PALERMO (ITALPRESS) – The ARNAS Civico Palermo Oncology Pole will participate non-competitively tomorrow in the Palermo International Marathon to remember Vita Leonardi, an oncology physician who recently passed away. Doctors, medical staff and patients will take turns in a relay race along the route of the footrace. The initiative, reads a note, is supported by the Strategic Direction of ARNAS, the Municipality of Palermo and Rotary Palermo Est and was realized thanks to the sensitivity of the Marathon Organizing Committee and the active contribution of Confcommercio Palermo. “The Palermo Marathon,” says Pierenrico Marchesa, director of the Oncology Department ARNAS Civico Di Cristina Benfratelli of Palermo, “represents a significant event of social aggregation and enhances the inescapable combination of Health and Sport. The latter is not only crucial and fundamental for the adoption of correct lifestyles of the general population, and therefore for prevention, but also acquires strategic importance for those who face the challenges of the disease and, above all, for cancer patients. The WHO – World Health Organization itself, notes for people with Cancer, the benefits associated with maintaining a sporting activity, of course taking into account the individual clinical situations of each person. Physical activity can support treatment and mitigate the side effects of cancer therapies. Preserving physical function, in fact, makes it possible to counteract so-called fatigue and improves patients’ quality of life overall. Keeping active for these people also means envisioning the horizon of coming out of the dark, that is, persisting with tenacity and with confidence in treatment, remaining anchored to a pseudo-normality in their daily journey, even in such complicated moments when “Ego meets frailty.””‘The Oncology Pole… runs for life,'” he adds, “represents our testimony to this initiative and underscores the value of the sport-hope pair for those who need special psychological support, such as is required of those who face the challenges related to neoplasms, retracing a high road already trodden by a colleague who recently passed away, Vita Leonardi: a doctor and a sportswoman who fought and worked, as a patient herself, with generosity for other patients until the end of her days. Sport also allows us to move forward culturally toward an inclusive goal for all by reminding each of us that: ‘If it is true that fear is contagious, so is hope. Only when we run WITH others and not AGAINST others do we achieve great results just as the doctor/patient care relationship should not be reduced to a monologue but rather a team game.””The commitment and contribution of participation of ARNAS Civico in the Palermo Marathon through the Department of Oncology,” emphasizes Walter Messina general director Arnas Civico Di Cristina Benfratelli of Palermo, “represent a moral tribute to a woman, a professional and a medical oncologist who embodied a message of light, strength, enthusiasm and self-sacrifice, valuable for the entire staff, but also for other patients, and this will always be a source of pride and emotion for this company.- Palermo Marathon poster, ARNAS Civic Palermo press office -(ITALPRESS).
