StoryCorps at SHC: Larisa Vaserman

Larisa Vaserman: In 2016, I was at skilled nursing facility and I knew that something was happening with my body. I had a pretty bad time trying to find out what's wrong. I was stuck. I saw that it was a particular event dedicated to compassion in healthcare at Stanford. And I came to that presentation. And at the end when everybody was leaving, I told them my situation and Dr. Prober told me, "We will help you to navigate your healthcare at Stanford." But today, I have a lot of other issues and rare conditions on top of multiple sclerosis, and I have to exist with this, and I'm trying to do my best. And I saw a lot of people here going through the same thing.

And long time ago, when I was still working as a programmer, I need some kind of release from what I was doing. I always loved jewelry. And I decided, why don't I try it? So one day I stepped out to the beach shop and I asked them, how can I do it? They just show me the instruments, and that's how I started the whole thing. So, I started sharing my talents with staff and patients at Stanford through the gift shop, making things that makes other people feel better.

And in 2015 when I had a very bad flare of multiple sclerosis, I lost that ability to work with my hands. And when I survived, I knew that I need to come back to that. And I started with a children hospital. So, I was making jewelry for children and some little things for patients in the adult hospital. I started even to paint, and I specifically asked staff at the gift shop just to give it to people, especially during holidays, because I know from my own experience how difficult it is to be sick and to be in the hospital. A lot of people don't care about the weakest part of the society, the people who are senior and helpless and sick. I'm trying my way to show the other side of humanity because I do believe that kindness begets kindness, and that's why I'm trying to treat other people the best I can, with dignity and compassion.

Produced by Stanford Health Care with interviews recorded in collaboration with StoryCorps, a national nonprofit whose mission is to preserve and share humanity's stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world www.storycorps.org

Sound Editor: Emily Hsiao

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