At 32, actress Dani Gondim saw her life completely change after being diagnosed with cancer. She says she initially thought about not making the situation public, but eventually it became inevitable:
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— It has become impossible to hide. I was growing bald, wearing wigs, and my family had to cancel appointments. It wasn’t fair to them. A Saturday (November 29)I decided to post a video talking about the situation. I fell asleep and when I woke up my name was everywhere and my cell phone had several missed calls. I was scared, but then it was good. I received a lot of affection and people understood my absences. I now want to use this visibility to promote blood and bone marrow donation campaigns.
She says that due to the location and size of the cancer, chemotherapy sessions have to be very intense:
— These are enormous doses to try to eliminate the problem. I was hospitalized for a week and received chemotherapy 24 hours a day for four and a half days. This is why the side effects appeared so quickly. Radiation therapy was not an option.
The diagnosis of the disease came a few months after Dani starred in the TV movie “Milagre do Destino,” on Globo, in which she played Marina Alves, a journalist who had to deal with the disease:
— Thanks to the film, I studied everything on the subject, I already knew the whole process, including the insertion of the catheter. All of this helped me to internalize, to understand what is happening and that there is a beginning, a middle and an end. It’s part of life. Life is full of uncertainties and every living person is sensitive to these events. Every moment I think I’m very lucky.
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She, who has never smoked, does not drink and leads an active and healthy lifestyle, recounts how she discovered cancer:
— I always had low blood pressure, but the falls became more frequent. I attributed it to stress, the heat, the travel… At the same time, I had a persistent dry cough, which I thought was due to the stay in Fortaleza (the city where I live). After weeks of coughing, I mentioned it to the pediatrician who took care of me when I was a child, who insisted on imaging tests. I stagnated for months because my control was excellent.
After a while, she finally passed the exams. One evening, he was participating in a parade when he received a call from the doctor:
— I was in the locker room and he called to tell me that he would bring some medicine to my house and that I had an appointment with an oncologist the next day, after more tests. I asked him if I was going to die there, and he told me it was urgent, but that I could march. I did the parade. The next day, examinations showed a considerable mass in the mediastinum. While on my way to São Paulo, I was referred for further examination. I did so and the doctor told me I didn’t have much choice and had to start treatment the next day. I was admitted wearing the clothes I thought I would go for a walk in Ibirapuera.
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