The Pink Ambassador of the Umberto Veronesi Foundation tells her story and why she decided to become the testimonial. Pink recruitment open with free workouts for women who have undergone surgery
I am a Pink Ambassador of the Veronesi Foundation, in the Bologna team. Being part of it means making all women understand how useful prevention is, without looking at the age: unfortunately the tumor does not wait… it means that you have to be strong and fight, believe in research and support it. Cos Giorgia, 40 and diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016 (when she was 34), explains the reasons that led her to participate in the project Umberto Veronesi Foundation, born with the aim of demonstrating that after the disease you can go back to living stronger than before.
AAA Pink Ambassador wanted
For fun I signed up … and they selected me. For me, who have never raced, even if I have always played sports, it is not easy, sometimes my knees give out … I give it my all, says Giulia. After all, numerous scientific researches have demonstrated this: doing physical activity constantly over time is of great help in cancer patients, with important benefits for the body and mind: it reduces the risk of relapses, helps to better tolerate treatments and side effects, promotes psychophysical recovery. The initiative of the Veronesi Foundation, now in its eighth edition, is based on these assumptions, which involves women with a diagnosis of female tumors who, after the disease, have accepted a new challenge: to participate in a competitive race and become testimonial of the importance prevention, actively contributing to fundraising to support scientific research on female oncology. The Pink Ambassador Recruitment (breast, uterus or ovarian cancer operations, which have completed the therapies by September 2021), active until February 13, 2022 by sending your own application on the appropriate form, to start with the free trainings in April 2022 (groups will be activated only when a minimum number of 20 participants is reached), which will be coordinated and managed by the Italian Athletics Federation, to prepare to run a half marathon.
Breast cancer: 55 thousand
Breast cancer: 55 thousand new cases every year in Italy Giorgia works as a graphic designer in Carpi, in the province of Modena. In March 2016, during a checkup, she discovered that she had a tumor in her left breast which in a short time doubled in size. I decided to entrust myself to treatment in Carpi, where I had the opportunity to meet wonderful doctors – says the young woman -. After 16 cycles of chemotherapy I came to undergo surgery in December 2016, quadrantectomy and sentinel lymph node export. In March 2017 I had 30 radiotherapy sessions up to August that I performed a monoclonal antibody under the skin every 21 days. Then I started hormone therapy, which will last several years, along with the controls. They are quite heavy treatments, with all the consequences of menopause, but more pronounced: heat, joint pain, nausea, abdominal pain … but let’s go on !. With 55 thousand new cases diagnosed in 2020 in Italy, breast cancer is the most widespread among women and despite the many advances, it remains the leading cause of cancer death among Italians. Thanks to scientific research, today 87% of patients live 5 years after diagnosis.
Come back to life (also thanks to sport)
My life now? Worse than before, but positively, I always try to do many activities, to live life to the fullest – says Giorgia -. When you go through these diseases, you either get disheartened or struggle with all your might to make it. I had a specific goal: I had to go underwater as soon as possible, I had to go back to the land I love, Madagascar. Fortunately, thanks to my partner, his son, my family, my closest friends, the super nurse of the oncology day hospital in Carpi, to the girls who went through my same illness with me, I fought hard. I never stopped, I always worked, I always went out even with the bandana on my head, because unfortunately in my case the cap to try not to make my hair fall out, it didn’t work. So in October 2017 I flew to Nosy be and managed to do my beloved dives. I am reborn, an indescribable feeling of freedom, of infinite joy of living. A year later, in October 2018, Giorgia participates in the Pink Parade, the sporting event organized in Milan by the Veronesi Foundation in the world month dedicated to breast cancer to raise awareness and inform about the disease and raise funds for scientific research. It is on that occasion that, through social media, he learns of the Pink’s recruitment. I believe that research is really essential. Without research we would not be here at this time writing, talking, running – Giorgia concludes -. The tiring marathon, like life with cancer. But in the end you get there. As the Pink motto says: nothing stops pink, nothing stops women.
January 19, 2022 (change January 19, 2022 | 19:10)
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