Hey there listeners, it's the StoryCorps podcast from NPR.
I'm Jasmine Morris, and I want to remind you to keep sharing your stories on our voicemail at 7002 -706 -TALK.
As always, we'll have a new prompt for you at the end of the episode.
This week, we're going to hear from our Military Voices Initiative, recording the stories of service members and their families.
Army Sergeant First Class Anna Cherubnina served for almost 13 years.
In Afghanistan, she was a mental health specialist, helping soldiers cope with the stress of combat.
It was her dream job, but at the same time, she went through a string of personal tragedies.
Her long -term boyfriend passed away and then a few years later her fiance died as well, and then her grandfather died too.
Not long after that, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, forcing her to end her career in the military.
Through all of this, she had the support of her grandmother, who raised her.
And so when she passed away, Anna found herself at the lowest point of her life.
My grandma was my rock.
She was the mother that I didn't have.
On my birthday she would spend hours and hours making this special cake just for me.
So after she passed away, every single day, I would wake up telling myself I just want to die.
It's that depression that makes you thank that.
There's nothing, there's no hope, there's no help.
But then one morning, dreading to be awake, I saw this beautiful fox in my backyard and I've never seen foxes there before I usually have a dog bowl out there for my dogs So I'm still admiring this beautiful creature and then it turns around and takes a massive piss right into the dog's water bowl And
I just had this moment of awakening and like, what the hell?
I have let my life become a bowl full of fox pits.
And that was the turning point for me.
I knew I had to keep going.
That's when I saw a post asking for folks living with MS that would be interested in hiking to Everest Base Camp.
I knew from serving in the military that when you're in the right mindset, you're able to push your body to the limits." And I needed that reminder.
I'm still that resilient, tenacious person that was there before all this loss.
So I thought that it would be so symbolic to be standing next to the tallest mountain in the world.
And on day six of hiking, it was my birthday and we were at 14 ,468 feet.
I felt super lightheaded and dizzy, but all of a sudden the clouds opened up and we could see the peak of Everest for the first time.
It was like a gift.
That was like you're going to make it.
Later that day we were having dinner in this tea house.
And the lights go out.
It was just like what's going on.
And then I see somebody walking with a cake and candles on it and the whole tea house starts singing, happy birthday.
I was in shock. I just couldn't believe that the group went out of their way to go find a cake at 14 ,000 feet.
Yeah, I definitely cried and I'm not a public crier, but it reminded me that even when it felt alone, I was not.
In reality there are so many people — that care about you, even if you forget about it.
That was Anna Cherubnina in Washington, D .C.
She works as an outreach specialist for the Wounded Warrior Project, making contact support with the veterans in their time of need.
As promised here's your prompt for the week—we want you to tell us what got you out of your low point, tell us that story in a voicemail.
It's 702706 Talk. That's 702706 T -A -L -K.
the story was produced by Zana McKay and Mimi Rothska, our executive producer.
Max Young -Rice is our producer, Judd S .D.
Kendall is our senior producer, our technical director is Jared Floyd.
Special thanks to Charlie Palumbo.
We'll be back soon with more stories.
I'm Jasmine Morris, thanks for listening.
Step 11 — The nextanim sphere Support for this podcast barelyOVA from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
