That his video titled French fries, pasticciotti, loving each other, posted on Instagram at the end of August, has made over 62 thousand views and has been shared by several influence. Ten minutes, inspired by a conversation overheard by chance in a restaurant, which ended up becoming a moving manifesto on the importance of stopping to pursue models of perfection, depriving oneself of the little joys of life. Francesca Fraintesa Barbieri – who in a sense was an influencer long before this neologism entered our vocabulary and in our lives – understood this well when, in October 2018, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She, who had launched eleven years earlier The travels of Fraintesa, the online travel magazine with which she became one of the first professional travel bloggers in Italy, initially chose to keep this bad news hidden from her audience. In just under a year he underwent two operations, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Then, only in May of 2019, he decided to come out with his community. To which he also announced an ambitious project.
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Fundraising of 18 thousand euros
The plan consisted of a fundraiser, half of which would go to Airc, the other half to finance Francesca’s world tour, which this time would not be just a journey to tell the public about the stages: in each of she would hold conferences and meetings to raise awareness of breast cancer and the importance of timely checks and diagnoses. I wanted to make a path that would otherwise only have been destructive constructive, he explains. It raised a total of 18 thousand euros. But facing this challenge in his own way hasn’t always been easy. I managed everything by myself, including the part of contacts and relations with the press and local institutions: in some countries, such as the eastern ones, it is more difficult to convince the media to pay attention to the personal story of a girl who comes from a distant place.
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The breast cancer tab
But there were also exciting episodes, like the time I was greeted in the Cook Islands in the Pacific by a local tourism representative who knew my story. There had been cases of breast cancer in her family and she asked me shyly if I think I should have control tests. He hadn’t told anyone about it. He was ashamed of it, explains Francesca, absolutely a tab. To many it may seem surreal but it is not, he reveals, not even in the evolved West: Since I told of my illness I have received hundreds of messages from women, even my age or younger – even 20 years old – who get sick and do not they speak not only with the employer, but also with parents, relatives, friends. Cancer, especially breast cancer, is still a tab in Italy too. In many other cases, his account of the disease was served through social media, because there are also those who write to me that they had never had a checkup and that thanks to me they went to do it. Or those who are sick and find courage in me.
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The return earlier than expected
It also happens that courage and the desire to do are not enough. From her trip around the world Francesca had to return earlier than expected due to a resurgence of the disease. After touring 12 countries in Asia, Oceania and the Americas, in Costa Rica he began to feel sick again and from checks he discovered that he had new metastases to the liver and breastbone. Yet when he talks about his journey in his voice there is no bitterness, a sweet tone remains as if he wanted to be indulgent with destiny: Around the world has always been a dream of mine and if they had told me, while I was in a hospital bed , that I would have done it less than a year later, I would not have believed it. Francesca still in treatment today, but continues to travel. And what she experienced made her more prepared to manage a situation of constant risk such as the one we all face today, due to the pandemic: My fear is the same as I had a year ago, in fact with the therapies that I defend. Immune levels are lowered so I was traveling with a mask already a year ago: a possible illness would have prevented me from continuing with the therapies. She is so familiar with the mask that, she says, last year in October I was in Hong Kong and to protect myself I went around with the mask. But even then it was the symbol of the protests, so much so that several people advised me to remove it: “You risk mistaking you for a demonstrator”, they told me.
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The head is my body
Francesca continues to travel, I never thought of stopping because I like my job, but her approach has changed: Now the head is my body, I listen to myself much more both from a physical and introspective point of view. I used to say “I’ll rest on the weekend”, now if I’m tired I’ll stop. If I have a negative perception of a project, I try to be very clear right away and I also say no if there are things that do not convince me. Before, I was more condescending because I was afraid of bad relationships with certain customers, but it doesn’t work: that way in the end no one was really satisfied. After 11 years as a freelancer in the sector she is no longer afraid of losing jobs, because I know that there will be others anyway, those who want to do find them, she says, while observing that her luck was to be a pioneer in Italy: ‘ruthless and often unfair competition, there are those who buy followers and define themselves as bloggers but have only an Instagram profile. Distinguish yourself by quality is much more difficult.
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September 5, 2020 (change September 5, 2020 | 19:05)
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