When Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Lily Tretiak, a physician in Kyiv, and her husband took only 20 minutes to make a life-altering choice: to leave the country with their two young children. After travelling through Hungary and spending nine months in Italy with Tretiak’s godmother, the family eventually arrived in Canada via the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) program.
In her words, she felt she could be a better nurse than a physician and didn’t want to sacrifice time with her family. That feels like a powerful, human centered path forward. It’s a reminder that success isn’t always about labels, but about meaningful impact and joy.