“I was walking with my child, crying. I hid my face so no one would see the tears. It felt like the world had come to a standstill,” Liana recalls the day she learned her son’s diagnosis. The doctors told her that Avetis has autism. After war and displacement, this marked the beginning of another difficult chapter - a new chain of health-related and social challenges.

Liana Voskanyan, from Stepanakert, is a mother of six minor children. Her family has been living in Armenia for more than two years now. They were displaced in September 2023, when Azerbaijan launched a large-scale attack on Nagorno-Karabakh, triggering the exodus of the entire Armenian population - more than 100,000 people, who fled to Armenia in search of safety. 

For 25 years, Liana worked as an actress at the Stepanakert Drama Theatre, performing in both dramatic and puppet productions. Although she was also trained in medicine, she never practiced it as a profession. In addition, she studied hairdressing, makeup, and manicure, and worked in those fields — all while caring for and raising her six children.

Blockade and Displacement

Liana gave birth to her sixth child during the blockade, at a time when there was no food, no essential supplies, no means of transportation. During the blockade, pregnant and exhausted, she carried the full weight of the family’s survival on her shoulder: standing in endless queues, searching for food, fighting through uncertainty. Her husband was stuck on the other side of the blockade, in Yerevan. 

“I was standing in line for eggs. They were giving six per person. I was pregnant, so they let me go ahead. I took the eggs, and walked away. And then everything went black. The next thing I remember is opening my eyes under a tree. The first thing I did was look at my belly to see if the baby was still there? I had been crushed in the crowd,” she recalls.

Day by day, the situation worsened - hunger, fear, and hopelessness deepening. Then, on September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan launched an attack across the entire territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. The fighting lasted just one day, but what followed was the displacement of the entire Armenian population.

Liana recalls her desperate search for a vehicle to evacuate her family: “I asked so many neighbors and relatives, begging them to take even one or two of the children in their cars. But everyone said the same thing: there was no space, their cars were already loaded with belongings”.

She had promised her children that if necessary, she would block the road, place the children one by one into different cars, and send them off. “I told the children, ‘If I manage to come after you, I will. If not, then that’s how it will be. What matters is that you get out, that you survive.’”

In the end, Liana and her children managed to squeeze into the cabin of a cargo truck and made it across the border to Armenia.

“I didn’t even know what autism was…”

Avetis was born healthy. But months after his birth, Liana and her family noticed that he wasn’t communicating or responding. The issue was identified in Armenia during a routine check-up, when doctors told her that Avetis has autism. For Liana, the hardships continued: after war and displacement came a new chain of health and social challenges.

“My breath left me in a different way,” Liana says, recalling the moment she heard the diagnosis. The hour-and-a-half drive home from the hospital became a journey toward understanding and acceptance. “When I got off the bus, I felt calm. I had accepted everything. I was determined not to lose a single second, and to start my child’s treatment.”

Through social media and on the advice of friends, Liana found a good doctor, made arrangements, and brought her child for treatment. “Imagine, I had to pay 8,000 AMD per session, four times a week—it’s very difficult,” she says. Friends on Facebook stepped in to help, easing the financial burden partially. Some supported her, while others criticized her for asking for help to treat autism.

“As if autism is a tumor, and that’s why I’m asking for help. What was much more painful for me was that people didn't understand that my son could end up completely disabled. They think cancer is the only ‘bad’ disease, but autism is also very difficult. At least cancer can sometimes be treated, and a person can live a full life. But my child… They don’t understand that he doesn’t perceive anything, he lives in his own world—like he’s sitting next to you, but he isn’t really there,” Liana says.

She says doctors have told her that with consistent, full-course therapy, there is a very high chance the child could make significant developmental progress and better manage daily challenges. However, they cannot currently afford the full treatment and are only able to visit the doctor twice a week. When Avetis was attending sessions four times a week, his progress was clearly visible; now, it has slowed. At the same time, the family faces ongoing financial pressure - rent to pay, five other children to send to school, and countless everyday expenses.

Autism is not something that can be cured, but with the right support and regular therapy, many children can develop important skills, improve communication, and become more independent over time.

At Any Moment, My Body Could Be Paralyzed

Liana’s husband has been arrested in Georgia. He has worked in passenger transportation for more than a decade. Liana says during his last trip, drugs were discovered in the cargo he had been entrusted to transport. “He has nothing to do with it,” she says, her voice with despair.

Her husband has now been detained for several months, leaving Liana to carry the full responsibility of supporting their large family - even as she herself struggles with serious health problems and is in urgent need of assistance.

After the family’s forced displacement, Liana has tried repeatedly to find work. She must provide for her children, yet she cannot leave them alone for long. Shortly after arriving in Armenia, she took a job in a shop, but left after experiencing discrimination for being from Nagorno-Karabakh. Later, she worked as a manicurist in a salon across from her building, but her health forced her to quit.

“I have four hernias just in my neck area, and two of them are large—huge. I think they might already be affecting my brain. The fingers on my right hand are numb. That’s why I can’t work,” she says. “I can’t peel more than two potatoes; I ask my child to help me. My fingers curl up like this, and I can’t move them anymore.”

Liana needs two implants, costing around one million AMD. The surgery itself is free, but the implants are not. According to Liana, doctors warned her that her condition could deteriorate rapidly. “They told me I could wake up one morning completely paralyzed. Now I just hope to make it through each day. I’m tired. I don’t want to live like this anymore.”