From our partner Irene Tarragó
ATTITUDE
A person’s life revolves around their attitude toward life. I am convinced of this.
Because even in the worst, most difficult situations, there are people who face them differently. Even if that person’s environment has been one of poverty or marginalization, we always see people who question why things are the way they are, who rise up and fight for a more equal situation for their group, town, or country.
The same thing happens with everyone’s personal situations. When faced with a problem, whether economic, health-related, or something else, we find people who throw in the towel at the first opportunity, whose situation doesn’t allow them to react, and who gradually sink without the ability to face the situation. In these situations, it is essential to have a strong and healthy environment. An environment that doesn’t blame you for the situation (often you are the first to do so).
Support, being there, is essential for a person with a problem to react and show a determined attitude toward solving it or facing it head on. Because when, for example, you are diagnosed with cancer, your world falls apart. I haven’t been diagnosed, although I do have lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS). This carcinoma is a rare condition in which abnormal cells form in the mammary glands (lobules). LCIS is not cancer. Receiving a diagnosis, however, indicates that you have a higher risk of developing breast cancer. So, combined with my family history (my sister: breast cancer and two lung cancers; my father: lung cancer; my brother: lymphatic gland cancer), this is something to keep in mind and carefully consider.
Support, being there, is essential for a person with a problem to react and show a determined attitude toward solving it or facing it head on.
Although this diagnosis left me somewhat disconcerted, I can also tell you that due to the doctor’s own attitude when he told me, it was less shocking. He made everything seem easy. I’ll have to do a test (a mammogram with contrast) to decide which technique will be used to remove everything that’s wrong with it. All this June, I’ve been undergoing diagnostic tests, including the biopsy and, finally, the diagnosis. Now I’m in the final decision phase. So, I’m still waiting for the test I mentioned before, and I think the surgery or mini-surgery will be in September.
What I’m getting at is that someone looking at me from the outside might think I’m already feeling so downcast, but it’s never, ever occurred to me to think I was a wretch because I already have two chronic illnesses: epilepsy and hemochromatosis. I hate hemochromatosis more because keeping it at bay is taking its toll on my veins, since it’s controlled through bloodletting. We haven’t made any progress there. But it’s very, very manageable. That’s why, when this latest diagnosis came, I thought: “I’m almost finishing the album. I’m getting all the stickers.” But nothing more. My friends ask me how I’m doing, and I tell them the truth is, I’m not worried at all, among other things because I’ve learned that worrying is pointless.
Also, I’ve recently come into contact with the ALS world, having met Jorge Murillo Seral and, through social media, Jordi Sabaté Pons, and I think they’re two incredible people, literally fighting to live. I think we should all do our part to ensure the promised financial aid reaches them, because they don’t have time. It’s a shame that whether or not they die depends on the patient’s financial situation. These two Jorges seem brave to me, activists for the rights of all ALS patients. They, who only have their eyes to express themselves, do it much better than many others, and they’re still there, with all the sense of humor they can muster, fighting every day for their lives. And I, am I going to complain? How embarrassing!
Hugs to everyone. And always with our eyes up and the courage to keep moving forward.
Irene Tarragó Pascau
