Unknown facts about the tragedy of Magomed Abdusalamov. Boxer Magomed Abdusalamov, who suffered serious injuries, began to talk to his loved ones

“No one can stop me from leaving, but I will always be with my husband”

The story of Bakanai Abdusalamova - the wife of the Russian heavyweight Mago, who overnight turned from a professional boxing star into a disabled person

New York state authorities will pay $22 million to Russian boxer Magomed Abdusalamov, who found himself chained to wheelchair after the fight for the US champion belt in the fall of 2013. Abdusalamov’s family accused the American side of negligence and lack of professionalism, believing that such serious consequences for the boxer’s health could have been avoided if the fight had been stopped and health care provided on time. The trial dragged on for several years, and all these years his wife and three daughters remained next to the heavyweight nicknamed Mago.

The athlete’s wife Bakanai Abdusalamova told “This is the Caucasus” how she was able to survive the tragedy and not lose hope.

I cry at night when everyone is sleeping. I can't cry loudly. But sometimes I want to take the microphone and cry for the whole world to see. So that people learn to value relationships and correct mistakes. After all, everyone thinks that this will not happen to them.

“I fell in love with him immediately”

Maga and I had a typical Dagestan version of meeting each other - through our parents. I had a groom, he had a bride. But my parents and my fiancé’s parents couldn’t share something between themselves and broke off the engagement a month before the wedding. For some reason, Maga also called off his engagement. We lived on neighboring streets, but I didn’t know him. And Maga saw me, and he liked me. Our fathers knew each other. They talked about us. They showed me Maga from the side, and I thought: “What a cutie.” Then Magi's parents came to us with a ring. The wedding day was immediately set - September 18, 2004.

I studied to become an economist, but after the wedding I switched to correspondence courses. Maga said: “Don’t even take your diploma home - you won’t work. Only I can be your boss.” This suited me. I wanted to be close to my husband all the time.

What did Maga and I not do at home? They could play catch and hide and seek. Two adults splashed water from syringes on each other and danced. With children they could leave the house at 9 o’clock in the evening and just walk around shopping centers, drive through the streets. I won’t tell you fiction and assure that we didn’t quarrel. Everything was. But we were happy - anyway. I immediately fell in love with him. And he.

For three years after the wedding, I didn’t go out alone even to buy bread. He walked by himself. Maga is very jealous. The first time I went on my own, he told me to call him and walk with the phone on so that he could hear in case someone told me something, and he could immediately come running to deal with my offender. If we were walking down the street together and someone looked at me, he could shout after me: “Why are you looking at my wife?” If his friends came to visit us without their wives, I could not leave the kitchen. He himself came in, picked up the plates with dishes and took them away. He didn’t let me go anywhere alone - only accompanied by my mother or sister. And most often he himself was with me everywhere.

Sometimes I think that I loved him too much. You can't love too much. But I had such mad love. And also mad jealousy. If I saw him with someone, I would eat that girl. We directly found each other, we had perfect couple. I believe in fate. Maga was my destiny. We lived happily for nine years.

“No one expected this to happen to Maga”

We lived in Makhachkala. Maga was involved in amateur boxing. Of course, I was scared for him. I went to fights three times. I was shaking, and every time I was ready to run into the ring myself and fight for my husband. When he turned to professional sports, it became more difficult for me to let him into the ring. We already had two daughters. He flew to the USA alone to fight. He began to be absent for two months. I'm dying without him. He's bored there without us. And we got visas and moved to Los Angeles in 2011, and then moved to Miami, where it’s always warm.

Several workouts a day for two to three hours. Wild physical exercise, especially before a fight. I felt sorry for him. Of course, I had thoughts about how good it would be if my husband had another job... Traumatic sports.

I don't remember that day often. Don't want. I remember our days before. No one expected this to happen to Maga. So many victories. It's so big for me. Meter ninety a real man. Mountain.

If help had been provided on time, the consequences would not have been so severe. There would be an injury, but it could be cured; people live after strokes. He's so young to me. He was only 32 years old.

Heavyweight boxer Magomed Abdusalamov approached the fatal fight with the status of one of the main hopes of Russian professional boxing. On November 2, 2013, in New York, the Dagestani met with Cuban Mike Perez - both did not have a single defeat in the ring. In the first round, Mago suffered a fracture of his left cheekbone, but fought all 10 rounds against Perez. The Cuban won by unanimous decision. A few hours later Mago was hospitalized in medical Center with cerebral hemorrhage. Doctors had to put the boxer into an induced coma to avoid brain damage from blood clot formation. But a few days later Abdusalamov suffered a stroke. Doctors performed a trepanation, removed a blood clot from the brain and part of the skull so that the swelling would subside. Mago spent 10 months in an American clinic, where his wife Bakanay looked after him every day. The boxer remained confined to a wheelchair, his right side of his body paralyzed.

“The doctors’ eyes widened in surprise.”

When everything happened, I got behind the wheel and started going to see him at the hospital. An hour one way, returned at night. Every day I worked out with Maga: exercises, massage. All my food at that time was a burger and coffee from Starbucks.

All the doctors and nurses who worked there looked at me like I was crazy: she came again, she definitely won’t come back tomorrow.

I didn’t take care of myself, “I drowned myself like a bull,” as they would say in Dagestan. I forgot myself, forgot my children. I thought that if he died, I would die after him, because I couldn’t live without him. I was so closed off, he was like air to me. But I started having health problems. The doctors said that if I don’t stop lifting him, my legs will give out and I’ll sit next to Maga.

Sometimes I feel like I'm in past life worked in a rehabilitation center. Using the method of intuition I was able to cure bedsores. She was able to prove to the doctors that Maga could think when he counted on his fingers. Developed motor skills so that left hand now it’s such that if we came across Perez, we would show him... Maga is trying to speak like a child, but I understand him. When doctors are in last time When they saw Magomed, their eyes widened in surprise. According to his brain picture, according to his examinations, this should not be the case.

Some people advise me to take Maga to a rehabilitation center for a while so that I can rest myself. I'm very tired. IN Last year I take sedatives. But I don't want to leave him in the hospital. I know families where the other half cannot stand the serious illness of the spouse and leaves. And I don’t blame you - it’s really very difficult. No one can stop me from leaving. I don't care what people say. But I won't leave Maga. This is the man I loved as a husband, as a man. Now he is like a child to me. And I won’t be able to leave him, I won’t even be able to go to bed separately. This is my man, and I will always be with him, until the last.

“A husband should look like a deputy”

When they made a film about us for one of the TV channels, they asked me to make my Instagram page available to everyone so that they could take videos and photos from there. It turned out that many people wanted to know about Magi's condition. At first, such attention was unpleasant to me; it seemed as if they were rummaging through my underwear. And then strangers They began to write words of support. I decided to leave the page open to everyone.

There is a video that drove everyone crazy because my nails were painted: they say, my husband is sick, and she is so full of herself. Judging by some of the comments, I should lie down and die next to my husband. But I'm not too old to look bad yet. I’ve been like this since childhood: I love to dress up, at school I was the first clothes maker. I do my own nails and eyebrows. Sometimes I just want to write to some people: “Calm down, girls. Wash your face in the morning, comb your hair, take care of yourself.”

My rules are as follows: no matter what, the husband must look like a deputy. I shave every day. I can occasionally skip one day to rest my face. I bathe every morning. All clothes are carefully selected, the colors are combined with each other. If a small stain appears during lunch, go straight to the wash. If a person is sick, this does not mean that he should be unkempt. Now I have an assistant. At first I did everything myself.

And some look and think: “Oh, what’s so hard about her life, she’s so well-groomed and dressed, she probably has 500 nurses.” When I first read such comments, I told my husband: “Magash - that’s what I call him, but he calls me a baby doll and a princess - Magash, can you imagine, people think that I’m not caring for you, it’s all just for the photo.” And he answers me that people are just jealous, that “you’re mine like that.”

"This is a different person"

Sometimes I tell Maga: “Maybe I need to scare you somehow so that you jump up? What if thieves suddenly come into our house? What will you do?" He doesn't think anything is wrong. He's like a child.

From the very beginning, doctors told me not to wait for my husband: “He will be different.” I didn't understand. Well, he won’t box anymore, he won’t run. And what? Now I understand: yes, this is a different person. I show Maga our old videos, say that I love this person more than anyone, and hug the phone. And he laughs: “Here I am.” I miss him so much.

Now happiness for me is my children. Our daughters are eleven, eight and four. Of course they ask what happened to dad. The eldest, it seems to me, already understands everything. And he is silent. The middle daughter still believes. You have to believe in miracles. My daughters don't see my tears, I don't show them. They are used to their mother always dancing and smiling. Just... if not this way, then how else?

I show on Instagram how Maga and I dance. It still looks serious. If I show everything else, people will think that I am sick. I've always been like that, an optimist. I don't like quarrels and insults. I love to be loved. I often have this state of love for everything. There is so much of this feeling in me that our nurse says that I love love, I am mad. I want to hug the whole world and tell people: “Love each other.”

It's hard for everyone. And then you begin to sort the problems into shelves: this is here, this is there, we can deal with this, let’s put this aside for now. You look - everything is not so bad, okay, we move on. Once I went to a psychologist. But I realized that I know everything she says better than her. And she didn’t go again.

"I keep hoping"

Am I satisfied with the result of the trial? I would be pleased if my Mage was restored to health.

Many girls want to be the head of the family. It’s so hard to carry everything on yourself, to think for him. How I need my Maga to tell me what to do and what not.

I wake up thinking about how I can make my children feel good. There was a place to live and study. I don’t know if we will return to Russia. What the Almighty will give. I would like to live now with my Maga and our children somewhere in the village. And my only problem would be “what to cook today”. I felt so good before: I got up in the morning, did the cleaning, cooked food, played with the children. And in the evening we all went for a walk somewhere together. I knew that tomorrow he would feed us, we would have money for clothes, and so on. And now I don't know. There will be money, but there will be no happiness.

Magomed Abdusalamov (nickname in the ring "MAGO") born and raised in Makhachkala. Before joining professional boxing, he graduated from the Makhachkala branch of the Moscow Automobile and Road Institute and was involved in Thai boxing. Has a wife and three small children. He had 18 fights in the professional ring, the last of which turned out to be fatal for Magomed.

Abdusalamov began boxing in 2004 and was considered a young promising athlete. In the amateur ring, Magomed managed to become the Russian heavyweight champion twice. I had a desire to go to Beijing for the Olympics, but no luck - I couldn’t make it through the qualifying selection.

Debuted in 2008. Mago practiced open, “collision” boxing, betting on a knockout blow. During the fight, Magomed often neglected his defense, which played a cruel joke on him during the fight with Perez.

In total, before the ill-fated fight, he entered the ring 17 times as a heavyweight and always won by knockout in the first rounds. The most significant fights in the Russian’s career were for the US WBC title. In the summer of 2012, Magomed won the fight against Maurice Byrom, becoming the champion, and in March 2013, Abdusalamov managed to defend his title in a difficult fight with the American Jamil McCline.

The fatal fight for Abdusalamov took place on November 2, 2013 in New York at the famous Madison Square Garden. In the fight for the US WBC champion title, the Russian faced the famous Cuban boxer Mike Perez. Experts and the public assumed that the fight would end prematurely, but they were wrong - both opponents stood on their feet for all 10 rounds.

The start of the fight belonged to Magomed, but somewhere from the 6th round the Cuban seized the initiative and began to seriously put pressure on our boxer. In the final three minutes, Perez shocked Abdusalamov with a powerful right cross, but was unable to completely knock him down. After the result was announced, the Russian barely had the strength to come up to congratulate his opponent on his victory. So our boxer suffered the first and, presumably, the last defeat in his career.

A few hours after the fight, Magomed complained of a headache and dizziness. Abusalamov was hospitalized at the Medical Center named after. Roosevelt in New York. After examination, a small blood clot was found in the victim’s head; in addition, his arm was broken, his nose was broken, and there were numerous injuries to the maxillofacial part of the skull.

By the decision of the doctors, the athlete was put into a coma and operated on, as a result of which the bloody clot was removed from the brain. Doctors also had to remove part of the skull. And later new shocking news became known: due to cerebral edema, which resulted in multiple hemorrhages, the boxer suffered a stroke without regaining consciousness. It became clear that there could be no talk of returning to the ring, on the contrary - we're talking about about life and death.

Three weeks later, Magomed briefly regained consciousness, but was soon again connected to life support. The boxer finally woke up and started breathing on his own only on December 6th. After a while, he was operated on again, restoring the removed part of the skull. Now Abdusalamov is in a rehabilitation center, is slowly getting better, talks, does not move independently, and is fed through a tube. His wife Bakanay is always with him. Doctors say that the patient will not be able to fully recover.

Stunning news for the boxer's family was the bills for treatment. Abdusalamov, who earned $40 thousand from the fight, owes the medical institution $700 thousand. The boxer's close people blame the doctors who examined him after the fight for the incident. Doctors diagnosed Abdusalamov with a broken nose, advised him to go to the hospital and released him in peace. The boxer's family filed a lawsuit against the New York Athletic Commission, accusing doctors of negligent treatment of the case, as a result of which the athlete became disabled. The amount of the claim is $100 million.

The boxer's manager, Nathan Levkovich, with the support of promoters, organized a fund to raise funds to help the injured athlete. Some of Magomed’s “colleagues” and other concerned people responded to the call for help. As usual, there were those who only wanted to promote themselves on someone else’s grief. Businessman Andrei Ryabinsky especially helped by paying for the victim’s treatment in a rehabilitation center. According to available information, one month of stay in the institution costs $50 thousand.

Critics blame Abdusalamov's team, especially his manager Boris Grindberg, for the misfortune. There is an opinion that sending a Russian to fight a Cuban was the same as throwing him under a tank without a grenade. The question arose: where were the seconds looking and why didn’t they stop the fight early, seeing the frightening hematoma on the face of their charge? Moreover, they knew very well that Magomed had never stood in the ring for more than 5 rounds.

Abdusalamov bravely held on until the end, as a result of which this fight was recognized as the most spectacular in 2013, but does this make it any easier for him?

Reaching for the 19th victory in his career, heavyweight Magomed Abdusalamov time and again came across only the stone fists of Mike Perez, his Cuban rival. The fight, which the judge had no reason to stop, the Russian team had no desire, and the boxers had no right, ended in the hospital. Or rather, there is a much more serious fight going on there.

GREAT IDEAS

There are no longer any traces left on Vladimir Klitschko’s face from the fight with Alexander Povetkin. On Saturday, before his eyes, Magomed Abdusalamov fought with Mike Perez in the hope of someday getting to Vladimir himself. Klitschko sat on good places at Madison Square Garden and watched boxing.

Of Abdusalamov’s 18 opponents, not one lasted until the end of the fight; the anti-record is held by Kevin Barnett, who fell 78 seconds after the start. At that moment, when it seemed that Magomed would have to compete exclusively with a stopwatch before the big fights, Mike Perez appeared on the horizon.

Magomed is a boxer with a heavy punch, but with gaps in technique. A Cuban with British registration decided to bet on the school and did not miscalculate. From the first round, Abdusalamov began throwing singles, threw his body over, fell, and not into space, but into the opponent’s hard uppercuts. This happens when they specially prepare for you. The Cuban read his opponent like an advertisement at a bus stop: without interest, but easily and quickly. Substituting his ribs, missing his head, breaking his arm in the first round, the Russian fought desperately, but with big losses. After the seventh round, Magomed’s left eye began to turn red.

Of the three judges, two gave Abdusalamov two rounds of the ten-round fight, but the boxer was just about to face a real trial. A few hours later, severe headaches, hospital and state of an induced coma. Doctors, according to American media reports, discovered a blood clot under the boxer’s skull and were forced to operate on the athlete, removing a fragment of the skull. This happens when a half-hour fight with a 100-kilogram opponent - main part your profession.

STEVENS HAD FUN FOR A WHILE

Kazakhstan's Gennady Golovkin in the 72 kg category leaves no chance for his opponents. Immediately after Abdusalamov, he rolled Curtis Stevens around the ring. The American had fun: a couple of months before the fight, he staged Golovkin’s funeral, ordering somewhere a small coffin with the inscription “RIP GGG” (“Rest in Peace, Gennady Gennadyevich Golovkin”), but he himself had to be saved from death in the ring.

We have a lot to learn from the Americans: Stevens turned out to be an overly spiritual guy, but in technology he was inferior to the Kazakhstani. This became more and more noticeable with each round. After the eighth, Stevens' team removed their boxer. Perhaps the act was not the most courageous, but Curtis was able to return to his relatives on his own two feet, skipping the hospitalization stage.

EXPRESS COMMENT

WBO CHAMPION SERGEY KOVALEV: MAHOMED NEARLY HAD HIS JAW BROKEN IN THE FIRST ROUND

The fight in New York was attended by Russian Sergey Kovalev, who became the world champion a couple of months ago.

– Already in the first round, Magomed received serious damage, almost a broken jaw. He missed a blow with the right, and a small swelling appeared on the left side of his face. There were monitors there, and during the break he tried to see himself, asking his seconds if he had any fractures.

– Didn’t it seem that Abdusalamov approached the battle tactically incorrectly?

“It seemed to me that, in principle, he was not feeling very good. Either I wasn’t psychologically adjusted, or I burned out. It was clear that some kind of flaccid person came out. I watched his training before, it was a completely different picture, he worked there very actively.

EXPERT OPINION

DOCTOR OF MEDICAL SCIENCES VLADIMIR PAVLOV: SKULL SURGERY IS NOT PERFORMED WHEN THE INJURY IS NOT SERIOUS

– Why are they put into an artificial coma?

– So that a person does not die from painful shock, and also if they are undergoing an operation where consciousness must be turned off: in particular, during brain surgery.

– What is the difference from general anesthesia?

– Basically, both – artificial sleep, the difference is in the mechanisms and methods of drug administration. Anesthesia is given during surgical interventions. If there is no intervention, and the person simply remains in this state for some time, this is called an induced coma. But the essence of general anesthesia is the same: the brain is disconnected from the stimuli of the outside world.

– They write that the boxer has a blood clot in his brain.

– A blood clot in the brain is, in a sense, an amateurish concept. Most likely we are talking about damage to a cerebral vessel (probably a small one, since the symptoms did not appear immediately). The only thing that can be said for sure is that skull surgery is not performed when the injury is not serious.

– The terrible phrase “a skull fragment was removed” is in the headlines.

– This is a simplified formulation. Don’t think that almost half of a person’s brain was removed. For prevention possible consequences due to swelling of the brain tissue, doctors trepanate a section of bone tissue to avoid complications. In the future, it can either be returned to its place, or a plate can be installed.

martin_rogan:
– In boxing, trained guys professionally hit the dome. They themselves know what they are getting into... I wish Magomed a speedy recovery.

mr.Zlo:
– This is the answer to the question why Klitschko doesn’t wave at random - he wants to preserve his health...

Magomed Abdusalamov is a Russian athlete, boxer, who competed in the super heavyweight category from September 2008 to November 2013. After a fight with Cuban Mike Perez, he was injured with a hematoma in the brain and underwent surgery. On November 6, Magomed Abdusalamov officially ended his professional career.

Biography

In 1998 he graduated from school No. 9 in Makhachkala.

From 1999 to 2004 he practiced Thai boxing under the leadership of Zainalbek Zainalbekov.

In 2004 he graduated from the Makhachkala branch of the Moscow Automobile and Road Institute.

Since 2008, M. Abdusalamov has lived in the USA, in the city of Hallandale, Florida.

Boxing career

In 2004, he began boxing under the guidance of coach Evgeniy Kotov.

In 2005 and 2006, Magomed Abdusalamov became the Russian amateur heavyweight champion.

In 2008, M. Abdusalamov took part in the qualifying competitions for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, but was unable to qualify.

In 2008, Magomed Abdusalamov made his first appearance in the professional ring in the heavy weight category. He fought his first fight as a professional on September 6, 2008, defeating Epiphanie Pipi from Ghana by knockout in the first round.

From September 2008 to April 2013, he fought eighteen fights and won all by knockout. He won his first 8 fights by knockout in the first round. He also won the next 10 fights by knockout in the early rounds.

On July 6, 2012, he won the US WBC (USNBC) Silver title. On March 8, 2013 he defended this title.

As of November 1, 2013, Magomed Abdusalamov was ranked fourth in the World Boxing Council (WBC) rankings.

On November 2, 2013, M. Abdusalamov lost on points to Cuban Mike Perez in a fight for the US heavyweight champion according to the World Boxing Council (WBC). The fight took place in New York at Madison Square Garden. This defeat was the first and only one in his career.

After the fight, the Russian boxer was diagnosed with a fracture of his left hand and nose, a cut above his left eye and a jaw injury. Also, during the examination, the athlete was found to have a blood clot in his brain. The athlete was put into an artificial coma and operated on.

On November 6, Nathan Levkovich, vice president of the Sampson Boxing promotion company, announced that Magomed Abdusalamov had completed his professional career and would no longer enter the ring.

On December 7, 2013, Magomed Abdusalamov came out of a coma, and on December 10, doctors transferred the boxer from the intensive care unit to a regular ward.

On December 21, 2013, an action was held at which for the treatment of Magomed Abdusalamov managed to collect about 600 thousand rubles . Part of the necessary funds and two months of rehabilitation were paid for by businessman, vice-president of the Russian Professional Boxing Federation Andrei Ryabinsky.

In February 2014, the wife of Magomed Abdusalamov filed a lawsuit for $100 million against the authorities. American state New York and the leadership of the New York State Athletic Commission. The family of the 32-year-old boxer has accused medical workers of negligence and unprofessionalism.
According to Abdusalamov’s family, it was the sluggishness of the fight organizers and doctors that led to irreversible brain damage to the athlete, who ended up in the hospital as a result of an injury received in the ring. The lawsuit also states that if the fight had been stopped in a timely manner, the injuries could have been avoided.

Family status

Magomed Abdusalamov is married to Bakanai Abdusalamov. Their family has three children.

Sources:

Magomed Abdusalamov is the hope of Russian boxing. Curriculum Vitae(video). - Website of the newspaper "Soviet Sport", November 4, 2013.
Russian boxer Magomed Abdusalamov remains in an induced coma for eight days. - ITAR-TASS, 11.11.2013
Abdusalamov - McCline - on the undercard Klitschko - Charr. Press portrait of Abdusalamov. - Championship.com, 08/13/2012
Biography of boxer Magomed Abdusalamov. - RIA Novosti, November 4, 2013
Russian professional boxer Magomed Abdusalamov suffered his first defeat. - ITAR-TASS, November 3, 2013
"Vesti" online newspaper" - "Boxing. Abdusalamov’s family filed a lawsuit for 100 million,” 02/23/2014

In the fall of 2013, boxer Magomed Abdusalamov miraculously escaped death due to an injury received in the ring. His wife Bakanai Abdusalamova told Roman Moon how she raised her husband to his feet.

Magomed Abdusalamov became famous in 2005, becoming the Russian heavyweight champion in the amateur ring. Having failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics, he turned professional. Over the next five years, the boxer had 17 fights and won all of them ahead of schedule. He fought very spectacularly, often taking risks and completely forgetting about defense.

At the beginning of 2013, Magomed rose to fourth place in the WBC rankings and began to be considered as a contender for a fight against world champion Vitali Klitschko. His new opponent was Cuban Mike Perez.

In the fight with Perez, Abdusalamov suffered his first defeat in the professional ring. Magomed received fractures of his left arm, nose, facial bone and a traumatic brain injury, which resulted in brain swelling and a blood clot. A few hours later, Abdusalamov was put into an induced coma. A few days later he suffered a stroke. It was reported that the boxer has almost no chance of survival, but he is alive and has already begun to speak.

Magomed Abdusalamov and his family live and recover in the USA. His treatment costs 20-30 thousand dollars a month, he was helped by promoter Andrei Ryabinsky, boxers Sergei Kovalev, Ruslan Provodnikov and others. Roman Moon called Bakanai Abdusalamova in New York and found out how her husband was returning to life.

“I immediately realized that something had gone wrong.” I know my Maga. He doesn’t sit down after a round when he feels good, he was even interviewed about it. And then he immediately sat down. At the same time, his face was shown - his eyes looked somehow lost. In general, everything was wrong that day. My 10-month-old daughter was crying and being capricious. They say that children feel everything.

Even in a regular job, you don’t know what will happen tomorrow. You can go outside and be hit by a car. But, of course, I was afraid for him. Once, when he was knocked down, I thought: “That’s it, let’s quit boxing. We don't need boxing anymore." I was in a position then, I cried a lot. But he would still have stayed boxing. His goal was to become a world champion. He had fans, everything was for their sake. He said he couldn't let them down.

He seemed to be doing well. I constantly asked him after fights: “Does your head hurt?” He said: nothing hurts, everything is fine. If I had known that this would happen to him, I would have locked him in a cave.

But I can’t say anything about this. Everything is done only through a lawyer.

I remember when he was in intensive care, we were not allowed to do anything, not even touch him. He was all swollen. There is ice all around, a blanket of ice underneath, and the ice itself. This was all necessary because his temperature rose after the operation.

I looked at him and didn’t believe that this was my Maga. Everything was like a dream. So many tubes, so many IVs on it. I didn’t understand how this could happen to my strong and handsome Magomed. I went to see him at the hospital along the highway, which he had not allowed me to go on before. But I had to. An hour there, an hour back.

Two months later we were transferred to a rehabilitation center. There were fewer tubes, but he still didn't move. I remember what the room was like: he was lying there and three others. She showed him different colored papers and said: look at the red, the yellow, the green. I wanted to understand whether he was thinking, because the doctor said: he can’t think now, he has damage to the place that is responsible for thinking. I ask Magomed: what is two plus two? Three plus one? He answers, moves his fingers, barely, but shows. I show him to the doctor and say: “See, you said that he cannot think.” The doctor is surprised: “I can’t say anything.”

He had trouble opening his eyes. I opened one, but the second one does not open. As it turned out, he had fluid in his brain and head. When he opened his eyes, it was, of course, joy. The first time he quietly said something to me, I danced around his bed with joy. He looks at me and seems to show me: what’s wrong with you, are you crazy or what?

It seems that we were discharged in September 2014, I took him home. Then it turned out that in the first hospital where he was in intensive care, there were bedsores on his tailbone. They treated me for a long time, then had surgery in November. There was an infection inside – we spent another two months in the hospital. We have already been told that he almost has sepsis in his blood. I almost had a heart attack myself. Then she told him at home: “That’s it, Maga, that’s enough already.”

In November-December last year he became worse. The good thing is that when you call 911, they arrive in one minute. His blood pressure had dropped, there was some kind of infection, he was in the intensive care unit, he was just fine. I sat, sobbed and thought: “We pulled you out, why again?” But we got through that too.

Now the children are on holiday from school, and my day usually starts at seven. I send the children to school with breakfast, then I start feeding him, washing him and shaving him. As a deputy of the People's Assembly, I have to have him shaved every day. I dress him, then procedures, then to the rehabilitation center. There he works out, gets tired after about an hour, and goes home for lunch.

At 4 o'clock we have medicine. When the weather is good outside, we go out with the children to the park for a walk. I turn on the music, the children dance, he smiles, he likes to look at the children. In the evening, dinner and sleep.

At night I set alarms because I need to turn him every two to three hours to prevent bedsores from forming.

We live in the house of Magomed’s friend, Amin Suleymanov. He helps me lift Magomed out of bed and put him in the bathroom. He put him in the car in his arms and helped take him to the rehabilitation center. The nurse comes sometimes, but I couldn’t cope without his help. I couldn’t really speak English then either.

Right now Magomed is lying on the sofa in the living room, the children are lying on another sofa and watching a film. He can already hug and smile. But the right side of his body doesn’t work at all: neither his arm nor his leg. Even when he smiles, it is only on one side. The left side works, but he cannot, for example, stand up on his own. He can’t even sit on his own yet, I hold him. When we talk, he speaks very quietly. People around me don’t hear him, but I understand him, I’m used to it. We started eating quite recently, and before that he had a tube in his stomach, and they poured liquid food into it. He couldn't drink either.

I remember how I dreamed that he would open his eyes and move his finger. He couldn’t do anything then, but now he’s conscious, I’m constantly whispering something to him, the children are running around him, he’s smiling. For his situation, this is already great progress. The hardest part is, of course, over. But ahead big job. I want him to get up and walk.

In America, when he was first admitted to the hospital, we ran after the doctors, asked what would happen, but they couldn’t even say whether he would live. They didn't want to take responsibility. Only one doctor said: “Be patient, wait, he is young and strong.” He was also unsure, but at least he supported us a little. Another doctor recently told me: “To be honest, he won’t walk.” I say: “Let’s remember that he shouldn’t have lived.”

The other day I asked another doctor: “When do you think he will move?” He says, “Let me show you a picture of his brain.” He showed that his left side was damaged, there was a gap where the brain died, there was fluid there. There is another zone, everything is dark there, the doctor said: “Let’s hope that it will brighten up and something will change.” I say: “Let's look not at the picture, but at him. A month ago and now – do you see the difference?” Doctor: “Yes, I see a difference, he looks better.” I say: “Then turn off your picture. Let's look at it."

Photo: Gettyimages.ru /Al Bello (1); personal archive of Bakanai Abdusalamova