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Serena, adolescence and the story of an impossible transplant at the time of the epidemic

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SERENA Small look into the lens. A selfie like many others on his WhatsApp profile. Black tank top, jeans and a shower of colored bracelets. A teenager like many others. At 18, despite showing strength and joy, he fought for months against a rare disease with a strange name: aplastic anemia or bone marrow aplasia. So much so that it was rewarded by the president Sergio Mattarella as an example of fortitude and determination.

“I was 17, when in November 2019 I began to feel a tiredness that, at first, I attributed to the sessions in the gym. But one morning I woke up bruised and with mine we went to the emergency room. it took three weeks to understand what it was all about and, after the diagnosis, we decided to ask the Child Jesus of Rome for a second opinion, where there was a specialized center “.

And so you moved from Pomigliano d’Arco to Rome for treatment.
“I was hospitalized in Rome from January to April. In the hospital I was lecturing with the professors who helped me carry out the scientific high school program. I felt that I could not do what my friends did. Dad was often with me, but mine 12-year-old sister and my mom were far away. It was a completely new situation for me. Then with Covid the living conditions changed for everyone and my companions and friends empathized more. But the virus shocked everyone, it was terrible “.

When did you realize you needed a transplant?
“When the doctors saw that the therapy was not working, I could not go on with continuous transfusions. The doctors realized that a bone marrow transplant was needed, they checked my sister’s compatibility, but unfortunately it was not. At that point in May they have thought of mum and dad. Parents are 50% compatible, but there is a way to adapt these cells and make them compatible with those of their children. It is a latest generation method developed for the Child Jesus “.

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Serena Piccolo and her parents

In the meantime, however, the ideal would have been to find a compatible donor, which is very difficult.
ā€œThat’s why dad started getting busy on social media. He organized awareness days with the Campania bone marrow donors association. But the epidemic has slowed everything down. At that point we had given up hope and my parents started all the exams for the so-called haploidentical transplant. But in mid-July, in the height of summer, the compatible donor was found. We were happy and incredulous. On 21 August we had the transplant, a way to turn the page ā€.

The donor, found through the IBMDR Registry of Genoa, must remain anonymous. Do you know anything about him?
“I know he’s German. I decided to write to him anonymously, I told him he taught me what pure love is. Generosity and altruism.”

Before receiving the transplant, you also found the strength to take the final exams that you passed with flying colors.

“I insisted on completing the baccalaureate in the presence, at school, where I wanted to return for the last time. I wanted to be like the others and to achieve this I had to fight with the doctors. I forced myself. a transfusion and on the 17th I went before the examining board “.

How did you change after this illness?
“I used to complain briefly, I was shy. Today I am more sunny and I try to be positive. I tell my friends, my peers, to learn to appreciate everything they have. To try to be with the people they love and do what you love “.

Shortly before the end of the year, President Mattarella’s recognition for you also arrived.
“I was rewarded by President Mattarella as an example of fortitude and determination. My story had circulated a lot on Facebook and it is likely that it came to him from there. In March there was supposed to be an award ceremony in attendance, but the lockdown stopped all”.

You are now enrolled in college.
“At first I thought about taking a sabbatical. In September, after the transplant, I could not take the entrance tests because I was in the hospital. Then I saw that I could choose without entrance exam Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Techniques and I registered. I’m very happy “.

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