Balance, awareness, determination, without inappropriate optimism, always remaining positive There isn’t a war and much less there are losers or losers
From the story of Gianluca Vialli comes a message that must not be lost: the example he left in the way of dealing not only with a tumor, but one of those that continue to be the most frightening ever because only 10 out of 100 patients are alive. years after diagnosis. And he managed the disease with balance, awareness, determination, without excessive optimism (which would have been out of place), yet always remaining positive, he says Alessandro Zerbi, head of Pancreatic Surgery at the Humanitas IRCCS Clinical Institute in Milanwho with his team had diagnosed pancreatic cancer and then immediately operated on the footballer in November 2017. Approximately every year 14 thousand Italians, together with their families, they receive the news of this neoplasm. Thousands of people have lost a parent, a life partner, a friend, a loved one. This message is primarily for them, because as Vialli himself said to Aldo Cazzullo in an interview with Corriere: I wish one day someone would look at me, or think of me, and say: “It’s also thanks to you that I haven’t given up” .
Vialli as a patient: Reserved, lucid, collaborative
Virtually everything has been said about the man, the friend and the footballer these days, but which patient was Vialli? Very reserved, clear-headed, collaborative, intelligent – replies Zerbi -. Always friendly, helpful and with a positive attitude, even though he was well aware of the complicated situation. How did you arrive at the diagnosis? He had already been operated on at Humanitas for other problems and what he saw appear there‘jaundice (ie the yellow color of the skin and eyes, which appears when bilirubin, a substance normally produced by the liver which passes through the pancreas to pour into the intestine, accumulates in the blood) returned to us for tests, says the surgeon. How did he deal with the news when you realized it was cancer? Like everyone – says the doctor -. There is an initial discouragement, there is fear, but he showed dignity and courage right away. And I told him what I repeat to every patient who arrives in my ward, without false illusions, but keeping the right hope: a difficult tumour, but there is a small percentage of patients who recover and I don’t know if you will be one of those who will send me Christmas greetings in 10 years. Let’s start the therapies, one thing at a time. Cos he took the first big step in thetreatment process which, the doctors had explained to him, it would be long, difficult and uncertain: the operation.
The operation is complex and with a high risk of complications
The one to remove a pancreatic tumor the most complex intervention in abdominal surgery and also the one with the highest rate of lethal complications, for this reason it is essential to rely on centers of great experience – continues Zerbi -: various studies show it, numbers in hand, that in hospitals where experts are concentrated and more work is done, the risk of dying is less. Different organs are removed: the part of the pancreas affected by the tumor, the duodenum, the bile duct, the gallbladder and then the various parts of the intestine are reconnected, so that the patient can then eat and digest and have a normal life. In fact, the operation went well: Gianluca was hospitalized for just over a week, recovered quickly, also thanks to his athletic physique. And his subsequent story concretely demonstrated one of the achievements achieved, thanks to scientific research, in the last 20 years: operable patients, who previously lived only a few months, today gain precious time. Also years, with a good quality of life. Then Vialli returned to London, where he underwent chemotherapy, radiotherapy and the treatments foreseen when the checks had brought to light that the unwelcome guest had returned.
Cancer is not a war
He never called him enemy. He didn’t choose the belligerent terms that are often used when discussing cancer: I’m not fighting a battle because I wouldn’t be able to win it, an opponent certainly much stronger than me – he said -. For as I see it cancer an unwanted travel companion, for I can’t help it. boarded the train with me and I have to go on, travel with my head down, never giving up, hoping that one day this unwanted guest will get tired and let me live peacefully for many more years, because I still have so many things I want to do. This is the message that comes from Vialli’s story that one must not waste: there is no war and much less are there losers or losers. The fight against cancer, especially pancreatic cancer, would be an unequal fight. There is that one day you wake up with terrible news, with a disease that you have to come to terms with. There are no recipes and everyone has to go their own way, as best they can. Gianluca’s example is a great way. How excellent (another valuable teaching) was his way of communicate always measuring the choice of words with great intelligence: without illusions, without ever defining himself illusorily cured, aware of the seriousness of the situation. Nevertheless always positivean open door to hope.
And a great faith in scientific research, which he had pledged to support on several occasions. Pancreatic cancer is still very lethal because unfortunately no symptoms in its early stagescos the vast majority of patients comes to the diagnosis late when the neoplasm has already spread – concludes Zerbi -. Also a type of cancer very aggressivethat d metastasis quicklyPlus the area where the pancreas is doesn’t help. Not sensitive to new drugs (target therapy or immunotherapy) which in recent years have significantly improved the hopes of those who fall ill with other “fearsome” tumors such as, for example, lung or skin melanoma. For pancreatic cancer we need more scientific research, a greater commitment on the part of everyone, funds are needed to finance studies that sooner or later will make us take decisive steps forward.
January 7, 2023 (change January 7, 2023 | 18:27)
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