Adriana salvia, lung, smoking
Con Amore — With Love
In May 2006, after months of coughing and three X-rays charting what his doctor thought was pneumonia, Giulio Salvia, age 68 years, was diagnosed with stage three lung cancer.
His oncologist was optimistic about treatment, until the discovery of a cancerous growth on his forehead indicated the cancer had spread and forced a change of plans. “It is tough to remain optimistic when you don’t get any good news,” says his daughter Adriana Salvia. She has her moments of breakdown, always outside of her dad’s range. “He needs to remain optimistic to deal with this.”
Giulio quit smoking more than 10 years ago. When he began smoking as a young man, there was little information about its harmful effects. We know now that more than 80 per cent of lung cancer is directly attributable to smoking, but that is little comfort to a man facing his own mortality, or to a family coping with the loss of a husband and father they love. “People think of lung cancer as your own fault,” says Adriana. “There is a real stigma around it, and that is hard to handle on top of dealing with the cancer itself.”
Adriana, her sisters Adelia and Julia, and their mother, Natala, have banded together to support Giulio. Decisions about treatment and care are made jointly, and if one person does not agree, they look for solutions they can all be comfortable with. It comes down to one question, always the same one, says Adriana: “How do we preserve my dad’s dignity in the whole process?”
Adriana has armed herself with as much information as she can on everything from diet to homeopathic treatments to support services the family can draw on when needed. “Maybe it’s selfish,” she says, “I wanted to feel that I had done everything I could to keep him around as long as possible with the best life possible.” When Giulio reached his limit for radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatments, the family decided to try IV delivery of high doses of Vitamin C at a private clinic. “You need to do whatever you can, and we felt this could not hurt,” Adriana says. “At least he’s not catching any colds!”
The family hopes Giulio will get strong enough to go for physiotherapy and perhaps regain his appetite. They would like to alleviate the terrible cough that keeps him awake at night and wracks his body to exhaustion. They would love to see him laugh, enjoy his grandchildren and stop thinking about the spectre of his own death. They are talking about making funeral plans now, so that their mother is not overwhelmed with details later.
They are showing their father every day what his life has meant to them, and coping as best they can, given the circumstances.
Giulio Salvia died in Edmonton on September 16, 2006.
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Adriana Salvia with a photo of her father Giulio Salvia. Giulio was diagnosed with lung cancer in the spring of 2006.
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