When I was ill

I was diagnosed with cancer on my 29th birthday. I didn’t know anything about it and couldn’t imagine what way I was to go: from fear for my life to hope for recovery. During the treatment I shot a series of photographs. I didn't want just to document all the stages or make a frightening story. My goal was to create visually striking images, which I hope could help people understand what a person facing a serious disease feels like.

The cancer diagnosis makes people feel frightened, though they can hardly understand what it is. There are many false stereotypes and a lot of wrong information about people who survived or are still struggling with cancer. This often leads to social stigmatization of this group. Quite often healthy people just do not want to hear about it, and sometimes cancer patients are even treated as miserable “living dead”. Research studies show that this problem is urgent even in developed countries, where attitude towards special groups of people is more positive in general.