Kate Middleton, in her first public appearance after her cancer diagnosis, “gives us a powerful message of normality and hope, which reaches people who are also now, in these days and months, facing anti-cancer treatment. It happens when public figures of this magnitude, perhaps despite themselves obviously, decide to share their journey with others”. This is the reflection of Elisabetta Iannelli, general secretary of the Italian Federation of voluntary oncology associations (Favo), who commented to Adnkronos Health on Princess Catherine’s choice to make British citizens aware of the disease she is facing and how the treatment is proceeding. her journey, between “good days and bad days”, as she herself wrote yesterday in a post in which she announced that she would be present today with her family at the parade for the king’s birthday, the ‘Trooping the Colour’ ceremony.
Kate “is a very first-line character and evidently could not remain indifferent to public opinion – observes Iannelli – but it seems to me that she is managing it very well, with a lot of dignity and giving that minimum signal which however makes us understand how today those who In the meantime, he is a cancer patient and he is not a walking dead man, but above all he needs his time, his space to be able to return to life. All the allegations that have been made in recent months, which are not very respectful of the person, were also very far from being known what is the reality of those who have an oncological diagnosis and begin treatment. I was not surprised in the slightest by the fact that for a few months” the Princess of Wales “was focused on herself, in the intimacy of her family, of her parents. own affections”.
“Those who know what happens after an oncological diagnosis because they have experienced it firsthand or have cared for a loved one – he continues – know well that at least the first six months or the year following the diagnosis are more or less entirely occupied by treatments of different nature. There is surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy. Despite the progress made, they are still toxic or temporarily disabling treatments. So the fact that Kate withdrew from the scene for a few months seems to me to have been something obvious.”
Thinking about those days of initial silence on the part of the royal family and of enormous pressure from public opinion, Iannelli points out that, “beyond the morbid interest that there may be towards these public figures”, even in wanting to know , in wanting to look for the signs of the disease on their ‘skin’, “I don’t exclude that there is also a component linked to the fear that still causes the word cancer. These two elements combined have meant that this is the approach” . In the story of the princess, who explains that she is making progress but that she is not yet out of danger, that she has learned to be patient and to take each day as it comes, listening to her body and taking the time necessary to heal, for the general secretary of Favo there is “normality, adherence to reality. A narrative in which any cancer patient can see themselves”.
“It’s exactly like this – he continues – you’re like on a swing, there are good days and less good days, both physically and psychologically”. Kate, “exactly as everyone does, has remodulated her life times based on the psychophysical condition of the moment, trying to concentrate resources first of all on herself, to be able to deal with the treatments, and then on the most expensive effects, limiting what which at this moment becomes more marginal, non-essential. What it still gives us is the reflection on the time we are given to live, on how precious it is and how we must use it in the best way, aware of the limits imposed on us for a certain period of time following the illness and treatments”.
Kate’s story also makes us think about the issue of young adults getting sick and the signals coming from some studies, according to which cases in these age groups are increasing. “I got sick young 30 years ago now”, reflects Iannelli, who was 25 at the time and knows this reality well. “If this trend were confirmed – he says – particular attention should be paid to this, because it also completely changes the approach and the paradigm of care. If we are treating a young woman or a young man at a time when their future life is being built , and we can think of a recovery or chronicization of the disease and a long life expectancy, then the choice of therapeutic treatments must also take this into account today we must think about preserving fertility to prevent the recovered person from being unable to have children tomorrow We must think today about possible side effects that could damage other systems, such as the cardiovascular system. There is a whole reasoning that changes if the diagnosis concerns a young person. All the implications in dealing with therapeutic and healthcare choices must be considered. even having a very clear idea of what the rest of life is, family and work, inclusion in society, aspects that can be affected in a serious and irreversible way.”
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