«Dear doctors, I wanted to thank you for everything you have done all this time for me. You made me feel at home and even gave me a few moments of happiness despite my situation. By now you have become a family to me, a family that I never had but that I have always dreamed of and you have made this dream come true for me”. Thus begins the letter that a 13 year old boy he wrote to the doctors at the Santobono Pausilipon children’s hospital in Naples, to whom he was entrusted pending his transfer to a reception center for minors. He alone in the world, a young life already marked by suffering and abandonment, but an example of courage and optimism, with a proud look towards the future. The page written in his handwriting and his words that point directly to the heart have been published on the social profile of the Santobono Pausilipon Foundationbecause it is a “letter full of beauty, love and gratitude from a child who has already seen all the ugliness of life and who is grateful even when he receives an unexpected gesture of simple kindness”, and because “the stories like yours, stories of the unseen must surface. We are all responsible for what happens to our children, to all children. Even to those we don’t know and whose destination we cross without paying attention,” reads the post, which concludes: “We all fell in love with this beautiful boy 13-year-old boy to whom we would like to return all the beauty and all the love that the adults who should have protected him have deprived him of”.
“Never forget you”
Because in the place where so many children and their parents struggle every day, interweaving suffering and hope, often what makes the difference is precisely the bond of affection and trust that is created with those who care for them, splendidly witnessed by this story. In the letter, the 13-year-old girl thanks “even the nurses who have always been kind to me, even when she didn’t deserve it,” writing: “You have helped me grow, mature and above all to understand that even in the ugliest things there is always good.; There are no words to describe all the good I feel for each of you. I thank you infinitely for everything and I hope you never forget me even if I leave, you will always remain in my heart and I hope I have given you some satisfaction. I really love you very much and although I am sorry to leave here and I am going to miss you very much, I understand that that day will have to come and I promise that I will face it with great strength and courage and that I will not forget all the teachings that you have given me.
