Yamilet Blanco is a young woman who, despite her illness, breast cancer that she has practically overcome, is full of life, hopes, dreams and projects, along with her beautiful daughter, who is the “engine of her life.” ”. Fate wanted her, along with her friend Dulce Afonso, to cross paths at the Santa Cruz Day Hospital and share her story with us.
Yamilet fights against what she calls her “illegal squatter” in an admirable and exemplary way, with the hope of seeing the light of life and the colors of nature again. She is an example that you can defeat the “evil intruder” with a positive attitude, with the love of families and with chemo and immunotherapy treatment. It is her message of hope that she sends to all those people who suffer from this increasingly less deadly disease thanks to medical research and prevention.
People like Yamilet Blanco and her soul friend Dulce Afonso, represent the human and moral values that make you reflect on a totally better and different world than the one we had previously known, at the beginning of the 21st century, characterized by inequality, materialism and predatory ambition.
Yamilet highlights the importance that her friend Dulce Afonso has in her life: “She is Dulce, and as her name indicates, she is one of the sweetest and most magical friends I have. Our story began around 2010, marking the exercises to get my body in shape and, 13 years later, he is still by my side helping me with that and everything else.”
This feisty woman confesses that “chemo days are days of mixed feelings, of uncertainty, I want but I don’t want to… Every Monday (in this case Tuesday), one of my guardians takes and frees her day for me, to be available, to take me , bring me, accompany me and make me laugh and enjoy as only they know how. It is love, which is the basis of everything.”
“Each day of treatment at the HUC – he details – begins at 8:30 in the morning and ends at 8:30 p.m.; it is a full day of marathon: analysis, breakfast at Makika, return to see the oncologist who would be replacing mine. (spectacular doctor, although I missed my doctor Ceballos). The analysis was perfect, I had three chemo scheduled without revision that had to be modified due to last week’s event, and although it would have been the most comfortable, I feel more protected if I can see my oncologist and they continually do tests because this It’s like a roller coaster. Lunch in the Port, snack with my @msmagdalena28 and return to the HUC because at 6:30 p.m. I reconnected to life.”
While she was connected, with her friend Dulce at her side, a couple passed by who were already leaving. “The energy they emanated together was brutal; They are one of those people who make you want not to let them escape. He was Rafa and her partner was Candela. They told us that since that morning they had noticed us and the unusual and contagious laughter that can rarely be seen in the room on the fifth floor of the HUC. In this plant – Yamilet continues – smiles are rare, well. What is common is the sadness that is reflected on the faces of patients and their families. After a short talk, we realized that Rafael and I have a very similar view of facing our transient friend. Attitude is the basis of any difficult process and he and I already know that this is a battle that we have won.”
The story of his daily life is an example of struggle and love for life. “Since I put on the glasses of looking at life with love, everything seems beautiful to me,” says Yamilet. “And in every second of life I find something beautiful and interesting. Even from the moments that may seem most uncomfortable in life, I manage to grow and act in the way that one day I couldn’t and that I now choose to change.” With very high morale, she emphatically states: “I like life, I like living it, I like managing it, I like the people I have by my side, I like my friends; In short, I love life and I like to live it.”
However, he recognizes that “there are times when chemo begins to wear off, when there is no respite. But I also look at her with love, thanking her for taking me against the shadows, to the deepest part of me, to look at me with love.” “I love myself above all things,” she confesses emotionally. “This transitory friend has come to show me that by being my priority I can give healthier love to myself, but also to those around me. Look at life with love and it will return the same look.”
Without losing her beautiful smile, Yamilet Blanco assures that “by fighting hard, having a positive attitude, receiving the support of your family and treatment, there is life, light and many possibilities of defeating the illegal intruder of cancer. I recognize that it is not easy, but it is not impossible to emerge victorious from this battle.” “For me,” she concludes, as a headline, “cancer has been an opportunity that has made me smile at life, so I want to convey a message of positive attitudes toward a disease that can be defeated.”
