Leukaemia patients let out energy thanks to Inter Campus

MILAN – Rendez-vous was set for 10:00 on Saturday 18 April at Vedano al Lambro Sportpark. But some people were already up and raring to go at 6:00. Like Salvatore, 12, excited by the prospect of playing football again for the first time in three years. He arrived at the pitch with a holdall fit for a Serie A player. No sooner had he pulled on his new Nerazzurri shirt he was straight out there and didn’t stop running until training finished. Nor did any of his team-mates on what was a wonderful morning spent with the Inter Campus coaches. It was as if they had been storing up energy in their young bodies while they fought a long, hard battle with leukaemia. And now that energy that could finally be unleashed through their legs and smiles.

The same smiles that could be seen on the faces of the parents. Seeing their children taking part so actively and having fun playing together, as all children should, meant they were getting better.

After the morning ended, Dr. Marco Spinelli explained: “This is a unique experience for these children because it gives them the chance to get out of the hospital and remember what it’s like to be kids who are free to play and breathe in fresh air. I want to thank Inter Campus for giving our children the chance to experience normality again with days like this.”

The Inter Campus Day is a regular fixture as part of an agreement between the Paediatric Onco-hemotology Centre at Monza Hospital, the Maria Letizia Verga Committee and Inter Campus to help children aged 5-13 with leukaemia who have completed or nearly completed successful treatment.

The project aims to demonstrate that a child who has recovered from acute leukaemia can in most cases go back to leading a normal life and take up sports again.

On Saturday, at the football pitch at Vedano al Lambro Sportpark (kindly lent to us by GS Vedano sports club), our coaches Lorenzo Forneris, Andrea Galbiati and Fabio Perfetti guided 30 boys and girls through a series of enjoyable training activities before capping off a fantastic morning with a rousing match.

24.04.2015