TENT. A family friend called it “steel chick” and in fact Alessia – 11 years old – that’s right. She is very sweet and sensitive, but also very determined.
It has been seven years since doctors diagnosed her with medulloblastomatumor of embryonic origin that forms in the cerebellum. A few days ago yet another magnetic resonance control and the best Christmas present. There is no longer any trace of the tumor. According to the doctors, Alessia recovered thanks to an operation, proton therapy and chemotherapy.
“It was the May 16, 2016 – says mother Chiara who still gets emotional rewinding the tape of memories – and it was the day before my birthday. I remember this because we should have gone to Gardaland and instead the nursery school teacher informed us that Chiara was not well. She had vomited. It must have been her maternal instinct, or the fact that she had never happened to her in her life, but I immediately understood that it was something serious. In fact already in the evening, after going to the Trento emergency room, we were in neurosurgery in Verona with a terrible diagnosis. So we entered what I call a parallel worldthat one cannot even imagine exists. I always say we were in hell with angels. Those angels were the doctors, nurses and all the staff who took care of us during those months. If it hadn’t been for them, I don’t think we would have made it. You can’t overcome something like this on your own without support. Both in Verona and in Proton Therapy in Trento we found a real family made up of competent but also humane people».
Tears well up in mother Chiara’s eyes because the thought of those months still hurts, even though her little girl, now a little girl, is now fine. «In Verona you were immediately subjected to an operation that lasted 12 hours. Alesia remained hospitalized there for three weeks and then treatment began in Trento. 30 Proton Therapy sessions all under sedation. A difficult period, but one that I remember positively».
At first, hearing about Prontotherapy was a shock for this mother. “I knew nothing. The Trento Center had recently opened and even though the treatment was already used in many parts of the world, for me it was still something experimental. I trusted the doctors in Verona who told me that this was the best therapy for Alessia and indeed it was. Only a limited area was hit with the protons and in fact my daughter didn’t suffer any consequences. Today she is a little girl like any other. She attends sixth grade, plays the piano, she loves life ».
After the prontotherapy, the little girl also underwent six months of chemotherapy sessions. «This was perhaps the most difficult moment because Alessia started losing her hair. She was little, she always faced everything with great serenity, but seeing her long hair falling off in strands of her was like having reality before her eyes: the tumor ».
If today mother Chiara has agreed to retrace that difficult year, it is because she wants to instill courage in those who are now fighting the same battle. “You must never give up”. And to those who don’t have these problems, I say to appreciate life.
«It was difficult for us to move from that world, made up of therapies and checkups, to the real world with people who complain about nothing. I always say that these people should go for a walk in these departments and so they would appreciate more what they have. After what happened to Alessia we love life even more. Every day, every moment is special. We were lucky. She is now here with us. The doctors have told us that he is absolutely out of danger, but every time we have to perform a control resonance it is a moment of anxiety. Then, when the negative report arrives, it’s one rebirth. Pure joy.”
The disease has taken so much from this family and this little girl. A year of treatment, a year of isolation, a year of worries. But like all suffering, she also gave. «She raised a sensitive child, attentive to others and she made us change too. I would have paid to have it hurt myself, but of course it wasn’t possible and so we just had to find the courage to carry on. A sentence by Gandhi represents what our path has been: life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, but about learning to dance in the rain. And we could never have done it without it anyway the love of many people who have stood by us and never left us alone. I have everyone in my heart.”
(File photo)
