Tathiana Garbin: “I’m back on the court for the match of a lifetime.”
The words of Tathiana Garbin
"When I was diagnosed with pseudomyxoma peritonei, the tumor that originates from the’appendix and affects one in a million, I was ready: mentally and physically. I am back on the court for the match of a lifetime, I want to set an example for my players" said Tathiana Garbin in a lengthy interview with the 'Corriere della Sera' in which she recounted her illness.
"My disease is very rare: I cannot think that fate does not play a role – added the captain of the women’s national tennis team -. My sport helps me a lot. Even on a mental level: I try to bring everything back to a tennis match. Forò the unspeakable pain of the tube inserted while awake and the dry loss of ten kilos of weight have no comparison. I have been watching looped images of my girls on the court: Supertennis sent me a video file that I have consumed. The’importantè to love each other, never lose hope".
"I would like to take back my life, what I always loved, what I always wanted to do. I have touched my strength: I did not imagine that I would contain enough of it to be able to give to others. I am far more resilient than I thought. I feel I want to give away my experiences; I want to put myself in service. The girls from the national team came to visit me in Pisa with a framed picture of us: I didn’t stop looking at it for a moment. We grew up together, over the years they became my daughters, my traveling family".
"They also removed my spleen and I don t have the antibodies that my body is supposed to produce. It s been very difficult weeks, a path full of pain but it can happen: removed the peritoneum, adhesions at the intestinal level can occlude the bowel. In the end, I always manage to get out of it on my feet. &It’s been my life preparing for such a big challenge. But challenges we do not choose them, they come: you have to be ready for them. Having played tennis at a high level, and having taught it (transferring it to others è a key step), has played an important role in this matter" concluded Garbin.
