Giorgio's Story

Giorgio's Story

Giorgio was born in Erba in 1946. He is a retired architect living in Erba, in the province of Como. He has a wife, 4 children and 3 grandchildren, and is part of a large family of 60 close relatives.
He likes cooking for friends and loves mountain walks.

In 2012, after a routine prostate check-up, Giorgio followed his urologist's advice to have a biopsy done, just for prevention. As a matter of fact, in that period Giorgio did not feel any discomfort or pain.
The test showed that tumour cells had formed in the prostate tissues which, until then, had been "stationary", i.e. had not grown to form a tumour with clear symptoms. George therefore had to undergo periodic examinations to see that the disease did not progress. But in 2013 this happened: the cells began to expand, and action was needed.

On his doctor's advice, Giorgio had to decide whether to proceed with simple radiotherapy or to resort to surgery to remove the tumour tissues, accompanied by a cycle of radiotherapy. Just when he was about to opt for the first solution, Giorgio accidentally learned from a friend that the CNAO of Pavia treated tumours with a new technique called hadrontherapy, which was effective and had side effects much less severe than traditional radiotherapy. Giorgio thus contacted the centre of Pavia and sent his medical records to find out if they could do something about his tumour.

The doctors' response was positive: Giorgio's disease, which was high-risk prostate cancer, could be destroyed with hadrontherapy, but it was necessary to wait some time. In fact, in those very weeks, the CNAO was adjusting the method to treat high-risk prostate cancer, which, until then, had never been treated by the Centre. For Giorgio the "right moment" arrived in June 2014, when he underwent a 4-week cycle of hadrontherapy. The treatment was successful, and today the cancer is defeated. Giorgio makes follow-up visits every three months.

About his experience at the CNAO Giorgio says: "I felt really good. I met competent doctors and, in general, a staff made up of trained, young people attentive to the needs of patients, also from the humane point of view. The diagnosis of cancer surprised me because I had not feel strong symptoms and I had not realised how severe the disease was. I was lucky because I had an early diagnosis and learned, accidentally, of an effective therapy for my disease, with side effects much less severe than radiotherapy. I'm surprised so many doctors don't know about hadrontherapy".