From Kenya to the province of Trapani, a happy life interrupted by the diagnosis of cancer in 2018. Today he is fine and, with the people he met in the ward, he helps others: I recommend everyone to experience emotions: what counts above all is the present.
Ester is 32 years old and has a sweet, wide smile. so beautiful and sunny that the last thing you would think of when you look at her was the disease, but three years ago she was operated on for breast cancer. She underwent a major surgery, underwent chemotherapy, follows the checks that await her in the next few years and lives with anxiety and fear, like all people who receive a cancer diagnosis. However, he rarely stops smiling: After having faced this path, after the discovery of a disease that transmits the fear of dying to you, time becomes very important and I dedicate it to what matters most, starting with my family – he says -. Now I live every second, every moment as if it were my last. I get to the bottom of my emotions, I treat myself with respect and care, I give my time my smile to other people.
The inestimable value of time
It arises from these reflections and from the story of Esther the association The Box of Time, of which the young woman, born in Kenya and moved with her husband to Sicily, president. The goal of the many activities is one: to enhance the concept of the hours, days and years we have available. Being aware of the time given to us promotes awareness of our existence and our humanity – explains Ester -. Give ourselves the necessary time to be better with others. Donating our time, albeit limited, but with joy and gratitude amplifies our spiritual being and fixes emotions that are not lost. And with the short film The Box of Time. Every day an opportunity to give life to a new beginning, created by the director Marco Tumbiolo and the photographer Ezio Fiorenza, the association also ranked third in the 2021 edition of Oncology and Cinema competition promoted by the Italian Association of Medical Oncology (Aiom) and by the Aiom Foundation.
Diagnosis in the summer of 2018
A profound lesson, which Ester learned quickly and very young, when illness arrives in her days. In 2018 her life flowed smoothly: just over 20 she married in Kenya and from her native land she moved with her husband Giuseppe to Italy, in Castelvetrano, in the province of Trapani. They had had a child, Mattia, who is now eight years old and even on the professional front there was no shortage of satisfactions: I work in tourism, which is my passion and I am lucky enough to manage an accommodation facility, says Ester. In the summer of that year, however, things get complicated: I had gone through a heavy and dark period for the loss of my grandmother, I was emotionally and physically ill. One evening, lying in bed with my husband and son, I notice the presence of a rather large mass in my left breast. I went to see my primary care doctor and we decided to wait until I had my period to rule out something related to hormonal changes or momentary inflammation. The mass does not disappear: after an ultrasound, an MRI and all the necessary analyzes, the diagnosis of breast cancer arrives.
The operation and the chemo
So in September 2018, at the age of 29, Ester entered the operating room for a mastectomy (the complete removal of the breast), performed by saving the area of the nipple and followed by reconstruction. The doctors also prescribe chemotherapy, which she decides to do in the oncology ward of Castelvetrano: it was the best choice I could have made – she says -: in this hospital I met people with big hearts, doctors and nurses made me all pretty easy. I will always be grateful to them because I lived this adventure, albeit an ugly one, with tranquility. I managed to always have a smile, I found myself despite all the difficulties and fears. So much so that when she went to chemo sessions, Ester always returned home happy and her husband Giuseppe, understandably amazed, asked her why and what they gave her in the ward to make her so happy. I found something inside that I was missing: true friends, with a good heart, and a serenity in me, like a stillness in the depths, which I no longer had.
Live the emotions and the present
thanks to that inner peace, says Ester, who was able to overcome the therapies with ease and to transfer her calm to the family. And in the hospital courses, together with the nurse Vito Barruzza, who originates the idea of association: during the shooting of the short film that collect the testimonies on the value of time of the cancer patients being treated in Castelvetrano, a nice atmosphere of friendship was created between the crew, the sick, the doctors and the nurses. Everyone understood that it was important to go beyond the documentary and communicate the value of time to the rest of the population, because one doesn’t always have to wait for a bad event, a disease, to give the right attention to existence. We want to give support, including financial support, and courage to those who need it – concludes Ester -. really difficult to deal with the disease alone. Now after three years I am fine, I do the checks and I hope everything goes smoothly. At the beginning of a new year I recommend everyone to listen and love their body and I wish everyone to find the time to live their emotions: it is not enough to look at the future or the past, what matters above all the present.
January 9, 2022 (change January 9, 2022 | 20:40)
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