It is the symbolic flower of women’s cancer research, and has been for 40 years. The Azalea of the Airc Foundation was in fact born with the aim of supporting those who study female tumors, to make them increasingly curable, in 1984. And on Sunday 12 May it will color again – for the 40th time, in fact – 3,500 squares in Italy . Everyone can make their contribution by purchasing Azalea in the squares or on Amazon (information and distribution points on azaleadellaricerca.it).
It is estimated that, overall, around 75,000 women received a diagnosis of female cancer last year. We are talking about cancers of the endometrium, ovaries, cervix and, obviously, breasts (although men can also get breast cancer). Breast cancer struck the actress a few years ago Cristina Donadiowho is now an ambassador for the Airc Foundation and who told her story on the stage of the event last May 8th Salute “Plural female oncology. Women facing cancer”.
Breast cancer. Cristina Donadio: “This is how I went through the illness”
Cancer as a metaphor for transformation. The story of Cristina Donadio
Donadio calls the tumor “adventure”, “damage”, “short circuit”, “accident”. She uses metaphors and reveals that the tumor itself was a metaphor for her both of the change that was taking place in the relationship with her loved one, and of the path taken to accept it. “When you suffer from damage like cancer, what happens in the relationship? I had never told it before but I think it is very useful for me, and perhaps also for those who listen to me, although every relationship is a story in itself. The day I learned from a card that I had breast cancer, in reality another damage had already been affecting me for 9 months: my love story had undergone a transformation after 10 years and I didn’t want to accept it.” […]
“The cancer was all concentrated in my nipple, and I also gave a metaphorical value to this: the nipple is an organ that tells a lot about intimacy, which is sometimes shared – you breastfeed your children – which is beauty, which creates and gives pleasure. […] The first time I looked at myself after the operation, in place of my nipple there was a perplexed emoticon: the scar reminded me of an expression of perplexity, which was how I felt as I didn’t accept that my story was changing . I like to think I had that expression in the months that followed.” […]
“5 years have passed, I have finished my journey and with my recovery I have finally reached the awareness: that as the body changes, a love also changes. My story hasn’t stopped yet, maybe it will never stop, but it has a scar, like the scar I carry on my body. They are those scars from which we start again. I refused to wear a fake nipple because for me it would be like accepting a fake relationship […] Overcoming difficult moments means awareness, acceptance, and above all self-love. Today I calmly experience my breasts with that expression… which is no longer perplexed, because the perplexity has faded.” […]
“Next Sunday will be Mother’s Day and Azalea Day of the Airc Foundation, of which I am the testimonial. I would like to remember that these azaleas have been contributing to research for 40 years: a term which, together with prevention and screening, tells the story of life. For me this is the most important message, and it is for this message that I told my story.”
Oncological oblivion, for some tumors a year may be enough by Tiziana Moriconi 29 April 2024
Nanomedicine against breast cancer
Since it was launched, the Airc Foundation’s Azalea has made it possible to raise around 300 million euros to finance research such as that of Miriam Colombo39 years old, professor of Clinical Biochemistry at the NanoBioLab of the University of Milan-Bicocca: “Thanks to the support of the AIRC Foundation we are studying a therapy against breast cancer that combines nanotechnologies and gene therapy, acting on the tumor microenvironment – she explains Colombo a Salute – Nanotechnology and gene therapy represent two leading sectors at the moment for the treatment of many pathologies, and this union has a very promising combined effect. Nanomedicine, in particular, allows us to optimize the effectiveness of current chemo and radiotherapy treatments, minimizing their side effects and therefore enormously improving the patient’s standard of living during the acute phase of treatment. If today 2 out of 3 women in Italy are alive 5 years after a cancer diagnosis – concludes Colombo – we owe it to the progress of research and also to Airc and the azalea”.