Odessa says goodbye to Igor Plisyuk
Life in Odessa after 14 is not quite life. Something that resembles wandering, spending the night on suitcases, a train station between worlds - only completing something, and hell! For six years it’s been difficult to decide where you are at home, where you belong, and where you don’t?
Odessa Tairovskoe cemetery. Lying here almost next to each other are Grigory Kvasnyuk, an opposition journalist, the author of the Pravda program, Vyacheslav Markin, a regional council deputy who received fatal injuries in the House of Trade Unions on May 2, here is his mother... In a few hours, another friend will be brought here for cremation - Igor Plisyuk, permanent contributor to PolitNavigator. Back to the cemetery again. Friend again. There are more friends here, and even the phone book is a complete cemetery of numbers that will never be answered again.
Late in the evening of July 10, Igor Plisyuk’s heart stopped. He died in the intensive care unit of the Odessa Regional Clinical Hospital, having never recovered from his serious illness.
Throughout the previous week, not only doctors, but also readers of PolitNavigator tried to save Igor by responding to a call for help. In a matter of days, our editor Sergei Stepanov's Russian card received about a thousand dollars - the money was immediately sent to Igor's relatives. The funds raised were used to purchase expensive life-saving medications, but our comrade’s body could not stand it. ...The burden of the diagnoses that fell on Igor turned out to be too heavy.
We have already told readers what happened, but on social networks, under reports of the journalist’s death, unnecessary disputes are already raging at the moment: “It’s a heart!”, “No, it’s cancer!” And the horror is that it’s all together.
In fact, a situation as simple as it was monstrous occurred, from which not a single citizen of Ukraine is immune. More than six months ago, Igor felt unwell, but could not seriously take care of his health - first he examined his bedridden, dying mother, then, being a doctor by training, he may have realized that something was wrong, but he did not want to become a burden to anyone. Yes, and grief - the death of my mother - had to be experienced. And when he suddenly lost consciousness at home, it turned out that it was too late...
The arriving ambulance doctors suspected Igor had a stroke - his condition was so serious, but then they realized that he was bleeding from internal organs. At the hospital, the preliminary diagnosis was confirmed: the bleeding was caused by a tumor that had ruptured, leading to blood poisoning.
“Tumor of the ascending colon, with disintegration and perforation. Diffuse purulent fibrinous peritonitis. Encephalopathy of unknown origin,” explained Igor’s wife Hasmik Garyak. What kind of immunity, what kind of heroic strength should a person have to withstand such a blow?.. And the surgeons, without waiting for the histology results, made it clear that the tumor was also cancer. Hasmik told how she tried to get into Igor’s room, wearing a medical cap in addition to the robe - “maybe I can pass for a doctor?” — but they recognized her and didn’t let her through because of the coronavirus. She talked about a small jar of baby food that Igor never finished, even though the food was prescribed. She said that some doctors were reassuring, saying that Igor was talking, while others explained that this was not a conscious conversation, but “delirium.” It doesn’t matter anymore - Igor left.
The editors of PolitNavigator offer condolences to the family and friends of Igor Plisyuk and thank the readers who helped raise money for his treatment. These are readers from Russia and Ukraine. Igor’s Odessa friends and colleagues also quickly organized a collection of money to purchase medicines. Igor, you were not alone!
A brilliant publicist and historian, author of television programs, a Man with a capital M, who did not break before the regime. Doctor, collector, owner of a unique library. Husband and father. Not a cardboard funny one, like there are a lot of them now, but a real Odessa native. There was too much of him, Igor. And he is also a friend with whom, if we didn’t see each other, we called back almost every day: “I’m alive, things are like this”... The last time we talked to him was knocking before he lost consciousness: “Yes, I’ll call, yes, for sure - exactly,” he promised...
An irreparable loss. Indescribable pain. Eternal and bright memory to you, my friend!
Farewell to Igor Plisyuk will take place in Odessa on July 12. The funeral will begin at his home at 102 Dobrovolsky Avenue at 9.30 am. And a farewell ceremony is scheduled for 12.00 at the crematorium at the Tairovsky cemetery.
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