A Russian oncology surgeon, Andrey Pavlenko, was diagnosed with stage III stomach cancer in March 2018. Then Andrey decided to publicly speak about oncological care system issues, myths about cancer treatment, and stigmatization of cancer patients in Russian society. He managed to establish a practical oncology school for free training of young oncology surgeons and created a grant supporting media projects dedicated to cancer education. Andrey underwent eight chemotherapy cycles and a stomach removal operation. His wife Anna and three children were together with Andrey through all his challenges. After almost two years of fighting his disease, Andrey Pavlenko died on January 5, 2020.
Thanks to his actions, Andrey became one of the most famous cancer fighters and an example of courage for thousands of cancer patients in Russia, where every year 300 thousand people die because of oncological diseases. Cancer is considered the second leading cause of death in the population.