Salvatore is an artist. Salvatore is an engineer. Today, Salvatore teaches Interaction Design and cross-media practices at the Faculty of Architecture of “La Sapienza” University of Rome.
But when he was 39 years old, Salvatore Iaconesi stood in front of a doctor who said: “You have brain cancer.”
Emotions and questions
Shock. Disappear. All Salvatore’s emotions.
And many questions, because as he said in a touching TED Speech, he knew nothing about the disease. He fearlessly climbed the most popular scene and told us “what happened when I open-sourced my brain cancer“.
“People start dealing with the deases insteed of a human being. They say ‘What do the doctors say?’ before saying hello!”
The most important transformation is what makes you a patient, says Salvatore. He asked himself if he could work again. If he could love again. If he’ll be studying again. Then he came out of this state of mind and decided to do more.
“How to cure my cancer?”
To this question, Salvatore added a nuance that led ultimately to healing. “How to cure me as individual?” is actually the starting point of a website, La Cura / The Cure, where he gathered a community that has given half a million answers to this problem.
“Toghether we were able to form a strategy for my own in many languages and according to many cultures.”
No Pity
This kind of opening to a delicate subject make it easier for everybody interested in the subject to take part in discussions. “Doctors got to talk with the people they don’t ussualy consult when they think about cancer.” And precisely from this combination of traditional and conventional approach came out a result that Salvatore Iaconesi announced with great satisfaction: “I am fine”. Now, you can be a part of the movement that Salvatore’s experience started by reading his book – “La Cura“.
What he learned
Cancer is a terrible disease. There’s no doubt. But in some cases, the society can react beautifully with a sum of individual responses that can make the difference.
“The most important thing of La Cura was to feel as part of a really engaged and connected society”.
These are the words of a man who was cured of cancer. We have to believe him.
And we have to see him Live. Salvatore Iaconesi is one of the speakers at the ICEEhealth, one of the ICEEfest’s satellite events this year. Untill then, you can watch one of his keynotes at TED.
The best price available for ICEEhealth is here.
