'Life must be respected and loved': the bitter outburst of a 20-year-old who experienced covid

'Life must be respected and loved': the bitter outburst of a 20-year-old who experienced covid

Today we only talk about coronavirus and underestimate other diseases that, although disappeared from the newspapers, are still present. Even we young people are not immune to Coronavirus and we can get sick or worse still make the elderly sick without even knowing it. Unfortunately it came to my house like a storm and I, I'm not ashamed to say, had covid-19 a month ago but, together with my family, we faced it head on. As a girl of just twenty years old I can't wait for the time when we will talk about it as a misfortune of the past.

However from Covid you don't come out the same. Either better or worse and it is making us understand the importance of a hug, of being together with your family discovering that what really matters are not clothes, the latest generation cell phone, the car but the people with whom you share affection. My dears, every second is precious, time is sacred and the people we love tomorrow may no longer be there. There are those who look at the sky to see a shooting star and make a wish and then there are those who look at it every evening because up there is a piece of their heart. There are many people who need to do chemo, dialysis and are dying because there are no places in hospital because Covid takes precedence. A very dear aunt of mine passed away due to a tumor. Her name was Elisa. She was a pillar, a mother, a sister, a confidant, a friend, an aunt, a rock, a point of reference who always brought peace to my life.

When the world seemed dark and I was falling into the void she always helped and supported me. One day my aunt felt sick. Out of fear we took her to the hospital where we discovered the "bad disease" that was in her. Then the ordeal began in a bedroom invaded by medicines that, in the best of cases, cure one part while ruining another. This is why I say that you have to love your body because it is delicate. Respecting it. Health is truly everything. When it is missing, nothing is the same as before. Each person experiences this disease differently. Some hide it and some fight. Some cry in secret and laugh with relatives. You fight hoping to survive. Unfortunately I know this disease having experienced it first hand with my aunt and grandfather. It is very ugly, it is scary. My aunt was very young and I had a lot to learn from her. She was a chef, she prepared everything and made superlative desserts not to mention her rustic babà. Unfortunately that ugly disease took her away from me.

She didn't deserve such suffering. She always told me not to give up and to move on and I promised her that I will. She stopped suffering and I hope she is fine now but I am more than sure of one thing: in addition to being engraved on my skin, she will always be in my heart. I want to remember her like this... smiling... me and her. One day if a princess were to be born inside me, I will call her like her: Elisa. I conclude with this sentence that she dedicated to me a few months before losing her and that I confirm: "It's true, there are no blood ties to love each other because true love is a meeting of kindred spirits, even distant ones that give light in space and time!".

Maria Laura Imperato