How many important things can be done in ten, twenty or thirty years? The most natural answer would be: many, many. But not for those who have had to deal with a tumor, the psychological burden of the disease and the bitterness of having to give up significant goals, even years or decades after the end of the treatments. As happened to Francesco, 33, recovered from a thyroid tumor for 15 years, who did not obtain the authorization to adopt a child with his partner. Or Laura, 45, who, due to breast cancer twenty years ago, was unable to open a long-term mortgage to start a dance school. Social discrimination that the #iononsonoilmiotumore campaign for the recognition of the right to oncological oblivion, launched by the Aiom Foundation (a foundation created by the Italian association of medical oncology to create a meeting space between oncologists, patients and their families), is trying to break down with various initiatives. The next one will take place in breaking latest news on 3 September and is the first non-competitive walk organized to bring more people to the knowledge of a situation that in Italy concerns about 1 million former patients, raising awareness even those who have not experienced an illness. oncological.
Why participate in the walk
The initiative is an important opportunity to meet to find out more. But also an invitation to mobilize to ask for the approval of a law that protects those who have overcome the disease and find it difficult to access some services: for example, buying a house, applying for a loan, taking out life insurance, starting the practices for adoption, or apply for your dream job. Just over 25,000 signatures are missing from the petition launched by the Foundation, and the milestone will be reached.
“Taking part in the walk and supporting the campaign means offering former patients the opportunity to live a life free from the memory of the tumor. Because even if clinically recovered, the bureaucracy discriminates against them considering them still sick – he explains to Salute Giordano BerettaPresident of the Aiom Foundation – It is necessary to guarantee that right to be forgotten which, through the legislative provision, would make it possible not to declare the previous pathology after 5 years from the end of treatment if the neoplasm arose in pediatric age, and after 10, in the absence of relapses or relapses, if you got sick as an adult “.
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How to participate
The route will start from Piazza della Rinascita (also known as Piazza Salotto), will have a length of 2.5 kilometers and will wind between the city center and the seafront. Participants will be able to choose to ride it twice to reach 5 kilometers. “breaking latest news has the right size to ensure that an event like this can be noticed. Furthermore, it is a very popular tourist center, the right context to intercept those who do not even know this problem exists – continues Beretta – Of course, we are also involving patient associations from all over the region and neighboring ones. Their collaboration will be fundamental to stimulate the participation of a large number of people, hopefully “. After breaking latest news, the idea of the foundation is to organize walks like this also in other cities, for example in Modena and Cagliari. Participation in the walk is free and open to all. You can already register at this link, or directly on Saturday 3 September in breaking latest news at the Aiom Foundation gazebo in Piazza della Rinascita. From here, the walk will start at 9.00 and will last a couple of hours. All the information is available on the website titoloallobliotumori.org, where it is also possible to join the campaign by leaving your signature, and download the first guide on the right to oncological oblivion.
At what stage is the campaign
From January to today #iononsonoilmiotumore has collected almost 75,000 signatures. At 100,000, the adhesions will be presented to the Government and to the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella. “We hoped to be able to approve the law already in this legislature – confides the president of the Aiom Foundation – but now with the political crisis we need to understand what the times will be”. Those who have left their names are mainly former patients who have encountered bureaucratic obstacles in accessing different services, even in obtaining the necessary certificates for driving licenses or for competitive sport. “But there are also many patients worried about their future after the disease – adds Beretta – as well as caregivers and citizens aware that a battle like this must be fought by joining forces”.
Cancer: right to be forgotten for one million cured patients
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The need for a law
The number of patients who now live even many years after a cancer diagnosis has increased (out of 3.6 million people living with a tumor in Italy, 27%, about one million, have been declared cured). Thanks to increasingly innovative therapeutic pathways, capable of treating or chronicizing many neoplasms, and guaranteeing a life expectancy equal to that of those who have never received a diagnosis of cancer. “This explains why today the need to adopt an ad hoc legislative provision is very urgent, as countries such as France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland and Portugal have already done – concludes Beretta – The 100,000 signatures we are collecting will have an important weight for politics, because it means that as many as 100,000 citizens believe that our country on this issue needs a law of civilization, which ensures that anyone who is cured of cancer can enjoy all rights ”.