VILLA SAN GIOVANNI (ITALPRESS) – Forty-three minutes to cross the Strait, first touch the Calabrian shore and deliver to the crossing a meaning that goes well beyond the sport result. Federico Bertolucci, 36-year-old Tuscan, was the first to reach the coast of Cannitello, in Villa San Giovanni, at the end of the solidarity event promoted by the Ail and organized in collaboration with the Traversata della Stretto Amatoriale. A great satisfaction for him even if the real goal of the day is enclosed in the value of the initiative: to transform each bracelet into a message of hope for those who are fighting against leukemia and for the many people who, every day, expect a new possibility of care. Federico crossed the approximately three kilometers of sea between Torre Faro, in Messina, and Cannitello arriving before the other participants.
A result that rewards his preparation and experience in water, but that inevitably takes on a different meaning, because that distance, for him, was not only a proof to go: it was a distance between a past marked by the disease and a present in which to return to live fully.
Federico’s history begins almost by chance in 2024, a routine blood control, carried out without particular worries, reveals abnormal values. They follow the investigations, the questions, the waiting and finally a word destined to suddenly change the perspective on his life: leukemia. The therapy began in May 2024. Federico, however, did not let the disease take control of his everyday life, continued to work and travel often for work and, as far as possible, to keep alive the relationship with sport.
Water, moreover, is a constant presence in its life for over 18 years. Swimming and polocy have always been part of his personal journey, a passion but also an important component of his balance. And it is precisely in the water that today Federico chose to celebrate his rebirth. The departure from Torre Faro opened the crossing. Then the currents, the fatigue, the regular rhythm of the arms and, after 43 minutes, the contact with the Calabrian shore. Federico arrived first of all, conquering a sporting satisfaction that does not hide, but which considers only a part of the day.
Because the time spent and the primacy on arrival count, but are not the essence of this crossing. Present at the event also the president of the Ail, Pino Toro, witnessing the commitment of the association in the awareness and support of research on hematological diseases and Federico Bombaci, national manager of Ail patients.
-Photo xs9/Italpress-
(ITALPRESS).
