Marco is a cheerful man from Italy, our friendship goes far back. We met as students through international students’ association called AEGEE. At that time he was a handsome, crazy party animal who would drive to the other end of Europe for a good nocturnal fiesta! He had ideas like: “Come to Romania with me by my motorbike!”

Enjoy Ur Lives fully without thinking too much of what we do not have… think about what We ARE…Alive!

We were always fond of each other. He would show up in Ljubljana saying: “I came to give you a French kiss, baby!” Or once he told me there was a new small restaurant in Ljubljana where they served delicious Italian food. We met at a parking lot and walked in circles for 5 minutes. As I was about to protest loudly he took me to his new camper which was parked a few meters away and inside there was delicious four-dish-dinner which he cooked himself. When I was expecting my first child, he sent me a package with many beautiful gifts: books, cards and a golden heart saying: “Nothing surpasses mother’s heart!”

I was struck when one day I heard of his traffic incident! A car hit him as he was riding his motorbike. It was a small miracle he survived, but his spine was fractured I don’t know how many times. Marco, who had always been a sportive, well-shaped man, was told he may never walk again.

After that he surprised everybody (and keeps on surprising us) with his positive spirit and good will! He took this as a new challenge and approached all pain and difficulties always believing in best possible outcome. He engaged in many activities, therapies, and sports such as archery and kayaking. He has had some remarkable successes in archery and is seriously thinking about participating in the next paraolympics in Rio de Janeiro.

I laughed when he told me about his first competition in archery. He said: “I came there to shoot with all the para champions. It was the second time I was shooting with a bow and I won!! I guess it was a coincidence and a lot of luck to get all those points, too many points! Even my instructor kept on saying: “Hmmm, sheer luck! Sheer luck!” “

I wished to tell his story. I admire this man’s unbreakable spirit. He possesses incredible life force and is using it to his benefits day by day, every small step after another. He makes us all laugh with his jokes. Regarding this, he inspires me to be like him!

He kindly agreed to write a contribution for my blog. He wanted to share with us a simple thing which we usually do not think about, but to him it was so important: sneezing!

PAIN by Marco

What is pain?!

Depends on the sensibility of people…everyone has got a limit to it…and after some experience it changes (the sensibility to it).

After the crash as I was lying in the ditch in the middle of brambles waiting for the helicopter, looking at the soles of my feet cause my back was folded as a book in the wrong way, I guess I put my limit of standing the pain a bit up to a new level. I was really happy when those angels (staff of emergency) arrived and started putting morphine into my veins and a bit less happy when its effects wore off later on. The doctor who saved my life said I was so so close to dying, so in that moment the idea that I may not be able to walk again was not so bad…I was still alive.

Then some bad days of not sleeping because of the pain and starting to be more and more conscious of the fact that something had changed hopelessly. It was hard not to sleep for 3 days having in the mind the scene of the accident. I was thinking: “…so that’s really happened!!!”

It was my first hospital experience – I had never had health problems before- and the worst thing was not the fact that I had to stay in bed all the time, waiting for the nurse to come to help with all my physiological needs or just to turn me in bed to avoid the decubitus sores… No, my problem, my nightmare was another one (apart from the fact that a car driven by a drunk man crushed me): it was sneezing!

The effects and power of the sneeze on my body and on my broken back were terrible! Just one sneeze caused me pain in the back for 3 days…so it was something to avoid even if it is difficult if not impossible to know how…

Before the accident sneezing was something almost funny to me. Sneezes were giving me a strange sensation of liberation and the impossibility to control the body for a little while…

Luckily after the accident this problem “only” lasted for a few months and there is a happy Ending to this story! Cause now I am enjoying even more than before when I am sneezing…cause I am not suffering anymore and I am lucky to be able to move. Not on my legs but I am still Alive and I am appreciating it – this little detail that too many times we take for granted. But to be Alive is not for granted. It means also to be aware of it, appreciating it, taking time to think about it and to feel Happy about it…cause when we won’t be able to feel pain anymore, we will be dead!

So my advice is to Enjoy Ur Lives fully without thinking too much of what we do not have…but to think about what We ARE…Alive!

P.S. Please feel free to leave any comment, Marco will be pleased to hear your thoughts!