«I created this format fourteen years ago, because prevention in a non-hospital setting reduces people’s anxiety. The effects can be seen. In recent years, we have done over 350 thousand free check-ups.” As, Giorgio Meneschincheri founder of Tennis & Friendsprofessor at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and medical specialist at the Gemelli Polyclinictells the philosophy behind the event, which will be held from 11 to 13 October in Rome, at the Foro Italico. Here the Tennis & Friends-Health and Sport Health Village will open its doors, with over 500 healthcare professionals, who will offer free visits in 54 specialist areas, and, on Saturday and Sunday, the Celebrity Tournament will be held, with well-known names taking part they will compete in tennis and padel. «For the first time the ambassadors will also be volunteers, accompanying the most fearful people – he continues – 62% of the public is female. The screening the most requested are for gynecological and breast cancers. And for the thyroid. Then the metabolic and cardiological check-up. The average age has dropped, it is concentrated between 40 and 60 years.”
“Historical” ambassador, the presenter Paola Perego, who recently told of her fight against cancer, discovered last January. How important is prevention?
«It has always been fundamental for me. Those who say they don’t do tests because they don’t want to know make me angry. What does it mean? You don’t heal yourself. I believe that in 2024 this is an unacceptable attitude. Many diseases today have become curable because they are caught in time.”
It was like that for her.
“Yes. Every year, I do some sort of check-upAfter an abdominal ultrasound, the doctor said there was something to look into and invited me to have an MRI. I would have postponed it but my husband Lucio insisted that I do it immediately, since we were there.”
And what was the result?
«I discovered that I have a two-centimeter malignant papillary carcinoma of the kidney. Knowing this in time meant that only part of my kidney could be removed.”
How did you react to the news of the tumor?
«The first reaction was total refusal. I didn’t believe it. It always seems like the cancer is something that can only happen to others, never to us. Then, I cushioned the news by telling everyone. When someone asked me “How are you?”, I replied “I have cancer”. I needed to say it out loud.”
And the others?
«Many thought it was a joke. Others tried to reassure me, saying “you’ll see that everything will be fine”, and I went crazy, but what do you know? Now that everything is over, there are friends who insult me because I replied “I have cancer”. For many it was a shock. But I didn’t realize.”
In the family, instead?
«I tried to tell my children, playing it down. However, they were very afraid. Even after the operation, when Lucio left for work, my daughter didn’t want to leave me alone but didn’t say so, so she asked me if she could sleep at my place, to give herself a full night’s sleep, without children. In short, as if it were she who needed it, not me.”
When did you really become aware of what happened?
«I did well at the operation, which took place about a week after the diagnosis. The real fear came after the surgery. There I began to process what had happened and the fear returned strong when it was time to plan the first one check. I didn’t sleep the night before. Now I have decided that after every check goes well, we will go to dinner with all the children, in a nice restaurant.”
How was the operation?
«Painful. For a week afterward, I needed morphine. It took a month to get back to normal. Lucio was always by my side, he understood that I needed to talk about what happened.”
He also decided to talk about it publicly.
«Some are afraid to do it, I do it calmly and don’t look for shortcuts. I say, “I had cancer.” This, however, is a word that almost seems taboo. It’s as if things couldn’t be called by their name.”
Events like this also change your outlook on life. What has changed in her?
«Cancer is a sort of watershed, it makes you see things differently, it’s as if you become aware of the vulnerability, the fragility of life. Today I want to travel, do things, take time for myself.”
Has work become less important?
«It had already happened, to tell the truth. I was lucky enough to do television in the eighties and nineties, now everything is different. I don’t have to do it anymore careerI don’t have to prove anything to anyone, I can only do the things I like. When I work, obviously I always do everything to the best of my ability but I know that life is elsewhere.”
So, now how does he open up his priority list?
«I want to see places I haven’t visited. I have traveled a lot, when I was young I focused on distant destinations, thinking that I would visit the closer ones next. Then, for work and many other things, there was no way. Now I’m organizing a series of weekend together with my friends in the European capitals that I have not visited. The first will be Lisbon. I don’t want to put it off any longer, I want to do. I started working again. I get a lot of satisfaction from the radio and there is a prime time television project.”
In the meantime, he shares his story to highlight the importance of controls.
«They are fundamental. Many would do it but they don’t have the chance because public health has a very long time frame, maybe they give you the exam after a year and a half. If it had happened to me, I would have been “screwed”, let’s say. I did the checks, paying, because I could afford it. There preventionHowever, it should be free for everyone.”
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