Marco Zabeo, 23 years old, discovered three months ago that he was suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a very serious disease which requires a bone marrow transplant.
A strange fever associated with fatigue and weight loss. These are the symptoms reported last March 18 to the doctors of the Mestre hospital by Marco Zabeo, 23, who has been struggling for some time with a decidedly abnormal state of shape, given his young age. The results of the tests gave a terrible result: Marco was affected leucemia linfoblastica acute, very serious illness that had compromised his immune defenses forcing him to be hospitalized for 39 days in the hematology department of the Veneto hospital.
Almost three months after the diagnosis, Marco entrusted a heartfelt appeal to a post on social networks: “Guys, I need a marrow donor, please go to typify you, it costs you nothing. Ps: you could save my life”.
After the diagnosis Marco underwent the first cycles of chemotherapyboth in the hospital and at home. “It was difficult to face, accept and metabolize the diagnosis – he explains to Corriere – And then I couldn’t leave the room because the infectious risk is very high with serious consequences in case something were to happen, so I was ‘locked up’ between three walls and a window. I felt a sort of ‘fear of the world‘ and missed my loved ones.”
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Forced isolation taught Marco to appreciate the little things: “Perfumes, a walk, the warmth of the sun or the warmth of a hug… I’ve certainly learned to give each other a totally different importance, no longer taking anything for granted and I appreciate life so much more.” He knows that, after chemotherapy, he will have to undergo a bone marrow transplant. However, compatibility is approximately one in 100,000 and that is why he has launched an appeal for people to contact the ADMO (Bone Marrow Donor Association). “I would like there to be more sensitivity and awareness towards these issues: first of all I had no idea what it was or how to do it bone marrow donation, and unfortunately some things are discovered only if they concern us directly. Unfortunately for those with these pathologies, survival also partly depends on the solidarity of people and not only on therapies”.