“What if life was a lot simpler than it is?”
The quote we chose from the book contains its ultimate meaning. The value of life. Knowing how to appreciate the small daily annoyances as a blessing, and not take anything for granted. Be aware, at any age, of the riches you possess; and this can be expressed in the areas of health, family affection, a warm bed.
The author tells his personal story, with the joy of someone who has made it, it is no coincidence that the text starts from the end of the story. The happy ending that allowed us to analyze and recount the tortuous path that the protagonist had to go through to reach the final goal.
Thirty-eight years old, Milanese, bookseller (and not only) in a well-known used book chain, married and happy, life focused on the near future. A balance between fulfilled dreams and expectations known to many of us, until he is diagnosed with blood cancer.
The order reversed. The beginning of the end like a long viaticum greeted by hospitals, doctors, other sick people who didn’t make it, chemo, crisis.
The love of the family, his inner strength and a good dose of luck (as he himself says in the book), will allow Marco to find the courage to have a child, with the risk of leaving him an orphan even before he is born, when he returns to a new life, after receiving a transplant: hence the title of the book.
Going beyond the usual clichés, Marco’s story is an important testimony of someone who, in addition to medical care, outside of the hospital setting, has also had to swallow pills of wisdom that have expired years ago given by acquaintances or colleagues to elevate themselves to specialists even in fields outside their perimeter. Perhaps these were the bitterest pills.
The writing of the text is deliberately simple and flowing, not at all convoluted, along the lines of a blog, with pages and sections then put together after years
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Marco Dell’Acqua, I was born after my son, Laurana, Milano, 2021