Today we would like to tell you the story of Sonia, a woman from Latin America who came to Italy to defeat cancer.
We met Sonia for the first time a few months ago as part of our activities for labour integration of migrant citizens: WORK 4 INTEGRATION – EUROPE.
Sonia applied for a vocational training course and, during the interview, she shared with us her history and the tumour has led her to Italy.
In her home country, the doctors said that she would have a life expectancy of only a few months, but she didn’t resign, she quit her job and decided to undertake the journey to Italy, to try to get better and life-saving treatments.
In her home country, the doctors said that she would have a life expectancy of only a few months, but she didn’t resign, she quit her job and decided to undertake the journey to Italy, to try to get better and life-saving treatments.
She started looking for training and job opportunities and came to us.
After starting a training course, Sonia immediately showed great interest in the activities and a growing happiness for the fact that, within a few weeks, she would be joined in Italy by her husband and her eldest son, that she didn’t meet during the entire period of treatment.
About a month after the beginning of the course, however, we noticed that Sonia was very thoughtful and often didn’t participate to the training. One day, caught in a moment of discouragement, she shared with us in tears that she had received a new diagnosis of cancer and she needed urgent surgery.
It was late January 2020 and Sonia had been noticed by a company interested in hiring her for a short internship and then – hopefully – with a job contract.
However, due to her deteriorating health conditions, this was no longer possible.
Visits, checks and therapies quickly pulled Sonia into the hospital vortex. With her entire family here in Italy, her husband speaking only little Italian and two children used to a medium-high standard of life in their country, Sonia began to face great economic difficulties.
Through the Work Is Progress, that supports cancer patients and their caregivers from a legal, psychological, and social point of view, we are supporting Sonia in this particularly difficult time of COVID emergency.
Sonia doesn’t know when she will be able to have surgery and each week that goes by, she knows that her disease is advancing.
We are therefore supporting Sonia in dealing with the psychological and economic and social situation, directing the family to services that provide answers to essential needs, with food parcels and income support measures.
To speed up the entry of Sonia’s husband into the job market, we have enrolled him in an Italian school, in this period of emergency, holds remote lessons.
We will continue to follow and assist Sonia and her family, hoping that she will soon be able to undergo surgery and regain her training and work ambitions.
We will be there. We know very well that we need to resist, today more than ever: #letskeepittough
With the support of the Fondazione di Comunità Milano Onlus #fondazionecomunitamilano #bando57 and Fondazione Canali
