Tavola Grande - My Speech!!!

For those who were not able to attend the event,
here is my speech which I delievered:

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for coming today. This event is very dear to me for we are raising funds for the Lymphoma Foundation Canada. My name is Elisabetta Polito and I am the fundraising director of the WIGGED OUT IN PURPLE Committee.

Last August, at the age of 27, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. I continued living my life, when I was told I should stop. Stopping was not an option and I felt that I needed to do something in order to give back. This is when WIGGED OUT IN PURPLE became a committee. It is about NO Wigs. Just purple. Helping to fight Lymphoma Cancer.

I had a cough, which had persisted for 2 months and I went into work one day. I was hospitalized at the end of my shift. Everything had happened so quickly and my life literally changed in the matter of a day. I did not know what to do, nor did I know how to feel. I had to tell my parents that the doctors think I have cancer. When confronted in a situation such as this, moments in time, memories from the past flash, in front of you and you stop and wonder, “How will I be remembered? On that day my family glued itself together and became the foundation on which I stand. They became my strength, and my heart. My family and friends became my supporters. They became a shoulder to cry on, and the arms that held me tight when I felt I was in despair.

Between countless treatments, hardships, and continuous strain, I had to become strong in order to fight this disease. You stop to realize that life holds a deeper meaning and that you need to deal with the cards that have been dealt to you. A friend of mine asked me the other day what my philosophy was. I am my own worst enemy as I am my own best friend. I will not be defeated by own weakness but will push against with my own strengths. It just was not time to bury Lisa Polito.

Today is a celebration between my family, my friends, and my many supporters, to say that I have won the fight against cancer and that I am living proof that things do get better. Tavola Grande is just the stepping-stone. I am a daughter, a grandchild, a sister, a niece, a cousin and a friend. I am not a celebrity, I am the girl next door who was diagnosed with cancer and now I am the face you will associate with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. It is with this fundraising event and with your support that we can give back to the Lymphoma Foundation Canada and help fund research for this cancer. People are still not aware of the seriousness of this disease but today 500 more people have become more informed.

I would like to embrace this moment by sitting around la tavola grande, and sharing this meal with you all. I would like to thank Angele Menard for her continuous encouragement, my fundraising committee for countless hours of planning and organization, and my family for their undying love and to all of you for attending today.

Today I stand before you cancer-free. I await a clean bill of health and all I can say is that no matter who you are, no matter what life has planned for you, become your own motivation and stand strong in knowing that when you look in the mirror at the end of the day, you can smile and say that I did it!