2023-05-10 10:26:40
“I went from Chicago, then I went to Washington, Brussels, Paris and now I work and live between London and New York. My life after cancer is very cool.” What we are about to tell is the story of Elisa, from Padua, born in 1978, diagnosed with colon cancer in 2008, when she was 29 years old, many ambitions, lots of energy and a plane ticket to Chicago.
But we do it starting from the end, i.e. who Elisa is and what she does today, 15 years after her diagnosis: “Before her illness – she tells us from London – I was a lawyer, I worked for a firm in Rome, today I’m a manager , I manage an American media company that deals with antitrust law worldwide. In 2018 I met my current husband who is from London. We got married last October in NYC. I currently live between London and New York, with some Italian breaks to see friends and be with my family.”
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The Research Azalea of the Airc Foundation
It is no coincidence that we tell Elisa’s story in this week preceding May 14, Mother’s Day. Which, since 1984, coincides with the day of theResearch Azalea of the AIRC Foundationwhen in many Italian squares (here the map) 20,000 volunteers, in exchange for a flowery azalea, are raising funds to give new strength to male and female researchers committed to finding increasingly early diagnoses and increasingly effective treatments for cancers affecting women (research Azaleas can be purchased also online at Amazon.it).
Colon cancer, second in incidence in women. Even young people
Last year in our country over 185,000 new cases of cancer were estimated in the female population, about 10,000 more than in 2019. The two most frequent cancers were those of the breast (55,700) of the colorectal (20,100), the of Elisa, in fact. Which takes up her story. “The diagnosis came when I was very focused on my future and was planning to move to the US to attend a master’s degree at the University of Chicago. When you’re young you think you’re infallible and immortal. I had never smoked, I didn’t drink alcohol, I I’ve always been attentive to my health and we don’t have any cases of this disease in the family. So I didn’t give weight to the abdominal pain and blood in the stool,” she says.
Soon, however, the signs of her tumor Elisa could no longer ignore and found herself in the room of a doctor who, after a colonoscopy, calmly told her: she has colon cancer. “My sister, who was accompanying me, started crying – remembers Elisa – instead, I immediately asked for the timing of the treatments, because it was June and in September she was waiting for me in America”.
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Two surgeries and chemo
Elisa spent her thirtieth birthday not in the States, but in the hospital: “Chemo is the devil in the body – she says with an effective metaphor – you go on day by day. There are good days, others less so”. One bad day I asked my mom if she thought I’d ever smile again.”
Then Elisa talks about one of the first post-chemo visits to the oncologist, the time he told her that everything was fine but that she had to wait for the body to recover perfectly. “I remember it well – she says – because immediately afterwards I wrote to the University of Chicago to say that things were going well and that I would leave that year”. After two operations and eight cycles of chemotherapy, in September 2009 she embarked on her first of her many trips to the United States, probably her most significant.
“Cancer has been a tiring journey – he continues – we often talk about breast cancer in women, but colon cancer shouldn’t be underestimated either and it has many repercussions. I risked having an ostomy several times and having to put the ‘faeces bag And even today I pay attention to what I eat”.
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Reclaim your life
Those after the illness, however, were beautiful years. Elisa says she met many people, many friends “and I was confronted with many different realities. Living abroad, and in the USA in particular – the most competitive society in the world – put me to the test in various ways. I had to start over all over again, and, moreover, in a different language.But perhaps for me, ambitious by nature, it meant proving (first of all to myself) that I could succeed in realizing my dreams, getting my life back and pursuing my my professional goals almost as if the cancer never happened,” he says.
“But I also know that I was lucky, I know that it’s not the same for everyone”. This does not mean that the road has been all downhill. After cancer you are afraid to trust the future, she tells us. “But we must continue to bet on life and invest. Cancer can have an enormous destructive force, especially if it affects a young person, but it can also teach those who meet it that it is stronger than what they think, and stronger than their fears “.
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Invest in research and rely on science
The treatment that Elisa did many years ago was chemotherapy at the time experimental: “If it weren’t for the research I wouldn’t be here”, she says without hesitation. Elisa considers herself somewhat the result of research. “If I can tell you all about who I am and what I have achieved after cancer, it is because someone invested in research before I got sick, spent years studying and making my cancer curable. You never think about it when you are healthy. When the oncologist offered me the idea of an experimental therapy, I didn’t hesitate for a second. I was young, my cancer was aggressive and fast. The treatments were heavy but if I can tell my story today, it’s because I didn’t choose that day the easiest way but the one that perhaps gave me one more chance of making it. I chose to rely totally on science and it was the most important and the best choice of my life. Without research there is no future. So – concludes Elisa – investing in research, even just one euro, even just 50 cents, is investing in the future. It’s the best investment for ourselves and for everyone”.
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Elisa’s story is also told in the book Koala Strategy (part of the proceeds from the sale go to AIRC), which is also the name of the platform which Elisa launched last year to give voice to stories and visibility to the many associations and initiatives that help make cancer patients less alone every day.
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