Top photo: Anna Cherepnina on the way to the South Base Camp of Mt. Everest in Nepal in May of 2024
Anna Cherepnina fulfilled a long-held dream of serving in the military when she enlisted in the Army Reserves in 2009. After training to become a Mental Health Specialist, she deployed to Afghanistan to help run a Combat and Operational Stress Control Clinic. There she was tasked with helping soldiers cope with several mass casualty events that took place during that time. Anna was familiar with grief, having already lost a boyfriend to suicide in her early 20s.
Anna Cherepnina with a bomb sniffing dog in Spin Boldak, Afghanistan on December 31, 2012
After she returned from her first deployment, however, a staggering series of losses continued to unfold in her life. Another partner of six and half years died in a tragic accident. Then, just three months into her second deployment, Anna began experiencing worrying symptoms of numbness and loss of balance. After she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, she was forced to medically retire from the military.
Shortly after losing what she had hoped would be a lifelong career in the Army, the grandparents who had raised her passed away. Having been especially close to her grandmother, the news of her death brought Anna to the darkest period of her life. Despite being professionally trained to support others in moments like these, Anna found herself feeling isolated and without hope.
Anna Cherepnina in the South Base Camp of Mt. Everest in Nepal in May of 2024
She came to StoryCorps to reflect on the surprising moment that helped bring her out of a deep depression, and the journey to the base of Mt. Everest she embarked on soon after.
The fox in Anna Cherepnina’s backyard in Severn, Maryland on December 19, 2022
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Originally aired November 9, 2024 on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday.