Obstacles Make Us Stronger
On May thirty-first, I crossed the finish line of a Spartan race with a silver medal in my hand and my mother in my heart. I hadn’t aimed for a podium. I ran because something in me had to move — through grief, through caregiving, through years of quietly carrying what couldn’t be seen.
Every obstacle mirrored the ones many of us face:
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watching a loved one’s memory fade,
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navigating fragmented systems,
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holding the weight of invisible roles.
This race became more than movement — it was a ritual of devotion. And now, as I turn fifty during the World OCR Championships, I run again. For her. For us.
I never imagined this could happen.
This September, I have the opportunity to represent Bulgaria — my homeland — at the World Obstacle Racing Championships in Sweden.
I will turn 50 during the race. It is a milestone and a mission.
This race is a tribute to:
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My mother, who meets forgetfulness with grace and quiet strength
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Every caregiver who sacrifices in unseen ways
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Every individual navigating mental health challenges without coherent support and community
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Every seeker striving to live with dignity, purpose, and vitality in an environment designed for dysfunction
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For education and prevention, so we flourish as we age
This mission needs your support!
I race to remember.
I race to raise awareness for cognitive & mental health.
I race to remind us all that healing takes place in community
Svetlana Transka-Lea
A Platform for Wholeness
This journey is not about winning. It’s about weaving. Weaving the often invisible threads of caregivers, of those walking with cognitive decline, of lives touched by addiction, mental health challenges, and preventable disease — especially where systems of care remain fragmented.
We live in a world where the body is seen in parts, where healthcare is siloed, where prevention is often an afterthought. But healing doesn’t happen in fragments. It happens in wholeness.
While I self-fund this trip and my mother’s care and treatments, your support helps launch a shared mission: to create a platform for cognitive health, mental well-being, and metabolic literacy — one that speaks from lived experience, not just theory. Not only medical. Not only emotional. Whole.
Join the Mission
This is not a fundraiser for my travels. It’s a birthday offering — an invitation to co-create a space where story meets science, where we grieve and celebrate together, where healing is not the end goal, but the ground of being seen, held, and honored.
This is the seed of a digital platform (part digital, part in-person) dedicated for real connection, authentic sharing and deep support, that:
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Elevates stories of care, courage, and chronic illness
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Shares real tools for prevention, metabolic health, and integrative wellness
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Connects caregivers, professionals, and communities across cultures
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Prepares the ground for a longer-term foundation: ReMind, a public-benefit nonprofit serving Bulgarian and English-speaking communities in Australia and beyond
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Seed a regenerative wellness & education center in Bulgaria — rooted in nature, culture, traditions, and community, with the potential to grow globally.
Your support helps birth the first breath of that vision.
Ways to support:
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Donate to create the platform — as a gift toward shared healing, education, and care.
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Share this story with someone who may resonate.
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Follow the journey and be part of its unfolding.
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Connect me with someone aligned with this mission.
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Offer a gift-in-kind: a service, treatment, or support for the caregiving or athletic journey.
So many of us are carrying silent burdens. This platform is a place to lay some of them down — together.
Thank You
If you’ve ever cared for someone through illness.
If you’ve ever felt the weight of being strong for others.
If you believe healing is a path we walk together…
Then this isn’t just my race. It’s yours, too.
Follow my journey on Instagram @FlourishWithSvetlana where I’ll be sharing not just the training, but the deeper story: of love, coherence, resilience, and the quiet strength that carries us all.
Thank you for your support. It means more than you could ever know.
Deepest gratitude to my beloved husband, Anthony, to our sons, Noah and Joshua and my amazing mother and father in-law - Barbara and Raymond — whose love, support, and care for Mum and me have made not only this race possible, but the daily acts of tending, training, and self-care that sustain it. You hold this mission with me! I honour you!!
As this mission takes root, I’ll be sharing small gifts along the way—reflections from the journey, practices that support resilience, tools that have helped me care, cope, and stay strong. It’s not a transaction. It’s a thank you. A way to keep the circle whole. Because giving is reciprocal, and healing is something we build—together.
With grit and gratitude,
