Daniela is 40 years old and lives in a beautiful place overlooking the sea: Portoscuso, in Sardinia. Now it’s summer, it’s hot and she can’t even see that sea up close because with these temperatures it would be risky to leave the house: her heart malformation has made her live a different life from others and for her Bologna was somehow a ‘crossroads’. He wanted to put his whole story in black and white, but she is not the only protagonist: at his side (wagging his tail for more than a decade) is Shonny, an adorable mestizo with whom Daniela lives in symbiosis. Unfortunately, the two also share the same disease in the same part of the heart and the book that tells of this great love (“Shonny & Me”) could be used to raise funds for treatment.
Daniela, what is the disease you have always lived with? How does this syndrome affect your life?
“It’s called Syndrome of Bland White Garland and it is a very rare congenital heart disease that affects one in 300,000 children. Already a few months of life my mother realized that something was wrong and she was also treated as a visionary by some doctors, who belittled the issue. But then it emerged that (unfortunately) she was right and the diagnosis arrived when I was six months in the hospital in Genoa. There I then spent another four without mum and dad. Basically the left side of my heart has a deformation. I couldn’t force myself, jump and play like other children, I had and I have to be careful about many things, even in the heat and cold “.
Among the things that many doctors advised against to mum and dad, also the adoption of the dog you so desired. Yet they were convinced and did well …
“Yes! When I was 7 they decided to fulfill my desire to have a dog even though some doctors considered it a dangerous choice for my health. Me and my little Yorkshire Shooby. Since then my life has always been accompanied by a faithful friend and today, for more than 11 years I have lived with Shonny, a little mestizo who not only filled my life, but also convinced me to have that difficult heart operation that I refused “.
The intervention here in Bologna. A difficult passage in your life that was also a turning point …
“In 2013 I began to feel seriously ill and my condition had really worsened. They told me to come to Bologna, to the Sant’Orsola Polyclinic or to go to Paris, to the Pompidou hospital: maybe they could do something here that could save me. . When I arrived at the pediatric cardiology ward in hall 23 (although I was already 34 years old!), It was my heart that took care of my heart. professor Gaetano Gargiulo, to whom I owe my life. The day before the surgery I felt that no, I would not do it because I was too tired and because the chances of the operation being successful were really too low. I improvised an excuse: I did not give consent for any transfusions. This was the way I tried to sabotage that precious opportunity. But is there just nothing that keeps her here? He asked me. I was nervously moving my mobile phone in my hands and the display turned on, showing the screensaver photo, that of my Shonny. Well, maybe he was the reason not to give up. What would he have done, poor thing, without me? “.
(Daniela in front of pavilion 23 of S. Ursola with “her” Oss
When you woke up you knew you had made it. How was it?
“The operation was successful, but my problem is not solved and soon I will have to undergo a new operation. However, I thought that my experience could give strength to someone else and I decided to tell my story in a book and of my dog Shonny, who somehow made me choose to live. I thought of putting everything in black and white and right here in Bologna (where it is actually set) I started writing our book. later, all the proceeds from this project would be used to support the care of my dog ”.
Saving Shonny who, fate willed, got sick right in the heart and just in the same way you are …
“I thought my illness was enough, I never thought that one day Shonny would get sick too. Eight months ago, my little dog was diagnosed with a degenerative disease, absurdly we are both sick in the heart, on his left side. it needs are very expensive (about 300/350 euros per month) and I don’t live in gold. I thought that maybe by selling my book I could collect what is necessary to continue a therapy that lasts (poor Shonny!) from early morning to evening. I don’t know how long he will still have to live but I will do everything possible (and even the impossible!) to ensure that he is assisted in the best possible way until the day when we will have to separate forever “.
And how can you concretely contribute to the cause? Where can you buy the book?
“On my Facebook page there is everything: just write to me to order the book by donating 13 euros. All the proceeds will be used for veterinary care that will allow me to live a little longer in the company of my beloved Shonny, the little dog who in his own way it made me live on. ”
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