«Those vigils with my daughter in hospital for cancer»

THE STORY
He recounts his daughter’s experience of illness in the book “With my eyes. You can’t control the unpredictable”Published on Amazon last May also to support the Italian Association for the fight against neuroblastoma. In his parents realize that he had swollen lumps on the back of his neck. «After the hospital checks – says the mother – in March 2020 we scheduled a histological examination, but due to the Covid emergency it was not considered an emergency. On June 10, we were informed that the girl had stage four neuroblastoma, a typical pediatric tumor between the ages of 2 and 5». It is the leading cause of death within the first year of life and is the third most frequent tumor after leukemia and pediatric brain tumors. «It was a bolt from the blue – says Silvia – the little girl was filled with metastases. Treatment began in August 2020 and she underwent eight cycles of chemotherapy until November. We spent four days in the hospital, a week at home, and then close hospitalizations again».

THE TRANSPLANT
In the February 2021 the girl underwent a stem cell transplant, she remained in total isolation for 40 days. Twenty more rounds of radiotherapy followed until July, when she was admitted for immunotherapy. «I started writing in the midst of our battle – Silvia explains – almost out of fear that time could mitigate the pain that overwhelms you. It is not a description of the disease, but a succession of emotions experienced from day to day. I did it for us and at the same time for other parents, because I realized that when we find ourselves in this situation, we think we are alone and the only ones in the world to experience a similar misfortune: but then you realize that the pediatric oncohematology department in Padua is always packed». The book ends on January 6, 2022, when the planned treatment protocol was concluded, but in February during the control tests some residues of the disease were found, and the little girl is undergoing periodic visits, because she is not yet in remission. One day in Quarto d’Altino the parents met Sabrina Buran, a woman who in life is a health worker and last December she underwent cancer surgery. The meeting took place in the Fior di Gelato ice cream shop, where a fundraising event to help sick children will take place on April 15 (at 3 pm).
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in Il Gazzettino