13 Dek, 2022
Kanan's story
TB wasn't my destiny, but I got through it!
Kanan Bayramov’s story
There are moments in one’s life that you don't even want to remember. Because every time you remember it, the whole life you lived in the past come in front of your eyes, and you remember your loved ones who has passed away, who are no longer exist in this world. Then you start thinking and thinking why all these happen to me, why I should pass this testimony. I used to dream for long hours about my bright and happy future, about getting education. Those days were the most beautiful times of my life ever, now I call them ‘the childhood memories’ of my past. We had a nice family then. My mother and sister were alive. At that time, I was always surrounded with full of caress, my mother used to take care of me with a sweet smile in her face. Now, when I come very tired from work and enter my room, the room which looks almost empty, before turning on the light, I feel a strange feelings as if I hear my mother’s voice, I feel her so strong as if she will pet my head and kiss me saying; “My dear son you must be tired, wash your hands, the food is on the table, hurry up it is getting cold. I miss my sister so much. She used to ask me about my future plans. Ehhh... these thoughts make me so sad that sometimes when I go to bed in the night I hardly stop shedding tears. İn the morning when I wake up I look around in the empty room, then have my breakfas do ironing my clothes. Probably, if tuberculosis disease has not reached to our family, I would not be alone today. It all started like this:
I am Kenan Bayramov, I was born in 1996. Our family consisted of four people. My father, mother, sister and me. Since my childhood, my father used to work as a driver and make our families living. We were not rich but we were not living in poverty, either. Our family was very friendly. I was studying at school, as soon as we came home from classes, my mother helped us prepare our lessons. Every morning, he would wake us up with a kiss and a kiss and send us off to school. My father is a refugee who married with my mother in Baku after his family fled their motherland. Since we did not have a house in the city, we had to live in rented flat. The place far from the city with cheapest price. The normal accommodation was beyond our pocket. Therefore we had to live in such bad conditions. Due to severe living condition, humidity we had to move to another apartment. I was not aware of what the future would bring to our family, what problems our family would face, homelessness, poverty and to crown it all the disease called tuberculosis, the disease which devastated our family, took away my dear ones; my beloved mother and my sister. First, my sister got sick with tuberculosis. My mother was taking care of her and took her to the doctors, on time. At the beginning of treatment she was following the doctor’s advice and she was feeling better.
Then I joined to the military services. I have never thought of becoming a soldier. But I really liked my life in military service. I had my military service in the military unit at the State Border Service in Jalilabad, Samkir regions and then I continued my service at the intersection of the Azerbaijan-Georgia state border in Agstafa region.
Having accomplished my military service, I returned home. I was looking for a job. When I got home, I saw that my sister was getting worse day by day and my mother also got TB. At that time, I did not have enough knowledge about the disease as much as I have today. I thought that TB would disappear after taking treatment. I noticed that my sister didn’t take her pills regularly as prescribed by the doctor. She went to the doctor's examinations with great intervals. Later, I noticed that she is coughing and coughing up blood. She often had a fever. Gradually she became very fatigue and weak. Not long after, my mother also had symptoms and signs of tuberculosis. My mother also became terribly sick. Frankly saying, our living conditions were not normal. At that time we were living at the basement place which was very humid. Since the family did not have a stable income, we often had no food to eat during the day and used to sleep with hungry stomach. My father worked hard, day and night to keep our family. My mother's treatment was prolonged. Medicines didn't seem to work anymore. He was very weak and lately he could hardly get out of bed. So, one day I lost my mother. TB killed my mother. TB took her away from us. After the death of my mother we began to face even more difficulties. After my mother's funeral, I felt the symptoms of tuberculosis. I also had cough and feeling very weak. I was sweating during the night. I was also diagnosed TB. My treatments have started. It was difficult for me to take too many medicines every day. I was quite fatigue and very skinny. That's why, sometimes I refused to take medicine. I thought that I would better make pauses and then continue again. I didn’t know that the treatment interruption would only result with prolonged treatment.
My sister often interrupted her treatment saying that she cannot swallow those disgusted pills which affects other parts of my body. Of course, we did not know then that this was absolutely unacceptable. At that time I was already sick. I did not go to the doctor regularly. I thought that I was taking so many medicines but I am not feeling better. I didn't follow the doctor’s advice. I had a lot of breaks in treatments, which caused my treatment to last up to 24 months.
The most difficult period of my life related with TB, the time when TB killed my mother, and the time when I got seriously ill with TB. But I was still getting my treatment. No longer after death of my mother another shock I had in my life – TB killed my sister, a young girl in her most beautiful years of the life. We couldn’t save my sister's life. We were helpless in front of malicious killer, called tuberculosis. She died due to making long-term interruption of her treatment. I became alone with my father in this life. I was feeling so bad and depressed. My health condition was very serious. However, I somehow managed to go and take my medicines and pass examination from time to time.
Once, when I went to the hospital, I met Chingiz Ramazanli, head of the Public Union “Towards TB-Free Future”. This is how he introduced himself when asked who he was. Rather, it was as if God sent him for me as a mediator. Maybe it's because I'm tired of life, hungry, thirsty, hot, lying in bed coughing blood, could hardly stand on my feet to go to the toilet, begging from the God with my hands stretched out to Him with tears in my eyes saying; give me the strength to live or take me away. Chingiz Ramazanli was a person who was sent to help me and to give me strong will as an answer to my prayers that I made during days and night. Frankly saying, I felt deep trust in this person. At that moment, maybe I got tired of getting treatment and had no interest to live in this world. That's how that person started giving me great spiritual support. He gave me his contacts and rendered a real support to me until the end of the treatment with his greatness, his advice, his support. Every time when I talk with Mr. Chingiz, I feel very relaxed and feel very happy. He changed my way of thinking about TB treatment. The thing that I liked the most was that whenever I contacted this person, within first two or three seconds, he would answer me with a cheerful voice, give me advice, and every time he would tell me: “You must continue your treatment till the end. He would tell me that as soon as I recover from TB I would find a good job. He promised me to accept as a member of his organization.
I must admit that when I heard these words before, I would start thinking of this person who is telling me, what is he promising? There is no change in my condition, I could hardly even go to the toilet without crawling, holding on to the wall. However, the feeling of confidence inside me whispering: ‘listen to him, listen to him, follow his advice’. So I started a very long treatment, taking handfuls of medicines. As I successfully continued my treatment, I felt that I was getting better. However, at this time, I already realized that our economic difficulties have reached their limit. We couldn't pay the rent, we didn't have enough money to buy my side-effect medicine, and often we didn't even have enough money to buy food for the house. Although I was young, I could not work because I still had a long time to recover. At this moment, Mr Chingiz’s organization started to evaluate my disability due to my illness, and the head of the Saglamliga Khidmat Public Union, Elchin Mukhtarli, and the deputy head of the organization, Parvana Valiyeva, helped me a lot. Mr. Elchin and Ms. Parvane tirelessly joined the public advocacy, day and night and made a great effort to overcome bureaucratic obstacles in the work of assessing my disability due to my illness at the parliamentary level. I finally got my due. I received group II disability due to tuberculosis. This allowance helped me a lot.
I was very glad to know these people with noble deeds and big hearts. I am always grateful to God and then to these people for making me come to my senses again in life, for my gradual recovery. The work that these people do for humanity has inspired me to join their organization. Soon after I also became a member of Chingiz's organization. I always remember Mr. Chingiz’s words, what he was always saying about my future. I already felt that the time he said had arrived. I joined to the NGO of Chingiz and began to fight against this disease, the enemy which took away my loved ones. I fully devoted my remaining life to the raising awareness about tuberculosis among people affected by tuberculosis and trying to help patients adhere their treatment. I had a great success. I was gradually getting known as a TB advocate in my country. The main thing is that I survived, I could defeat TB. Now I am very proudly trying to do my best to increase people’s knowledge about TB. The patients listen to me and follow my advices with great interest when I deliver education and counseling sessions and meetings. I explain the people that tuberculosis is a disease that can be easily treated and completely cured. Overcoming TB is in one's own hands. If you want to take care of your health you should help people sick with TB to get adequate treatment and get cured. Do not make a mistake like I did due to lack of knowledge about TB.