“It’s important to have women who can testify that this disease doesn’t destroy their body, not anymore at least, and especially it doesn’t destroy their minds; one can emerge victorious in all senses.”

Umberto Veronesi
Scientific Director, European Institute of Oncology
Milan (Italy)

“...The feeling of belonging and solidarity prove to be extraordinary antidotes to despair. Personally, I was amazed by the capacity that these women have of using the cancer incident to reassess what counts in life and to face life with renewed energy.”



Willy Pasini
Professor of Psychiatry, University of Geneva (Switzerland)

“Until a few years ago, cancer was a disease kept hidden, not to name, to endure in the solitude of one’s pain.
Among the many merits of Attivecomeprima I believe the greatest are:
- having recognised the necessity of helping those who get cancer
- helping them to rediscover themselves in life and in the world
- having worked for thirty years with tenacity and conviction to achieve this cultural change.”



Claudio Verusio
Chief Physician, Oncology, Ospedale di Saronno
Varese (Italy)

“For several years now I have been scientific counsellor for Attivecomeprima and from the outset I have appreciated Ada Burrone’s initiative, which filled (and, especially, fills) a well-known but disregarded void in the assistance offered by the structures that deal with health protection. More than “assistance”, Attivecomeprima provides understanding and affection, support and solidarity, but most of all it indicates ways to face change and rekindle the desire to live. Owing to the peculiar characteristics of Attivecomeprima’s methods, all this goes beyond that which might seem a psychotherapeutic support and reaches a psychological depth that is rare in other environments. Over the years I have seen the work methods and the results achieved with them steadily improve, but I only understood the extraordinary importance of a similar structure recently, when I myself contracted cancer and I experienced in first person the psychological effects that it brings. So I wrote to Ada that it isn’t right that Attivecomeprima deals only with women or, in any case, that an analogous ‘Attivicomeprima’ doesn’t exist for men.”



Marco Margnelli
Neurophysiologist
Rome (Italy)

“The great merit of Attivecomeprima is having convinced doctors to acknowledge the importance of the ‘human’ aspect in the patient’s reality, developing a way of ‘being together’ that can be reproduced anywhere there is a sincere desire for mutual understanding.”



Alberto Costa
Chief Surgeon, Senology Division, Fondazione Maugeri
Pavia (Italy)