Family of Winners: Runner and Wife Become Parents

Valentina and Artur Burtsev met in 2022 at a running club in St. Petersburg and have been inseparable ever since. The bright, beautiful couple worked, played sports, and led an active life together — but in 2024, disaster struck: Valentina was diagnosed with breast cancer.

She managed to beat the diagnosis within six months, but first she had to learn to be strong and accept the idea that cancer was now a part of her life.

“The illness actually seemed to bring us closer together. It was a challenge we had to go through together, live through, and become even stronger from it,” Valentina told a 14.RU correspondent.

Artur Burtsev is a well-known Yakutian track-and-field athlete, a master of sport, and a champion of multiple competitions. Valentina is a vibrant, active traveler who is in love with life. Read the full interview with the couple in this article.

The young woman also advised those currently fighting cancer not to be afraid and to seek opinions from multiple doctors.

“It is not a death sentence. And even if we go through difficult treatment — chemotherapy, surgeries, radiation therapy, or hormone therapy — life can be full and happy. It can be better than it was before,” Valentina shares. “I am a vivid example of that. When I was undergoing treatment, positive examples were important to me; I voraciously searched for them on social media but found few. Mostly the stories had sad endings, and I projected it all onto myself.”

Before starting treatment, the Burtsev family froze embryos, and after recovery they began searching for a surrogacy agency. They found one, specialists selected a surrogate mother, and the couple paid for the services — it cost 3.7 million rubles ($46,900 at current rates).

The embryo took on the first try. The pregnancy proceeded calmly; only once was the surrogate mother hospitalized to maintain the pregnancy. Artur and Valentina traveled a lot and prepared for the new addition.

On the morning of July 18 at 08:00, the long-awaited call came. Labor had begun. No one could predict how long it would last, so Artur went for a run out of nervousness — at that moment, the expectant mother received another call saying everything would happen in a couple of hours.

The Burtsevs arrived at the maternity hospital, met with a neonatologist, checked into a room, and filled out documents. Fifteen minutes later, the couple was brought their newborn son, Daniel.

“I don«t know how to put into words what we felt. It was incredible! I posted a video where Artur»s first words were: ‘Why is he so fair-skinned?’” Valentina laughs. “We saw a little Yakut in front of us. To me, he was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. I know all parents say that, but ours definitely is. They placed my son on my stomach, and I lay with him for almost an hour and couldn«t comprehend that it had happened.”