Elisa, colon cancer at 29: “If it weren’t for the research, I wouldn’t be here”
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“I went from Chicago, then I went to Washington, Brussels, Paris and now I work and live between London and New York. My life after cancer is super cool.” What we are about to tell is the story of Elisa, from Padua, born in 1978, diagnosed with colon cancer in 2008, when she was 29 years old, many ambitions, lots of energy and a plane ticket to Chicago. But we do it starting from the end, i.e. who Elisa is and what she does today, 15 years after her diagnosis: “Before her illness – she tells us from London – I was a lawyer, I worked for a firm in Rome, today I’m a manager , I manage an American media company that deals with antitrust law worldwide. In 2018 I met my now husband who is from London. We got married last October in NYC. I currently live between London and New York, with some Italian breaks to see friends and stay with my family”.
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The Research Azalea of the Airc Foundation
It is no coincidence that we tell Elisa’s story in this week preceding May 14, Mother’s Day. Which, since 1984, coincides with the AIRC Foundation Research Azalea Day, when in many Italian squares (here the map) 20 thousand volunteers, in exchange for a flowering azalea, raise funds to give new strength to male and female researchers committed to finding increasingly early diagnoses and increasingly effective treatments for cancers affecting women (the research Azaleas can also be purchased online at Amazon.it).
Colon cancer, second in incidence in women. Even young people
Last year in our country over 185,000 new cases of cancer were estimated in the female population, about 10,000 more than in 2019. The two most frequent cancers were those of the breast (55,700) of the colorectal (20,100), the of Elisa, in fact. Which takes up her story. “The diagnosis came when I was very focused on my future and was planning to move to the US to attend a master’s degree at the University of Chicago. When you are young you think you are infallible and immortal. I had never smoked, I didn’t drink alcohol, I have always been attentive to my health and in the family we have no cases of this disease. So I ignored the abdominal pain and blood in the stool,” she says.
Soon, however, the signs of her tumor Elisa could no longer ignore and found herself in the room of a doctor who, after a colonoscopy, calmly told her: she has colon cancer. “My sister, who was accompanying me, started crying – remembers Elisa – I, on the other hand, immediately asked for the timing of the treatments, because it was June and America was waiting for me in September”.
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Two surgeries and chemo
Elisa spent her thirtieth birthday not in the States, but in the hospital: “Chemo is the devil in the body – she says with an effective metaphor – you go on day by day. Some days are good, others are less so”. One less good day I asked my mom if she thought I’d ever smile again ”. Then Elisa talks about one of the first post-chemo visits to the oncologist, the time she told her that everything was fine but that she had to wait for the body to recover perfectly. “I remember it well – she says – because immediately afterwards I wrote to the University of Chicago to say that things were going well and that I would be leaving that year”. After two operations and eight cycles of chemotherapy, in September 2009 she embarked on her first of her many trips to the United States, probably her most significant. “Cancer has been a tiring journey – she continues – we often talk about breast cancer in women, but even colon cancer should not be underestimated and has many repercussions. I risked several times the ostomy and having to put the ‘bag’ for the feces. And even today I pay attention to what I eat”.
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Reclaim your life
Those after the illness, however, were beautiful years. Elisa says she has met many people, many friends “and I have confronted myself with many different realities. Living abroad, and in the USA in particular – the most competitive society in the world – has challenged me in many ways. I had to start all over again, and, moreover, in a different language. But perhaps for me, ambitious by nature, it meant demonstrating (first of all to myself) that I could be able to achieve my dreams, get my life back and pursue my professional goals almost as if cancer had never existed” , He says. “But I also know that I was lucky, I know that it’s not the same for everyone”. This does not mean that the road has been all downhill. After cancer you’re afraid to trust the future, she tells us. “But we must continue to bet on life and invest. Cancer can have an enormous destructive force, especially if it affects a young person, but it can also teach those who meet it that it is stronger than they think, and stronger than their fears ”.
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Invest in research and rely on science
The treatment that Elisa did many years ago was chemotherapy at the time experimental: “If it weren’t for the research I wouldn’t be here”, she says without hesitation. Elisa considers herself somewhat the result of research. “If I can tell you everything I am and what I have achieved after cancer, it is because someone invested in research before I got sick, spent years studying and making my cancer curable. You never think about it when you are healthy. When the oncologist brought up the idea of an experimental therapy, I didn’t hesitate for a second. I was young, my Cancer aggressive and fast. Treatments were heavy but if I can tell my story today it’s because that day I didn’t choose the easiest path but the one that perhaps gave me one more chance to make it. I chose to rely totally on science and it was the most important and the best choice of my life. Without research there is no future. Therefore – concludes Elisa – investing in research, even just one euro, even just 50 cents, is investing in the future. It is the best investment for ourselves and for everyone”.
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Elisa’s story is also told in the book Koala Strategy (part of the proceeds from the sale are destined for AIRC), which is also the name of the platform that Elisa launched last year to give voice to stories and visibility to the many associations and initiatives that they help make cancer patients less lonely every day.
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