That day it was blisteringly hot, I had been with my classmates to see a football match but then within those 30 minutes we had to go back to class so I was in quite a hurry ... all of a sudden I was out of breath ... I just remember that I saw everything out of focus, I told my partner that I was sick and fell to the ground ... I recovered quickly I went back to school with the attached reproach of the teachers who naturally did not immediately believe what had happened but took it as the usual "prank" of students a a bit rebellious (at that age he might as well have been!) ... I even laughed and lightly at that illness, but I told my parents who were worried but ... they too associated the illness with the diet of the moment ... in the summer the episode loss of consciousness returned to the sea but, even there, we thought about the heat. Over time I started to have other ailments that occurred mostly at night ... an annoying pain in the chest for a few minutes but for me they were an eternity in fear of hot flashes and your loved ones nearby you worry not knowing what to do ... then everything passed and I felt so tired as if I had just finished a run ... exhausted I went back to sleep! I went with my mother one afternoon to the attending physician, after having visited me she said to me: look here in front there is a colleague of mine cardiologist go to him and he will give you an electrocardiogram ... unaware I went, not knowing that that electrocardiogram would change my life !!! You have a heart problem these values ​​are all "high" you probably have cardiomyopathy, you will have to do other tests, other tests and you will have to start a treatment with beta blockers! I was frozen without saying a word I just had so much anger and I felt so much dislike for that cardiologist who at that moment saved my life ... I went home and cried, cried a lot and those cries often repeated themselves ...
At 16 years old ... when you are told that you have a heart disease, to which there is no solution so you will have to live with it and probably if it gets worse you must also evaluate a transplant ... you certainly don't understand well, you see everything black and the only thing what are you wondering huh? …. why to me?
Each cardiological check-up was torture take 1 pill, then one and a half, then change it, now take only half in the morning and half in the evening ... now take only half ... I did not accept having to take those pills that would be forever !! I hated that doctor but ... after several years following me when I learned of his death I cried a lot and I felt lost ... my heart had accepted him and had accepted him too ... I went to another cardiologist who recommended me a hospitalization in Careggi in Florence where there was an excellent ward for Cardiomyopathies ... it was the year 2002, I left with a lot of fear but I must say that they were all wonderful with me ... from there a series of tests and checks that I do every year: Resonances , Pet, Stress tests, holter, ecodoppler ... every time the fear is so great ... fear of being told that you are worse, fear when you are offered the implant of a Defibrillator as a life saver (here, I still do not accept this today. . in fact for this reason I have not yet decided to say "yes" to that proposal) ... luckily my situation is still stable today. I have a non-obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy ... all these things today, are part of my life, I accepted them, despite the moments of discouragement because those will always be there, despite the fears ... however I find the strength to live and live with my cardiomyopathy.
Genetics tests showed that my father and I have the same mutated gene ... the great thing, paradoxically, is that this has linked us even more ...
The "disease" taught me a lot and for this today "thank you", I learned self-control, because today if I get the pain in the chest, and I am much less since I was advised to add Ranolazine , I can manage my anxiety and my fear because I have learned that fidgeting is useless ... only to increase that pain ...
I learned to travel alone (which I had never done before) !!

Despite the terror of facing an exam and the fear of feeling bad… despite the fact that many times I have toured the beautiful Florence (which I love so much) in tears and finding in these the strength to start again….

I learned not to feel alone, because among the Facebook groups and the AIRCAM Association I noticed that "alas" we are many ... each has its own story, each one its own type of Cardiomyopathy, each of different ages ... men, women, boys and children … There are those who have undergone an operation, those who will have to undergo it, those who ask for advice for a visit, those who have received a new heart…. among these I met some fantastic people who, even though they do not see each other because we are in different parts of Italy, support you and endure you by giving you an advice or that word that lifts your heart.
I learned to listen to my heart, its beats, to stay still when I feel it is getting tired and to be a volcano when it allows me .........

Current fears: one more ... I am a woman, so I instinctively think of a pregnancy and that 50% chance that it can transmit the disease to a child, possibly having the unknown nature of its type of severity ... the fear of not knowing it or being able to face a pregnancy with all the various tests because it will still be a high-risk pregnancy (although I have always been told that in my current condition I could easily face it). The fear of not finding a way to explain to a child that his mother will not always be able to run or that he or she will not be able to do it ... but even here I find courage in you because I know of many very good mothers suffering from Cardiomyopathy ... even c 'is who discovered it after pregnancy ...
Hopes: hope lies only in research which fortunately always goes on… maybe one day you will find a cure, a medicine, an exam, a solution, which can make those who suffer most feel well, make them lead a more peaceful life!
All in all I consider myself lucky, I lead a 95% normal life, like everyone else ...
Today that heart ... I think it is only a "special" heart; our hearts are "special" ... let's love them, heal them, pamper them because life is one and it is always worth living!