Lung cancer, Carlotta’s story: “I’m fine but I move like a 78 rpm record”
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She is as excited as a little girl on her first ride on the carousel. Charlotte, 54 years old and with lung cancer that she has managed to overcome, anxiously awaits the vision of the film in which she stars together with two other patients, Aldo and Roberto. The film is called ‘Oltre il mare’ and is a documentary made by Sanofi together with WALCE Onlus – Women Against Lung Cancer in Europe, project partner and RUFA – Rome University of Fine Arts, the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. A film that shines the spotlight on the delicate issue of lung cancer through an unusual narrative style and original, personal, true points of view. While waiting to enter the theater to watch the film, Carlotta tells us about her journey.
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The rush to the emergency room
Lung cancer is still today one of the most aggressive forms of cancer, strongly linked to the primary risk factor, smoking, and affects 2 million people worldwide every year, with over 43,000 diagnoses in Italy alone in 2022. Carlotta she is one of these patients. A heavy smoker, an architect, busy with a nice job in an art gallery, the woman was fine and had no symptoms until she came down with a little cough and fever. “I was initially diagnosed with bronchitis,” she tells Oncoline. But then one day while taking a long walk with my boss I could no longer walk and breathe. So he forced me to go to the emergency room: I returned home, took my dog’s tag and went to the hospital: I had probably had a pneumothorax for a long time and returned home after 27 days without a lung”.
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The excision of the pulmonary lobe
It all happened ten years ago. As often happens with malignant neoplasms of the lung, Carlotta underwent a lobectomy which consists in the removal of a lung lobe. Then she underwent chemotherapy for eight months: “My whole life changed, I had to realize that I could no longer do the same things as before,” says the woman. “Both the surgery and the chemotherapy left their aftermath primarily on a physical level with neuralgia and widespread pain”.
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From the art gallery to the hospital bed
Naturally, the emotional impact was also strong: Carlotta had to leave her job. “I was a healthy person or at least I considered myself so and suddenly I found myself in a hospital bed where I stayed for 8 months. I lost my job because I could no longer afford to travel the world or be in the gallery for 10-12 hours a day. I couldn’t even get up to go to the bathroom by myself.”
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Change of pace
A tumor always leaves scars and damage of various kinds. However, today Carlotta is at the Ara Pacis waiting to see the docufilm in which she is the protagonist and she is thinking back to that tumor 10 years after the diagnosis. So, a happy ending? “At the San Luigi di Orbassano hospital I was lucky enough to find exceptional doctors who managed to save me because the lung amputation operation was very difficult. I am now a long-survivor and have also resumed working in a theatre. Of course I no longer have the same energy as before because with only one lung I have to slow down. The mind goes crazy, but the body doesn’t. I feel like a record that can no longer play at 45rpm but at 78”.
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The help of Poldo and Vera
Carlotta is single, has elderly parents and a brother who is very busy with work: “My illness was a trauma even for them who would have liked to do more, but I was able to count on the help of my cocker Poldo to whom I also clinging to cheer me up. Then he died but now I have Vera, a cockerine that I adopted because the values that guide you in your choices also change with the disease ”.
The commitment to Walce onlus
Carlotta then became a collaborator of Walce Onlus, the association that has been supporting people with lung cancer and their families since 2006. “Walce was created to raise awareness of the increase in the incidence of lung cancer among women, but today we meet with all the interlocutors and offer support to people suffering from this disease and their loved ones on multiple levels and from multiple points of view” , explains Silvia Novello, president Walce, full professor of Oncology at the University of Turin and head of the Lung Oncology SSD of the AOU San Luigi di Orbassano (TO). The commitment to the association was an important stimulus for Carlotta: “Thanks to Stephanie Vallone, secretary of the Association, I came out of the abyss of depression. She then became my caregiver and she made me discover the positive side of what was happening to me. So I became an ambassador for Walce by carrying the messages of prevention around”.
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It was therefore natural for Walce to embrace the docufilm project from the very beginning and be part of it, thanks to the participation of Stefania Vallone, Carlotta’s caregiver. “The patients who turn to us, with whom we are in constant contact, both in their moments of pain and in those of joy – continues Novello – are part of our reality, and being able to transmit their and our sensations on film was a truly precious opportunity that has allowed us to shed light on this issue in an original and touching way”. ‘Oltre il mare’ tells how lung cancer has forcefully entered the lives of Aldo and Roberto – still suffering from the disease – and Carlotta who, although she is cured of it, testifies how an event of this kind can never really stop influencing every part of your life. The film also gives voice to those who experience every step of the disease together with the three protagonists: their caregivers, who offer their support and also experience the impact of a loved one’s tumor on their own skin.
Telling yourself to be useful to someone else
To best tell these three stories, Sanofi has entrusted itself to the professional hands of Rufa, the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, which has given life to a troupe made up of some of the most promising talents among those who have recently completed their careers university. A choice dictated by the need to tell such a complex and delicate theme through a different eye, capable of grasping peculiar nuances and offering an unprecedented perspective on living with the disease. What was it like to participate in this documentary film? “It was a wonderful experience”, admits Carlotta excited who explains: “Both because it gave me the opportunity to testify how important prevention is and in particular to fight against smoking, and because I had a great time with Rufa’s crew as they had a fabulous delicacy. They were three wonderful shooting days that I will remember for a lifetime because it was like telling my story in a very intimate way, so now I’m also very excited, much more so when I was shooting on set because I’m curious to see the result”.
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