A letter, a reflection, a thought that tells the pain and the deep bitterness.
These are the feelings that leak from the letter from Giorgio Cuffaro, the pediatrician who revived little Leonardo after the accident on Easter afternoon, making his heart beat again. He addressed him directly, now that he’s gone, with a sort of posthumous reflection. A letter reporting «La Tribuna di Treviso» which is a knife pointed at an irreparable wound.
«I didn’t waste a moment, you know? When I realized you weren’t breathing and your heart wasn’t beating, I picked you up, secured you, quickly essed and started maging and ventilating without wasting a moment, as per the guidelines. Your dad told me it was only seconds after the accident. How lucky, I thought. I was confident. I tried my best, you know? At that moment you had suddenly become my patient, indeed, my patient and I your pediatrician. And to my patients, believe me, I always try to give my best. To tell the truth, you were a bit patient and a bit like a son because with my patients, generally, I don’t feel like crying when I take care of them and with you, at times, I had to hold back my tears and concentrate on what I had to do do, because it had to be done immediately and well, and so it was».
Giorgio Cuffaro also remembers having approached Marco Savian, the father, and having held his hand.
“I know he needed it, you needed it, we needed it. We forced each other until the ambulance arrived. Everything really seemed to be going well but, unfortunately, something had already gone wrong, and I didn’t know it. You don’t know what I would have given to really save you and one day, maybe, yes, be able to hug you. Or watching you play, run, jump, even if only in silence and from afar. My only great little consolation is having given you and your wonderful parents some time to talk to you, caress you, pamper you. I’m sure you, with them, had a good fill of Love, after our meeting».
In addition to the pain, an appeal, the hope “that our politicians, in their catch-like programs, will find space to make first aid courses mandatory and widespread, from lower secondary schools onwards” so as to be able to spread as much as possible first aid knowledge. And then the signature. “Your pediatrician. Doctor George.”