Testimonials
Gilda, during her life, showed us that it is not a matter of being exceptional but only of understanding that life has full meaning when at its end it leaves behind an ocean of simple shared love in which those left behind can swim and find relief from the consuming fire of death. don Luca - Turin
Gilda writes.
21/03/2020
We are all locked in the house because this virus doesn't allow us to go out, to go for a walk to have a drink with a friend. It is difficult I know and I say this because I am locked in the hospital. I was diagnosed with a rare tumor above the right iliac crest. Since November I had been experiencing severe pain that came and went. As time passed, I had a visit which allowed me to have an MRI. Upon receiving the results, Mom and I went to the CTO and my experience began from there. I went on Friday and on Monday, March 2, I had the biopsy. I went into the operating room for the first time, and it was a nightmare, because to put the needle in me, they pierced me three times. I woke up and went upstairs and where mom and dad were waiting for me. The next day I was discharged, and from there to Friday of the same week very little happened. On Friday we get a call and they tell us that they are what is this 10 centimeter bag over the ridge. It is Ewing's sarcoma, a tumor that is typical in adolescents but very rare. I think because of the effects the chemo but would do: LOSE HAIR. Those were not good days. On Wednesday of the following week I went to the hospital because on Thursday the 18th I had to have three minor surgeries: laparoscopy, taking marrow from my ovary, and they put a catheter on my right arm so that they could put chemo into me. The days I have been living since Wednesday are endless. All the doctors tell me that everything is fixable, but everything lasts about 10 months. "One thing I always keep in my hands is the Rosary that my grandmother left me. I think it is a protection for me. "
Gilda and the Mountain. March 2020
She had to do an assignment in English, describe a festival, a festival...She began by imagining a walk in the mountains, to Blue Lake, in St. Jacques. She narrates, transposing all that has touched her so far with chemotherapy. (Suffering, giving up hair...)
"We get out of the car, the backpacks are distributed, mine the heaviest load, I would have liked to stay in the car, too much for me, I can't make it...
Then the mountain expert, he tells me one step at a time and we get to the top, I struggle, I can't breathe, I walk, I look at the ground, I sit down....
But here I come to the blue lake...magnificent, deep blue reflects the sky, tells me to think positive and aim High.
Suddenly my backpack I turn around, it's empty...it was full of Food for Feast."
May the Lord be for you, the mountain expert...He is beside you...He feels and sits with you...but He will take you to the Summit.
In reality, Gilda does not describe a party, but already at the beginning of her own journey of suffering she senses that her path will not be in vain and that it will be she who will bring, with all her effort, the necessary for a party that will be held there where the horizons widen to immensity. don Gigi (SdB) - Bra
30/07/2020
Hard to say but I will miss you! Hard because at the age of sixteen I would never have imagined embarking on this path. A long, difficult path but above all it has allowed me to get to know people who make human and familiar even a silent and cold environment not only in the aspect of temperature but also in the presence of big gray machines. This month has gone by really fast , I will miss
this environment, but to have finished this radiotherapy course as well, makes me realize that I am coming towards the end.
A heartfelt thank you to Dr. Anna Mussano who accompanied me by the hand and to all her team, who made me uncork a smile every day.
I promise you that I will carry you in my heart and stop by to say hello. Gilda Cersosimo
28/03/2021
Hi Carmen, I know you have really prayed a lot and I also know it is not a good time for you, but think positive and think when you can go back home, eat together with your loved ones. I am praying a lot for you too, see that you will come out of this soon! (Gilda writes in response to a message sent to her on March 28, 2021)
29/08/2021
"This morning walking down the hallway of the inpatient unit, I see this distraught, exhausted mom talking to a doctor. I walk by and sadly feel' that these are the decisive hours for her son.
I look into the room, slightly, with the door open I see this 10-year-old boy, serene and calm.
Today I thought only about him, us patients who are already suffering because of these strong treatments, because of the side effects, with the mood down, people you might want to see but you can't, you would like to go out with your friends but you can't, you are constrained. To think that this child who actually has a life waiting for her, she's on the edge not even knowing if she's coming out.
Unfortunately' you die of this disease even when the course seems to be going for the best and then even the slightest infection ruins everything. I've been there I was on the borderline between life and death, I remember it very well that night and I don't ever want to be in that situation again, because maybe this time I couldn't make it.
G. you are so strong and I am positive you will make it because we are stronger than this ugly monster and we will enjoy life twice as much as everyone else."
12/10/2021
Hello Cristina and Renato,
I am Gilda the daughter of Paola, I wanted to write this letter, after watching the touching, emotional but above all engaging service.
I decided to write a letter just as Andrea did. Finally through this service I "got to know" Andrea. I think he is definitely a beautiful person, strong, tenacious, forward-looking, thought a lot about the future in a positive way but at the same time he was aware of what he was facing, a monster bigger than himself, and he managed to deal with it.
Seeing his pictures, I fell in love with his smile and his bright eyes. I saw a lot of suffering in his eyes, rightly so, but I am sure that Andrea is better now, he is looking at you indeed he is there near you and most of all I am sure he is still there in that house of his. So, bye Andrea!
Do you know what was the most beautiful thing about the service? It was those times in which he wrote about that daughter, or all the phrases that sounded like they were from important poets but actually all came from his heart. This moved me so much!
Do you know that every night since you told me about him, before I fall asleep, I talk to him, many times I dream about him and once he told me "you will come back to life, on the earth, on the edge of imagination, buried with trees and flowers that, like you, have been stripped of life". And you are probably saying that is the same sentence he wrote on the letter, and in fact when I heard it read, I could not believe my eyes. It is a miracle for sure!
This was the motivation which prompted me to write to you. Andrea if there had not been this service I would still have written to you telling you about this dream that no one knows and no one knows that this sentence I wrote it down and I keep it, because I think he is close to me.
I understand when he said he didn't want to go back to the hospital, that's the part where I understand him the most. Like you said Renato, that when you get out of the hospital unfortunately you keep bringing this bad environment back home. I'm sorry that Andrea had to interface with that psychiatrist, who didn't have the courage to speak up, but especially about those policemen or rather, that policeman. To see how Nina tries an approach to make people understand the very big mistake and to see him deny it and say that nothing happened, that hurts.
I tell you the truth, I one day if I can I would like to be able to read all his written thoughts, because I was surprised by what he wrote and how he wrote. In fact I apologize for my scarcity in writing, but I care so much. I have asked Mother many times to take me to her bench but with the secondary arrival of illness, I could no longer make it. I promise that as soon as I can I will go there very often, also because then I can meet him.
The Lord has reserved so many things for him and he will surely be accomplishing them and will surely be happy and understood. Andrea is in my heart always. [I am so proud of all of you].
I love you. Gilda Cersosimo
29/12/2021
Hello professor, the visit today went badly, I can't resume the drug I had started and the cells I had harvested haven't grown as much. I will resume a chemotherapy that I had done last year and as I go it will be monitored more and more until maybe resuming that drug I had started. I came out today saying, "however it goes I am calm I want to enjoy all the good things in life, however it goes I want to be well and be able to enjoy everything." It was a difficult interview but I know that today I have reached a very high level of maturity and that's okay. I said this thing to the oncologist tears came out but to vent and liberating, I talked face to face with the oncologist and told him these things. Nothing is said yet but I probably know how it will end unfortunately. I now know that I want to do many things and not miss anything. I will be strong and the light at the end of the tunnel I will continue to watch it even though I may know it will go out. (Gilda writes this way to her teachers on the back of the last interview she had with the oncologist in late December.)
29/12/2021
On December 29, 2021, after an interview with the oncologist who had treated her for two years and (that very day) told her that there was nothing more to be done, Gilda lowering her mask (we were in the Covid period) said to the doctor with Paola present, "In July I would have despaired but now I am ready!" She came out of the surgery and after talking to a 10-year-old girl in the oncology day hospital reassuring her that the doctors would cure her because "the doctors here are good!", she wrote and posted this sentence: " Being poised between death and life can be frightening, but getting to the point where you can say how it goes must help you all the more to want to do so many and all the things of that little hope still left that hopefully lasts forever. But if not, it doesn't matter the important thing is to do! ".
They write about Gilda....
"Guild lived two virtues in a special way: faith and hope.
In faith she lived the conviction that she was made to live soon in Heaven, and thus all realities of this world acquired meaning and value in function of that goal. The virtue of hope is not "hoping" that this or that will happen. But it is the anticipation to the present of a future good. There is no point in being in joy because one is suffering and dying. Hope makes one live in the present, today, even immersed in suffering and in the face of death, the joy of the future good that faith says will be encountered. Faith points to the future reality; hope makes one live today the joy of that future reality.
I believe that this was Gilda's spiritual situation." don Ezio (SdB) - Turin.
- I am glad to be able to spread his story to make them understand what it means that God has a plan for each of us and that true life is Eternal life. Rodolfo - 17 years - Rome
- You look at her wrapped in a cascade of golden curls, the delicacy, harmony, grace and beauty of her features, miniature nose, delicate mouth and small face contrast with the great grit that gave her the appellation of lioness. Tenacious from an early age, determined to achieve what she desired. don Bruno (SdB) Turin
- "Light if you receive it you have to give it" what a beautiful phrase Paola is exactly the expression that encapsulates all that guild has given me, hope and energy to want to bring light into everything around me ❤ Adriana - 22 years - Monza
- ❤ Just think that for my high school graduation I asked her for a hand and she was there for me and helped me... she helped me keep calm and do a good exam... I know that she helped me because at a time like that I would have gotten anxious in a terrible way ( I suffer from an anxiety disorder ) and instead even the professors noticed that I was able to stay calm... I love her dearly ❤ Chiara - 22 years old - Turin
- Good morning Pasquale...on 26.04 I will leave for the Camino de Santiago...I will take Gilda with me so that she will protect me along the Way and if you don't mind arrived in Santiago...in front of the Saint's tomb I will leave this image so that Gilda will continue to protect all of us in our journey of life. Sergio - 55 years old - Turin
- One thing I can't conceive though, the fact that people didn't know her but her message came through so strongly, that's something that bho, really! Vittorio - 23 years - Naples
- I feel very close to her, and even during the training campaign this summer, between the sky and the sea, I felt close to her! Angelica - 24 years - Piacenza
- Gilda's strength should be an example for all of us. A big hug. Elena -50 years old - Mexico City
- Gilda taught me that life is beautiful. Benedetta - 18 years old - Genoa
- I was moved right on the words I am now really happy after communion!
Yes yes but I absolutely believe it! That's exactly why I was so moved because just as Fr. Bruno said it was UNIQUE. Chiara - 33 years - Turin - Gilda has been from teacher to teachers. Melanie - 55 years - Amman
- Gilda.... sweetness and determination in the same look.... I am reminded of the essence of love, in its silences, in its looks, and the strength, against all fears, of what if it was not now, will be elsewhere, in a time and dimension we do not even imagine. Carlotta - 56 years old -Orta
- Gilda, writes a friend of hers, left me this great value, her spontaneity, cheerfulness and sweetness. After a chat she answered me with wisdom and purity, not with words but the simple look, with which she told me so many things including that love is the most important thing and there is no time to be afraid of feeling and she taught me to live fully everything. Elena - 22 years - Milan
- I was struck by two images of Gilda as a child: her paddling the canoe as a little girl, and the voice of her daddy saying "Bravo Gilda!", then her as a teenager taking a very acrobatic, stupendous plunge, and then writing, "Was I good?"... I feel like saying to her: yes, Gilda, you were very good, you paddled the canoe of suffering and now you have taken the plunge in God, you were very good and now you can swim in the most beautiful sea, the sea of Love! Sister Maristella - Milan
- Of Gilda I admire her strength and determination in any context but also her deep humility in facing any situation. She more than anyone taught me what it means to fight to the end beyond the obstacles and for that I will be eternally grateful. Gilda is to me today is as if she is my right arm and my scale that helps me get back up in difficult times and lead me even in moments of joy. Dino - 53 years - Turin
- A HANDFUL OF MINUTES. I've known Paola since we were teenagers together at Turris Eburnea, in the Turin office and on sojourns in Champoluc and around the world. Beautiful and deep friendship. Our paths in time diverge and we see each other once a year at the Theologian's Mass in Turin. Years pass, we marry, become mothers, exchange occasional phone calls and photos of our children, amaze each other at how much they grow; that's three for both of us, although Paola and Pasquale beat Nicola and me to the schedule. Gilda therefore, until 2020, I never knew her directly. On March 4, 2020, I receive a phone call from Paola. She tells me about the discovery of Gilda's illness: I am deeply affected, we have not been in touch for so long, what a pain...her daughter..she asks me for prayers. I can only do one thing and I tell Paola. I am in the hospital at that time also for an operation for a malignant tumor. I offer my labors for Gilda. Since that day, Paola and I have "found each other." Exchanges of messages and phone calls, sharing of the heart. I become fascinated by Gilda, how she faces the disease, her beauty, her courage. I tell Nicola and the children about it. We begin to pray for her every day and become attached to her even though we have never seen her in person. Then there is Paola's jubilant phone call about the good outcome of the CT scan. Such great joy. Then further phone call from there and the discovery of the drama of the reappearance of the disease. We tell friends about Gilda and many join in prayer for her. We admire with emotion her courage and her outer and inner beauty. In mid-August, Paola lets me know that they are going up to Bardonecchia for the day: Gilda wants to immerse herself in nature and surround herself with mountains. We are in those days right there. I invite Paola to stop by for a snack. Paola and Pasquale arrive in the garden, we hug, Nicola and I stand in admiration of both of them, tried by grief, but with a tangible faith that makes them serene. Gilda is in the car with siblings and cousins, waiting just before the garden. Paola asks if I want to say goodbye to her. I have longed for this! As we walk to the car I am reminded of Mother Elvira's words, "you are entering a sacred place," Yes I had this certainty that I was about to approach Someone sacred. My encounter with Gilda lasted less than a handful of minutes. We looked fixedly into each other's eyes. I from above the car window, she from below, sitting on the seat. I crossed a very deep gaze, which led straight to her heart, you could have no doubt, that gaze led straight to a big and clean heart, there were no barriers. And as I stared at her, I also felt myself penetrated by her beautiful eyes, all the way to my heart, which felt amazement, mystery, gratitude, it was like drinking from a fountain, and yet it was just a look together with a smile, big, true, serene: of a confident woman, who looking at her was as if saying: I know, you see a sick person, but I am serene because I have Someone next to me who carries me. So leaning a little inside the open window, I whispered to her: thank you Gilda because praying for you is good for me and for that I thank you. More smile, giant. Another dip in the heart. Then departure, with farewells. Back in the garden, I can't help but talk about that look, that pierced heart of mine. The following months, in immense grief, continue to be filled with awe and admiration for us. Gilda's funeral followed wistfully and attentively by all of us streaming, is a triumph of true life. Thank you beautiful Gilda, because we are fond of you and feel you close, you who now see God face to face, intercede so that I and all of us also already have here on earth a penetrating look at reality, a mirror of Heaven, where we will meet together. Chiara - 53 years - Trento
- I ring the bell, they open the door. I go into the room and get my socks, gown, visor, gloves. I start to change. I leave the rest of the world outside. With these gestures of love, I prepare myself to enter the sanctuary where the Lord brings me every day during these weeks to worship him in the suffering of my three friends. To enter into the presence of this suffering is not possible unless accompanied. And every single time, these days, I am accompanied by the blessing that comes from afar and becomes very close to the hearts of Pasquale, Paola and Gilda, the blessing of Father George. So, past the filter zone, I enter the seclusion of isolation, where the presence of the coronavirus has closed my friends. The union of Gilda, Mom and Dad makes them one. One thing united with the outside world, Anthony, Francis, Andrew and Stephen and so many others. United, they walk up the Calvary, fall, rise again. The fruit of the walk, docility, matures. It matures first of all in Gilda. Gilda in those days I saw you smile, I saw you eat with appetite, I saw you measure yourself with bigger and bigger limits, with higher and higher walls. And I saw you understand. Your body understood first, it didn't want to eat anymore. And then your phrase, "to do many and all things of that little hope still left that hopefully lasts forever," took on its full meaning. To do much and all, to surrender oneself to the much and all. Losing oneself in the All. On the last day you handed over to Anthony your light, now filled with sweetness. We find you there, in the All, in the person who is beginning and end, in the arms of the Father. "Now that you are in God's embrace, Gilda, our friend, help us too to turn sorrow into hope, imitating your gaze and your smile. Pray that we may know how to cross the darkness with unwavering trust in the Father of life and with the tender help of the Virgin Mary. Amen" Elena - 61 years - Turin
- Gilda loved the little things of daily life from which she drew joy and zest for life and was able to flood others with this zest for life as well. With her colorful nails and when asked "what do you see in your day or in the people around you," you feel displaced because she saw into and beyond her life.
Gildina (despite being fully aware of everything and the monster she was facing) decided and chose to leave us with her smile. What amazes us most is precisely this, she could have despaired, she could have even simply closed herself off from the world, family and friends...and instead she opened herself even more to life SMILING IN spite of it all. Gilda - 51 years - Turin - A postcard with a pagoda with many red roofs sent by Aunt Lella "so many roofs, maybe they will serve to house so many birds." She was small but her worldview was inclusive, generous and supportive. Raffaela - 60 years - Paris
- A friend of his writes "hi I'm Gilda gave me your number Frank. Can I contact you?" After two hours he was already helping me in a situation with a girl. And I was thinking, how can he be available to others? Doesn't he get annoyed? Vittorio - 23 years - Naples
- A philosophy professor of his: "Lucky to meet you and have been your 'student' for a year. You taught me to have a smile and the will to live even when leading an unequal struggle. I remember your insightful and engaging reports, your irony. Kind and tenacious fighter, lucky to meet your intelligent, intense and curious gaze. Matthew - Turin
- Gilda was a sun.... and is still a sun today, her hope radiating. Adriana - 55 years - Turin
- Barcelona trip. Late plane and she made us appreciate seeing the city at night. She liked to travel at night.
- The difficulties of life (the broken branch with sharp splinters). The ability to rest lightly on top. The predisposition to fly away in an instant. The waiting. Carlotta - 56 years - Orta
- With Gilda, we spoke often when I was also going through chemo and she gave me great strength and energy with her advice and thoughts. I didn't know her very well but from what I saw and felt, she was a great warrior and a wonderful, sunny girl. Sending you a big hug and a wish for a peaceful Easter ☺Diego- 24 years - Laino Borgo
With Gilda we first met in Champoluc, and right away we hit it off, and I had been very impressed by her sunny disposition and her smile.
In spite of the distance, as I was from Rome, we always kept in touch, and although there was no assiduous frequentation, precisely because of the distance between our cities, I always felt and held her as one of the most sincere friends and dearest to me. That is precisely why when I learned of the illness and even more so when it became known that the diagnosis was so tragic for her, I was truly shocked. What's more, also suffering from another serious problem that happened in the family in recent months, I won't hide the fact that my faith began to waver. I asked myself so many questions, "Why does God allow such terrible things to happen? Where is He in these moments?" Which then are the classic questions that man has been asking and continues to ask for centuries. In short, I was just disappointed and angry with Him, even though I kept praying, so much so that until the last I hoped for grace, for a miracle for our Guild.
Just in the last few days, however, something has changed within me ... and particularly just yesterday during his funeral , I understood, my dear friend Gilda, from the beautiful homily of Don Gigi, from the beautiful words of your dad , but even more from his serenity ..I understood that thanks to you, God gave me the sign that somehow I was waiting for from Him in my prayers in recent times .
In fact, my anger turned into admiration for such serenity and slowly also into acceptance for this fate of yours.
And because I realized that you really were called to something bigger and more beautiful. I am so happy to have known you, and to have had such a strong testimony of love for life, which I will always keep treasured in my heart.
You will remain forever with me, just as the memories and all the good times we spent together will remain forever indelible. I think of our laughter, the many chats, the various walks and hikes in Champoluc as well as those simple messages of ours sometimes funny, sometimes profound.
Thank you for teaching me what it really means to love life, to always fight for it, and to accept even the things that hurt us or that we wish would never happen.
Now I am left with the regret and sadness of no longer being able to realize and fulfill those promises we had made to each other between messages but even more so last November when we saw each other again albeit briefly. We certainly did not imagine that it would be the last time we would see each other, so I also consider it all the more a precious gift, and I will never forget it.
Thank you Gilda for crossing my path in life and teaching me to love it even more, appreciating every little thing.
Carlotta - Roma - anni 21
I have been thinking a lot about a particular memory I have with Gilda, all these years of acquaintance bring with them untold moments and it would be difficult to summarize and describe them in a few lines on a piece of paper. The truth is that all of us with Gilda at
St. Mary's we shared everyday life, not those particular individual moments, but all the many normal, perfectly ordinary and for that reason wonderful moments. We shared growing up, children's quarrels, pizzas, evenings spent playing hide-and-seek, afternoons with the ball and then outings, so-called "inciuciuci," in short, all those little pieces of a puzzle that, piece by piece, defined the contours of our story and that will bind us forever through those individual pieces, those summer moments that, you know, for every boy constitute a fundamental part of life, discovering themselves and each other. The first real friendships, the first loves, the crying, because in summer everything is lived more intensely and in those two months every day is lived to the fullest, as if it were the most important.
The very earliest memories I have with her are not such peaceful moments, in fact, I remember as little girls one night she threw a white plastic horse in my face for no reason, or rather, probably for some very valid reason for a two-three year old girl.
And I'm happy to say that as we grew older, when we stopped throwing things at each other, I got to know more and more about the person behind the little girl in that little white plastic horse and learned to appreciate the sunny, spunky girl she became.
Then the other day, while, as often happens to me, I was taking a little trip down memory lane, among the videos of our old shows I found one from back in 2013, in which to entertain our "audience" they had decided to offer a series of skits funny. Now although Gilda has always been a great supporter of ours only from the outside, that year she had even decided to take part in one of those skits.
Since it was a last-minute decision, her idea was to insert herself into a skit that had already been done, inventing a new character, namely Vittoria's hairdresser, who "annoyed" her while she was trying to say her line.
You will understand well that this made no sense and in fact that was what I said, yet perhaps that was what made it so funny that it received a roar of applause.
That moment taught me a great lesson, because I understood that comedy comes from what you don't expect and catches you by surprise, and art should not be sought in the extraordinary, but in small, ordinary, spontaneous gestures.
And it is precisely these gestures that make up the memories I have with Gilda, ordinary days,
beach baths, laughter, which in their simplicity made our summers so unique.
It is an idea that I have carried with me ever since and on which I have built any other performance or artistic moment in my life.
In all these years, in every scene we acted, in every choreography or song we sang, Gilda was always with us, in every video we made for her and every time we went on a stage or silently hummed some group dance in our little room, she was there with us and will be forever.
We will jealously guard each and every memory in our hearts, because what we are is the fruit of the lives with which we went to intertwine ours, and Gilda is one of them. Chiara - 23 years - Naples
Perhaps this is what eternal life is all about.
Not to remain just a memory, but to live inside the words of those who knew us, to walk on the legs of those who walked with us, to continue to look at the world from the same eyes that looked at us at least once and to which we left a mark. And Gilda was able to do this, as a gift. She did not need anyone to teach her how to leave her footprints. It was intrinsic to Gilda to leave a trail of light when she passed, to leave an aura of curiosity around her figure.
She, majestic, was also this Paola, and this is coming from someone who has not lived her since she was born, has not lived her in her entire adolescence, but only in a short part of her life. Gilda did not my pity, she did not want this. Gilda threw in my face a strength and a will to live and at the same time to accept whatever fate had already written that even when my mother was sick I did not see, or at any rate she showed me other emotions, other moods, other kinds of strength. Nefertari - 28 years - Siena
I am Alice, one of the pediatric fellows and a colleague of Jessica, who forwarded me your contact.
I ask you first of all to apologize for not being able to write to you earlier, for a number of situations it was not possible for me. I have been thinking a lot about you and your daughter over the past year....
After the end of the Oncology rotation, I moved to work in an outside Hospital Service and it was no longer possible for me to come and say hello during the various checkups, my shifts were not compatible with your visits. But I kept informed about Gilda through Jessica and other colleagues who remained at Regina. Until December.
By the time I heard, the situation had already precipitated.
Please know that I regretted immensely not being able to say goodbye to her; it is a regret that I will carry with me forever. In a reality where you constantly see children facing situations bigger than themselves, your daughter touched me in a special way.
It was a great privilege to know her, to talk to her, to try to lighten her days of hospitalization, even to be brutally beaten at foosball. I remember stories about summers in the South, some anecdotes from your family, about the house cat....
You were beautiful in those rooms with colorful linoleum walls. Beautiful with a beauty that comes from the dignity and strength with which you faced the cruel and unjust battle of a terrible disease.
The chatter during rounds, the games of foosball in the afternoon, moments of levity stolen from the normal ward routine, are among the circumstances that most gave meaning to those months on the ward.
You taught me to be complicit in stealing opportunities to turn sick time into life time. Alice - 33 years - Caserta
oi Gilda how are you doing?
here all right, everyone misses you, your family, your friends and your whole pack.
Thank you already because you have given me the strength to talk to three people about the friendship or at any rate the relationship I had with them to clarify and also to have my say about things that were no longer going well for me you can feel the difference from having you here with us and knowing that you are up there watching us and making yourself available for any of our reliance I am grateful to have met and seen you live even if only once, I definitely would have liked to know you better but I am content with that May 4, 2019
I'm sure we will slowly get to know each other even in this new way now the hard thing will be to realize and adapt to this new kind of bonding, but we will make it together we love you and I love you so much and every day I love you more, talk to you soon in our new mode ahaha gaia ❤ Gaia - 18 years old - Milan
Dear Gilda, you came into my life ,into my experience. We met at my brother's bench. You were rehearsed ,but beautiful, smiling and above all attentive to all that my brother has suffered .You couldn't wait to see the service of the Hyenas and not only did you see it, but there a miracle....during the broadcast you ran to your room and brought your mom a note...Andrea in a dream had told you a sentence that is a wonderful poem of his. You wrote me and dad a wonderful letter that is in the folder that collects all my brother's precious writings. You Gilda, beautiful, sweet, eyes that know a big heart. You are in Heaven and when I come you have to make me up.... For me you are Light and when I have moments of melancholy and sadness and doubts ,I call you and ask you to be near me...I am lucky because my mom, my brother and now you beautiful creature, my angels who protect me and show me the way. You are there and you will always be there💚❤♥ Cristina - 57 years - Milan
Hi Paola...today Francis gave me the book...I read it all and I can't tell you what I felt as I read page by page....
Endless sadness really... Gilda is missed not only by you but also by me on this other side, she was an important, special cousin to me, I was just waiting for the summer months to come so we could be together since distance separated us!!!
I always have her by my side, she accompanies me every day especially in my bad times she is with me... my life from day to day I face it together with her!!!
She is here... she talks to me and I listen to her... Paola, I miss her so much and I can't accept the fact that she is gone, that she is no longer here with us but I know that one day we will meet again up there!!!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart... Now the book will be put together with the photo, the pillow... They stand next to me and no one will take them away from me....
A big hug ❤ Anna- 21 years old - Castellabate
Hi Gilda, first of all I miss you, this absence is getting stronger, because I no longer hear your laughter, except in the thousand videos I have of you, because yes, I liked filming you or taking pictures of you, and watching them at home made me happy, also because you were my best friend, even if it was for just a year. I still look at those photos and videos, I am grateful and feel lucky to have met and known you. You left me many things, but above all your strength, which I try to imitate, because I also try to be strong like you and not give up. Then I remember "amore miij" as we used to call each other and I will always call you that and you will always be etched in my heart. Then I remember the pranks we played on people or our classmates, we did silly things, but we had a lot of fun, I think I remember everything about you, your curly hair, your golden eyes, your wonderful smile, your little nose, which I envied so much, do you remember? You were indeed a special person, even from your appearance one could understand, because looking at you, seeing one of your smiles, your goodness, kindness, and simplicity were evident. I will always care for you very much. Giorgia - 21 anni - Torino
The following are my thoughts on Gilda last Sunday....
Our memories with Gilda are all good....
Gilda is a sunny girl with long, curly hair until two years ago practically--a blond cloud;
Gilda is a very sweet girl...when she speaks she does so in a warm, quiet voice;
Gilda is the smile herself and when she smiles dimples pop out, she has very long eyelashes and piercing gaze, sometimes I used to look away from that gaze and now I regret it.
After spending a year and a half in Turin continuously, Gilda and Paola came down to Laino last May, Gilda couldn't take it anymore!!! This dream she wanted to fulfill.
Paola informs me that she is in Laino and I invite them to the park xbecause that day, it was May 22, we had decided to spend it there; we had lunch outside under the sun and Gilda was in seventh heaven; in the afternoon Gilda and Riccardo went up the paths and there lying on the net she contemplated Creation: the trees, the mountains, the blue sky, the meadows...I report what Paola wrote to me the same evening: " may the Lord repay you...Gilda repeated to me: today mom a dream the green, the sky...I thank Riccardo from the bottom of my heart, in the evening I try to see where God has peeped, today you have been his emissaries."
Gilda and Paola before returning to Turin take another detour to the park as if Gilda wanted to load up on everything that made her feel good and then relive those emotions in the days she would return home and to the hospital.
Gilda is gratitude personified, and these days finding guys who are gratitude personified is a bit difficult because everything is owed to them. There was never a lack of thank yous with little hearts on every wa of mine when I inquired about her. In this very difficult time for her, our wa's, I won't say they were frequent but we wrote to each other quite a bit, most of the time when I knew she would have to undergo checkups.
I will jealously preserve the vowels she made me, when I want to hear her closer I will listen to her and surely tears will flow but also a smile to think what Gilda was for us. I think she took Pope John Paul II's message literally when addressing young people he said: take your life in your hands and make it a masterpiece; she made of her life not just a masterpiece but a work of art .❤ Annamaria - 50 years - Laino Borgo
Simplicity does not mean banality: the concept takes me back to a summer afternoon when I watched Gilda again here at the lake.
She crosses the door of the Hall, bypassing any pleasantries: conveying serenity, where polite phrases could only prove to be a futile redundancy. There is a double communication: verbal, in her ability to recount "the journey" going beyond her own "self"; being a shining example for those who have faith, being so in her broad social breath.
A secular message of support for the nearby and distant community (in its universal perspective), transforming pain into a journey where one offers themselves by sharing their experience with others.
Therefore, support towards others; making one’s own fragilities a source of salvation for those who live the same present and need a hand to hold, extended to shed light on the darkness.
Antitheses to battles against the 'evils' to be uprooted from one's body. Unceasing wars made up of only the defeated.
Finally, a non-verbal communication: an infinity of gestures full of multiple meanings, capable of referring to ever deeper significations, to be sought in the misunderstanding of a tragic moment. Never shouted; in pure, candid silence.
The proxemics of a mature woman capable of teaching, after being traversed by a life that has shown her the world with its darkest depths. Yet, all this is 'simply' connected to a young girl, subverting any trivial interpretation. The 'simplicity' of being remains marble-like, reflecting the clarity of every gesture expressed by Gilda.
The example traces paths, sowing flowers to be picked and not scattered.
Luca - 35 anni - Castellabate
Gilda was not her illness. The illness took away all that Gilda was not, to leave bare only what she authentically was and is. The Cross is terrible but its good side is that it shows us to the fullest the Crucified One. The Cross flourishes if it is sown of the same soil as Christ. The Cross does not flourish if it is not planted firmly on Golgotha next to Jesus'. The first saint in history the so-called good thief teaches us this. Planted next to Jesus he steals Heaven. don Luca - Turin.
Psychologist and psychotherapist who had followed Gilda describes how she had coped with her illness.
I worked as a psychologist for a period of time with Gilda and saw translated into practice what psychology textbooks are quick to say but, to live, is something else. What are the key points.
First is called acceptance. And acceptance is a difficult principle to understand because acceptance doesn't mean I like it, it doesn't mean I'm happy with it, acceptance doesn't mean it's just so. Acceptance is like this, period. Acceptance is: this is reality. Is it possible not to accept? For sure there are many techniques for not accepting. There is denial.... But after acceptance there is yet another element that I have seen very beautiful and very important to realize in Guild which is the transition to reality management. Reality can be that I like it and that I don't like it, but the management of reality is always up to us. Which means one can be displeased with what happened, with what happens, displeased with the situation, but happy with the management of it. One can always be happy with one's handling of reality, whatever it is. And so if looking at the clips you saw earlier you had doubt, the question, but how does Gilda express joy? But does he not realize the situation? How is it possible to express, and you can see that she is sincere, experiencing her joy by being well aware of the reality. Because the management she did, she enjoyed it. Its management. I am managing what happens just the way I like to manage it. This is a very big teaching. Don Ezio (SdB) - Turin
"Gilda gave me a great gift at the time of her death. She told me from the way she died, words that converted me. I thought that by giving my life for her, the thing was automatic that is, that her healing request to the Lord would happen automatically without having any doubt. Instead, the request made to the Lord was not as I thought because the Lord's will is another and all this made me think that my request was wrong. Thank you for what you said to me by your holy death. It was a true conversion of faith for me. !" don Antonio d'Osasco
"of Gilda, I was immediately struck by her great drive, her eagerness to get to know so many people and to learn and be with everyone a little bit. Being close to her in her last moments when she was still at home, one afternoon while talking she told me about this: she often woke up at night a little because of pain and I asked her, "but what do you do at night," and she says, "but I pray," and I was very impressed! " I pray for two reasons: the first is out of curiosity to see what's next and the second, for young people who are sick like me." Without ever mentioning the prayer for his healing. It was a good lesson even for me who is a friar and who prays precisely, as a friar, a lot during the day". Father Matthew - Carmelite
"Hello, I am Sister Maristella. I am a Benedictine nun and I live in Milan a short distance from the TURRIS EBURNEA headquarters. And in fact, I did not know Gilda personally except through TURRIS who came to ask me for prayers for her when she became ill. And with my whole community, we followed Gilda right closely, step by step, and we were following the various events of her illness. And particularly the last couple of weeks, I was so impressed when I was told that they brought Communion to her in that little room where she lived the last days of her life, and she was able to say, after receiving Communion, I'm happy! There, when I received this news, I was very moved because I understood that Gilda was already living what should be the fullness of our life as nuns, which is to find all happiness in Communion in the Eucharist in Jesus. So, I thank Gilda so much for communicating to us this joy that in life you can experience even through such painful moments like her illness, only by attaching yourself to Jesus. And so now, my way of feeling Gilda close is to receive Communion thinking of her happiness that she lives in the fullness and, do Eucharistic Adoration. I, when I am before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, I feel her close . sister Maristella of the Annunciation - Milan (Benedictine of the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament of the Monastery of St. Benedict) -April 13, 2022
"On Sunday, October 3 last year (2021), I was taking Communion to a mother of a little girl who was hospitalized in Regina Margherita Children's Hospital (OIRM) in Turin on the fifth (Oncohematology ward). In the corridor of this ward, I met a lady, who kindly asked me to give Communion to her and her hospitalized daughter as well. I entered the room, we prayed together, they received Communion and a blessing. This is how I met Gilda and her mother. Even then, despite the short duration of our meeting, one could sense her inner peace and serenity of soul, which is why I still remember this acquaintance to this day. In January of this year (2022) I met Gilda again with her mom and dad. They first passed by Margaret Island on the seventh floor, where I could not get in, because they were waiting for the result of the swab examination. At the positive result, mom with Gilda were transferred to the Covid ward, also on the seventh floor, instead dad, although he was not positive, still wanted to go together with them. I tried several times to visit Gilda with her parents. Of course, with all the precautions, related to dressing - undressing and using PPE: they did not always allow me to hear and see well. So Jesus was even closer to them because they could receive Him in the Sacrament of the Eucharist every time when I passed by. One day Gilda also received the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. Her brother also came and prayed together with us. I remember well one day (January 17) when her father and I, as soon as I came in, started talking at length. At one point in our conversation Gilda intervened with these words, "Are we going to do this Communion?" That is, to say, "The priest came, he brought Jesus, and the most important thing is to receive him!" But, it wasn't over there yet. After Communion Gilda turned to Mom and said that "she is happy." I remember well what, I heard, that to Mother's question, "Are you happy?" Gilda smilingly replied, "Yes!" One day another religious assistant sister Claudia also doing service at SERMIG, so knowing Gilda and her parents came along with me. We sensed and were struck by the deep sense of faith and light of soul that emanated from Gilda, despite the very visible suffering. Her smile and the serenity in her eyes spoke to us of a deep inner peace and happiness anchored in God. We thank God for the gift of faith He gave Gilda, and through her, it became a gift to so many! " Fr. Ihor Holynskyy
