For 20 years, Irina Shir yaeva had dreamed of emigrating from her native Russia to the United States. But within days of fulfilling that dream, Shiryaeva was dead. Doctors theorize that the long airplane flights that brought her to the U.S. may have caused the blood clots that took her life.
Shiryaeva, 38, was buried Friday afternoon in Raleigh Hebrew Cemetery. Now, instead of exploring their new world together, Shiryaeva's husband and 3-year-old son are left grieving, with staggering funeral expenses and a future that suddenly seems more daunting than exhilarating.
It wasn't supposed to be this way.
Shiryaeva and hubby Leonid Lotsmanov won what is known as the "green card lottery" in June, securing sought-after immigration papers, and immediately began making preparations to leave St. Petersburg for the U.S.
Lotsmanov, a cardiologist, worked with a man whose sister, Luba Glukh, lives in Apex. This colleague sang the Triangle's praises and soon Lotsmanov and Shiryaeva were exchanginge-mail and talking via Skype with the Glukhs, who offered to help them line up an apartment and set up a household.
They were supposed to arrive April 16; their flights were among the thousands delayed by volcanic ash over Europe. They finally landed at Raleigh-Durham on April 26. They were exhausted. They'd crossed eight time zones. The flight from Helsinki to New York alone took more than nine hours.
By the next day, though, Lotsmanov and the boy, Philipp, were feeling better; Shiryaeva was feeling worse.
On Thursday, the Glukhs helped the family move into their new apartment, furnished with items donated through Jewish Family Services, an organization that, among other things, helps immigrants adjust to life in the States.
Shiryaeva, a former medical student and nurse who became a graphic artist, still wasn't feeling quite right on Friday evening, when Luba Glukh called to check in.
"I told her I'd come pick her up in the morning and take her to the emergency room," Glukh said.
Shiryaeva was drinking her coffee that morning when Glukh arrived. Philipp gave his mother a big hug and whispered something in her ear. She laughed and kissed him.
An abrupt departure
But on the way to the car, she collapsed. At the hospital, the doctors had barely gotten her medical history when she gasped loudly and her heart stopped.
"It was a matter of moments," said Glukh, who helped translate for her new friend. "It was terrible to watch."
The cause of death was a pulmonary embolism. Doctors told Lotsmanov they think his wife developed a blood clot in her leg during the long flights to the U.S.
Lotsmanov was devastated; Philipp still doesn't quite understand.
Yet despite all the heartbreak, Lotsmanov has been amazed. In a strange new country, where he barely knows the language and has only the Glukhs for friends, he and his son have been showered with the unimaginable goodness of strangers.
The initial response came from local Russians and members of the Jewish Federation, which helped outfit their apartment long before Shir yaeva died. But quickly the word spread to others - co-workers, neighbors, friends from school.
'So much kindness'
Within days, Luba Glukh's kitchen began filling up with food for after the burial. Others donated cash to defray the $6,000 funeral bill. Still others volunteered to baby-sit for Philipp or drive Lotsmanov where he needs to go to make arrangements and, eventually, start looking for a job.
"I never expected so much attention, and so much kindness," he said.
It is because of this outpouring, in part, that Lots manov has decided, against the advice of family back in Russia, to stay in the United States, in the Triangle.
"I am thinking this is what Irina would want for us," Lotsmanov said.
And of course, this is where Shiryaeva is. Shiryaeva and her dream.
