"So we fight cancer"

A special day for everyone, doctors, patients, caregivers of sixty associations in 25 countries around the world. Italy again this year has taken the lead, with initiatives in all regions, including Sardinia, simply to talk about gynecological cancers and the strength of the women who fight them. On the island, it was the women of Fondazione Taccia e Mai Più Sole against cancer who took the field and sparked the attention of Cagliari, lighting up the Bastion on a September day, tinged it with purple, the symbolic color of the battle against this pathology. A way to celebrate the World Day against Gynecological Cancer, which falls on September 20 in the calendar.

The winning weapon

An appointment, like others of this kind, which is part of the prevention trend, especially in a period like the present one, marked by the pandemic emergency, which has overshadowed the drama of cancer patients forced to postpone visits and treatments, necessary to keep cancer under control, with all the ensuing effects.

Just think - according to the data in the hands of the associations - that in 2021 there was a 35 percent reduction in screening. "It is necessary to raise awareness among the population because an early diagnosis can save lives", stresses Albachiara Bergamini, councilor of the Taccia foundation and contact person for Sardinia. "Team play makes the difference" and "Life is everything else" are the phrases that ntetize the spirit with which "No More Sun Against Cancer" acts, in close synergy with the Foundation.

The initiatives

The project, indeed the projects of this all-female team, began to take shape in 2013, when - says Bergamini - a dear friend of hers, Giovanna, passed away, who fell ill with ovarian cancer and complained of a sense of loneliness in front of her. the absence of points of reference, explanations, answers, advice, comfort.

Thus Mai Più Sole comes to light, first as a project of the Taccia Foundation and later as an association. the goal is to ensure that women do not feel sick, and indeed it is, "they are tremendously alive", and can help each other, creating a female network.

The power of information

It is the first form of prevention, essential for cancers such as ovarian cancer for which there is no specific screening. It is disseminated through the newspaper www.maipiusole.com, now extended to all female oncological pathologies. The site collects scientific information on the pathology, from risk factors - including the genetic one - to diagnostic investigations and preventive surgery, but devotes ample space to the real protagonists, the patients, who care for the columns in which they tell their experience, which appear in the their video testimonials and who can seek advice from a specialist. Today it has become the reference point for many Sardinian women who, initially, feel disoriented but then themselves become precious guides for other women fighting their own battle. A prerogative of the Mai Più Sole group is, in fact, the absence of labels, not wanting to tell the disease as victims but as proactive women who live with dignity and honor their time.

The data

In our country the most frequent gynecological cancers are uterine cancer (8,700 cases per year in front of a total of 117 thousand cases) and ovarian cancer (5,200), still very difficult to diagnose early, to get to that of the neck. uterus (2,400). It is important that the progress made by research is made known to people, through initiatives like this one, launched in Sardinia on the occasion of the World Day that has been celebrated all over the world for three years (the World Go Day), under the aegis of European Society of Oncological Gynecology and the organization that brings together the various European associations of gynecological cancer patients. It is women who fight cancer and tell their battles, proving that you can also win in the face of the cancer enemy. Among these is Valentina, a young mother and journalist, who like many others found herself having to face this challenge in the dark, between checks and chemotherapy. An example for many women, a point of reference for those who need to be led by the hand in this path, full of uncertainties. During the months of chemotherapy and subsequent hormonal treatment, Valentina does not feel ill once, "but tremendously alive", and discovers that "there are a thousand reasons why it is worth smiling". This is the meaning of the message that comes out of reading her book, "Life is everything else": in the end there can be a happy ending like the one the author reserves for the protagonist, following in the footsteps of her experience. Life lessons that are good for everyone.