Meet our champion - Nikita Merkulov!
Courage and Patience
The VIII Worldwide Winners Games will open in just 120 days! And what better way to prepare for the parade of champions than by starting a countdown? We’re launching a series of interviews with childhood cancer survivors. Meet our first champion — Nikita Merkulov!
Nikita is the first face you'll see in the anniversary calendar of the Podari Zhizn Foundation. Back in 2007, with the support of Podari Zhizn’s donors, Nikita triumphed over Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In an intimate conversation with Zhenya Vaneeva — herself a Podari Zhizn ward and cancer survivor — Nikita shares how the illness changed him and the lessons he learned.
“I am sincerely grateful to every compassionate person who donated for my treatment and to all the staff at Podari Zhizn. I owe my life to them. I’ll carry this gratitude for the rest of my life. As long as I have energy and a clear mind, I’ll remain connected to the foundation and do my best to give back.
My recovery truly began when I met Father Peter, a priest at the church in the Russian Children’s Clinical Hospital. Strangely enough, we didn’t talk much about religion. I just realized it’s better not to be alone. I always looked for him in the department. That’s how I started meeting people and making friends.
Before being admitted, I’d vaguely heard of a charity called Podari Zhizn, but didn’t know what it really was. Everything changed when a volunteer named Guzel walked into my room and asked if I had a favorite on the Ice Age show (Russia’s version of Dancing with the Stars — on ice). I had no idea who to name, so I just said the first name that came to mind: Ville Haapasalo. She looked surprised, but smiled and said, ‘There’ll be a nice surprise for the New Year.’
That was the first time I saw a volunteer. Saying I was happy is an understatement. After seeing only doctors, nurses, and my mom for a whole month, even a short chat with someone from the outside world gave me energy. Guzel kept visiting. She explained how the foundation works. Without her and other volunteers, I might have withdrawn completely. Their presence, understanding, and kindness helped me heal emotionally.
During treatment, I often sat in deep thought, wondering: ‘Why did this happen? Why me? What am I supposed to learn from this?’ I called it my Tolstoy phase of thinking. When I returned home, I found that my peers were still in what I jokingly called their Pushkin fairy tale phase. I couldn’t relate to them anymore. The hospital and my hometown felt like two different worlds. It took time to adjust, and I felt isolated. But gradually, I reintegrated.
Still, my outlook on life had changed. I began seeing the good in people more consciously — perhaps that’s why I became a defense lawyer. But I must admit, student life and the legal profession have made me tougher. There’s more cynicism and aggression in me now. After treatment, I was probably a better person.
Cancer taught me two essential things: courage and patience. You must tell yourself again and again: ‘I won’t bow to cancer. I’ll prove I’m worthy of this life.’ And it’s important to remember: without grief, there is no true joy or hope.
I haven’t become a volunteer myself — seeing children suffer is still too hard. But I tell my friends about volunteering, blood donation, and how to help. Many of them, across different cities, have already joined in.
I fell ill at 13, in 7th grade. I wanted to become a lawyer and start my own law firm to help people. Doctors in my hometown of Ufa couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Treatments didn’t help. I was even given the wrong blood — I’m Rh-negative, but my blood was mistakenly typed as Rh-positive. Eventually, I was admitted to the Russian Children’s Clinical Hospital in Moscow, where they finally diagnosed Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
When you're 13 and told that months of chemo and radiation lie ahead, there’s no spark of hope — just emotional numbness. I’d already grown used to hospitals, but inside, I felt empty. At first, I didn’t even want to fill that emptiness with anything.”
Zhenya Vaneeva collected 12 incredible stories from young cancer survivors. Every month, we’ll share one of these deeply moving conversations with you as we count down to the Winners Games.