Where fear and hope go hand in hand: the story of Serhiy Nagorny
In every team there are people who are behind much more than professional experience. These are stories of strength, decisions and internal changes that are not always visible at first glance. Serhiy Nagorny is one of them. Today he works as a sales manager at Avtodok, and is gradually returning to a peaceful life after a journey that leaves its mark forever.
When the war began, Serhiy was in Kharkiv. The city he knew and loved suddenly became dangerous. He went to the military registration and enlistment office several times, and each time he was told to wait. And in his heart was already burning fear for his family. When the shelling began, he took the most valuable thing - his wife and children - and took them out of the city, then even further, to Western Ukraine, hoping that they would be safe there. And he himself returned to where it was difficult and scary, because he felt that he could not stay away.
A few days later he was already near Severskodonetsk. War doesn’t wait — it bursts into life and leaves scars. The first injuries, hospitals, rotations, new directions, new responsibilities. He served in both the infantry and the border commandant’s rapid response unit, worked as a gunner in a mortar crew. There was also training in the UK, then — again the front, more injuries. And so, step by step, the months passed.
Serhiy speaks about war without embellishment. He says that it doesn’t give “useful skills” in the usual sense, but he has rethought his own life, which doesn’t happen immediately, but remains forever. You begin to see people differently, to understand them differently in difficult situations. Those who silently do their job often turn out to be the most reliable. And those on whom he relied before are often lost. And this is one of the strongest experiences he has had.
For him, comrades are not a generalized image, but specific people with whom he has gone through a lot. Different characters, different stories, different communication. And at the same time - it's a memory. Because today, as he himself admits, many are no longer around.
Returning to civilian life turned out to be no less difficult than the service itself. At first - documents, certificates, constant bureaucracy. Then - silence, which you need to get used to. The feeling that you are not quite here yet. But gradually a new rhythm appears, the habit of ordinary things, people, work returns.
At Omega // he was warmly welcomed. He knew some of his colleagues even before - he came during short breaks. Here he was supported without unnecessary words, but with understanding and sincerity. The help was different - sometimes very simple, but it is what allows you to feel support and move on.
Now Serhiy is working, adapting, trying to find joy in simple things. But sometimes he looks at his children or remembers his brothers and realizes that a part of him remained there - in the war, in those months and years that changed him forever. And then he wants to cry - from the fact that the war took so much, but at the same time from the fact that he survived, that he can hug his family and make another day normal, albeit at the cost of great loss.
This is a story about a man who has gone through a difficult path and returns to life, retaining strength, silence and a deep understanding of what is really important.