Lyubov Zhdanova

The more you’re prevented from doing something, the greater your desire to do it. And that desire doesn’t fade – it can persist for years. Many of the heroes of our project, including Lyubov, have discussed this. She spent half of her childhood under medical supervision and didn’t take part in any physical activities, because she simply wasn’t allowed to.

Lyubov was born in a small village in the Kostroma Region. She grew up on a homestead with all the delights of rural life. At five years of age, a freak accident occurred when she fell into a bucket of water that had just been boiled to prepare animal feed. She received severe burns over her entire body and spent two months in a hospital bed. Afterwards, the little girl literally had to learn to walk again.

The burns gradually healed, but the stress she experienced had an impact. Lyubov underwent kidney surgery in infancy and the congenital disorder had abated, but after the severe burns it flared up again. “There isn’t a single childhood photo of me smiling,” Lyubov says. “Every six months I’d end up in the hospital again and spend a week or two there.”

She was later given group III disability, though she doesn’t particularly like talking about it. “There were several times when potential employers would change their expression after finding out that I had group III disability, and it became clear I wouldn’t get the job. Things have changed a lot since then of course, but it is still an issue in our society.”

After school, she went to study at the Moscow Technical University of Communications and Informatics and became an engineer. A year and half ago, however, she decided to try her hand at cybersecurity. Lyubov is somebody who isn’t afraid of transformation. She wants to change and be changed, and to always try new things.

At the age of 30 she had the sudden realization that, because of her difficulties in childhood, she’d never learned to swim. This needed to be corrected urgently. There were a lot of things she wanted to achieve.

She wasn’t particularly keen on karate, but yoga felt like her calling. Today, Lyubov is a qualified yoga instructor. Naturally, she can swim now too. In 2022, Lyubov participated in the HeroRace, a 6-kilometer race with a number of obstacles. Two years later, she took part in a charity run sponsored by Kaspersky.

“After that it was like something clicked in my head and I realized I could live life without limitations. You do need to be careful with your health and recognize your limits, but that doesn’t mean you have to give up on what you want. Our bodies are strong, and they can withstand a lot,” Lyubov says.

Her journey of self-discovery continues. Lyubov confesses that she’d like to find her own way of making the world a better place. This could mean teaching, or supporting people in difficult situations, but she doesn’t know exactly what form it will take just yet. What she knows for sure is that she wants to be useful, and to give something of herself to those who need help right now.