Stefano De Martino is the protagonist of the first story of the episode of You’ve Got Mail on Saturday 20 January. In the studio the affectionate embrace with Maria De Filippi which had first launched it thanks to Amici. De Martino was asked in the studio by Emanuela who wrote to the program for her parents. “Being a daughter doesn’t mean throwing tantrums to get expensive gifts”, Manuela says in her letter, “Being a child means knowing you have other people to lean on”. At the age of 24, Emanuela fell ill with lymphoma. It is her parents who support her and encourage her to fight. It was her mother who acted as her hairdresser, who organized dinners for her on the terrace with her boyfriend. Her father instead accompanied her to chemo cycles, saying he was proud of her. Today Emanuela wants to thank them both for being there.
Emanuela’s letter to her parents
Petra and Luigi, Emanuela’s parentsaccept the invitation of You’ve Got Mail. In front of their daughter, they listen moved to her words and those of the presenter who reads to the two a letter written for the occasion. “This evening I want to thank you because you have given me life twice”, writes Emanuela in her letter, “You always told me that it would have been better if it had happened to you than to me but in hindsight I realized that that’s fine: I wouldn’t have had the strength to do what you did for me”.
Stefano De Martino gives a holiday but Petra refuses: “I’m not leaving without my children”
Stefano De Martino enters the studio to hug Petra and Luigi. “Yours is a wonderful story“, the host takes the floor, “I’ve been a dad for a while and when I heard your story I imagined how I would behave as a son and parent. When my son has a fever I want to take that fever and move it from his body to mine. It hurts when his children are sick”. Then he turned to Emanuela: “I don’t have an answer to give you if you wonder why all this bad happened to you. But I know why all the good things happened to you from having two parents like that. Parents stand by us despite everything”. The Rai host then delivers his gifts to Petra and Luigi. Among these there is a holiday which Petra however refuses: “Without my children I won’t go there and I can’t take them with me: they have to study”. It is Maria De Filippi who convinces her to accept that gift which was probably returned out of embarrassment.