Reborn at 41. After the darkness of a crash on the road to the sea, the silence of a coma, and a slow and arduous period of rehabilitation. A true feat possible only thanks to the strength of Michela Ladu. "I'm a miracle," she describes herself. And seeing her like this, full of energy and enthusiasm for life, one can only think of a true miracle, one in which the excellent care at the hospital in Sassari and at the Santa Maria Bambina in Donigala were crucial. Today, three years after the tragic accident on the road to Torregrande (in which she lost her fiancé), Michela has written and published her first book, "Come sono adesso," a collection of poems that become a hymn to life.
The story
Michela Ladu, a 44-year-old from Oristano, has always been passionate about poetry and philosophy. With a degree in Communication Sciences, she collaborated with several newspapers during a period of life in Sicily, before returning home. She led a normal life like all her peers until that accident, which inevitably marked a before and after in the lives of Michela and her family. "I don't remember anything about that day," she repeats. A blackout that, starting from that Sunday in October, lasted for over a month. "I can't feel my soul; it was lost in a wood after a crash," are some of the 48 poems in the book. Michela recounts being in a medically induced coma in Sassari hospital for a month. "I'd like to thank the nurses and health workers in Sassari, but unfortunately I don't remember anything from that time," she says. "I even have a photo, but I have no memory of it." The lights were turned back on at Santa Maria Bambina in Donigala, "where I started living again," she explains. "From that moment on, I have memories and a life again."
The effort
Since then, a long, slow recovery has begun. "Sometimes I thought I wouldn't make it; it was incredibly difficult to recover, but I'm here, I made it," she smiles. In addition to treatment, "speech therapy" was crucial," she explains. "I've always loved singing. I used to take singing lessons, but unfortunately, the accident took my voice with a paralysis of my right vocal cord." Then rehabilitation with the speech therapist worked its first miracle. "When I did exercises, my voice returned, even better than it is now, which is rather feeble," she says. "I hope to find it again; one of my dreams is to be able to sing again." The other miracle is the new love she found right here at Santa Maria Bambina. "Salvatore is another gift of life," Michela smiles. "We were both hospitalized, we became friends, and then a very deep feeling was born." Mei, a 53-year-old former electrician from Bosa, follows her everywhere and encourages her in her daily challenges.
The book
The other secret to Michela Ladu's rebirth is poetry. "I've always loved writing. When I was hospitalized, I wrote on my cell phone," she recalls. "It was a medicine that never left me." And so the book (published by Aletti) was born, a collection of 48 poems "written over two consecutive nights. They recount the struggle of these last three years," she explains. "They describe, to quote the title, just how I am now, with my feeble voice, my poor balance, my pain, but also my new love, the constant presence of my mother and father, and my twin sister." A book that teaches us to appreciate the "value of little things and every moment."