran in Arabic to their sons.

It doesn't matter what religion you are, where you live.

This is all the energy of prayer, kindness and faith that a dear person will soon get on his feet.  

I am in touch with almost all the fighters and their relatives even after they have been discharged or transferred to other hospitals.

It is very important for me to see the dynamics, the progress of recovery.

And support is important to them.

I also consider it very significant how we see off our men: we need to support them with prayers on this dangerous path, in no case be sorry and not set ourselves up for a sad outcome.

With what energy a man leaves to fulfill his duty is very important.

Here, in the hospital, this is especially felt: the energy of faith and love literally puts people on their feet. 

  • Wounded fighter from Chechnya Sayfulla

  • © Photo from personal archive

In the photo, which shows a large family, these are the relatives of the Saifulla fighter from Chechnya.

I met them in the hospital.

There are only 12 children in the family.

Saifulla is the eldest.

His father followed him to the front in September, but they failed to meet.

Saifulla was wounded.

The injury was serious, the spinal cord was injured.

Father first went on vacation to his son in a hospital in Balashikha.

And I was able to fly to Grozny to their family, to support them.

  • The family of the fighter Saifulla

  • © Photo from personal archive

This family is so close-knit, I have only occasionally met so much strength and faith in people.

The older children took care of the younger ones.

They are all for each other, rallied around their fighter, but they do not cry over him, but believe in his recovery.

Radima, the mother of the fighter, said that she was very glad that, although in such a difficult situation, kind and sympathetic people turned out to be on the way: doctors, nurses, volunteers.

And I cannot put into words what the support and faith of a huge family means.

You receive many thanks from your family.

Tell us about the fate of the fighter D., whom the doctors of the hospital named after.

Burdenko was actually pulled out of the other world after a severe wound in the head?

He was wounded back in July.

Severe head wound, speech apparatus affected.

Doctors said that the recovery process would be long.

I supported his parents, brought massagers, tried to help in everything.

His father and mother literally lived next to him.

The strength of the prayers of our parents, the belief that everything will definitely be fine, work wonders.

He was in several branches, underwent several operations.

Now he has already begun to walk and talk, although six months ago no one gave guarantees that he would survive at all.

Even doctors are surprised at how well and steadily the recovery is going.

  • © Photo from personal archive

The story of D. is also incredible in that the platoon commander got him out of the hell.

The father of the fighter really wanted to find him in order to thank him for saving his son.

If not for him and for timely medical care, the fighter would have been lost.

We helped my father in the search and found out that the platoon commander was also wounded and was in a hospital in Nizhny Novgorod.

I asked my friends to find him and visit him.

Soon the officer will arrive in Moscow to get acquainted with the family of the soldier whom he heroically saved.

Guys like him are different, they have the spirit of a fighter.

Sometimes you come to visit the guys and even feel like a fragile girl, these men are incredibly strong in spirit.

But they do not boast of their exploits and simply lower their eyes modestly: “Work!”

What other unusual cases do you remember?

— One fighter arrived in a serious condition.

Among other things, he had shrapnel wounds to his eyes.

When he came out of the coma, he could not speak because of the tube.

At some point, I noticed that he began to move the fingers of one hand.

He raised his right hand and began to move his finger.

At first I did not understand, but then I guessed - he draws letters in the air.

The first thing he asked was, “Am I home?”

I started to massage and develop his right hand, and after a week he began to slowly write letters on paper.

Soon he was transferred from intensive care to a regular ward.

In ten days of good treatment and care, there was clear progress.

He began to ask for food, whispering with his lips.

Now we are in touch with him, he is undergoing rehabilitation.

He doesn't run yet, of course, but he already walks well.

  • Albina's classmate, to whom she came for the first time to the hospital

  • © Photo from personal archive

- Do relatives quickly find their loved ones who are in the hospital?

- It can take some time.

Therefore, we sometimes help in the search, send information among the familiar wives and mothers of the fighters.

They all communicate and support each other.

So we, along with other relatives, were looking for the family of a fighter who was in a coma.

With the permission of the medical staff, they photographed the tattoo on his arm “For the Airborne Forces” and sent it to several chat rooms in different regions.

Four days later his wife was found.

They have two wonderful children.

When his wife arrived, he recovered very quickly.

The wife does not leave him.

This is an example to our women, how important it is to be a faithful loving wife for your man - they feel everything.

  • © Photo from personal archive

- How is the fate of the fighters who have already successfully recovered and discharged?

- I continue to follow the lives of almost all the guys, we communicate, I try to visit them.

Of course, many destinies pass, many stories.

There are those who still have a long recovery ahead of them: they are sent to rehabilitation centers and sanatoriums.

Many want to continue doing their duty.

There was a fighter who was very hard to recover.

Doctors say they got him from the other world.

When he began to recover, he began to walk around the wards, supporting the wounded guys.

He told one of the nurses that he was going back to the front.

Although the commission did not let him in, and his mother did not want to let him go, he nevertheless volunteered.

Whatever further a person chooses for himself, one thing I can say for sure: when there is a loved one next to the wounded who prays and constantly exudes the energy of hope and faith, then miracles happen.

I live by the phrase: “Strength is in faith: in God,