“The importance of moving forward despite everything in life is crucial, even when everything seems impossible.” There is one sentence among many that he uttered during his short existence that comes back the day after his death and leaves us dismayed. It’s the last one that Sammy Basso uttered before leaving forever, he said it three days ago in Venice, when he went to collect the Rizzi prize in the ‘Environment and Society’ category for “the strength of will, the spirit of sacrifice, the courage that supports him: a great example to look at with admiration and gratitude and try to imitate”. Already.
Sammy Basso is no more. The brilliant boy suffering from premature aging, or from Hutchinson-Gilford progeria, a very rare disease with only 103 cases in the world (and he was the longest-living patient), died at the age of 28 the other evening during a dinner in a restaurant, after a sudden illness. His intelligence, his irony, his humility are no longer there, his depth and the mysterious and beautiful luminous trail that he emanated and left behind him are no longer there. It was December 1, 1995 when Sammy was born, and he has always lived with his family in Tezze sul Brenta, without ever allowing the illness with which he lived to break the banks of his existence.
He attended the St. J. Da Ponte scientific high school in Bassano del Grappa, obtained his high school diploma and enrolled in the Physics degree course at the University of Padua and then moved on to the Natural Sciences course. He dreamed of going to work at CERN in Geneva. After graduating with 110 cum laude, with a thesis dedicated to the existence of therapies to slow down the progression of one’s pathology, on 23 March 2021 he obtained a master’s degree in Molecular Biology at the University of Padua. The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, had also awarded him the Knighthood of the Order of Merit of the Republic. He advised the boys to take the time to understand what they should do when they grow up, giving the right value even to failure.
“You may not be perfect to chase and realize your dreams, I am the example. You are never too old to do it, age, after all, is nothing”, he told them. To the leaders of the world faced with the nefarious time of bombs and pain that we are experiencing with the many open conflicts in the international field, he dedicated a beautiful phrase, delicate as a caress but firm as a slap. “If the powerful of the earth understood what it means to fight for life, they would not have the courage to wage war.” And Sammy with his struggle and his testimony leaves a memorable mark, despite the very short time given to him to go through life.
His disease caused a deterioration of his cells and organs, which were so fragile that he could not change his socks on his own, run or tie his shoes. He fought that same disease by bringing his case into the world, writing books, traveling, crossing peoples and nations. He looked for positivity everywhere: family, friends, until the end. He gave light, Sammy, with generosity and altruism. He enlightened peoples and dark corners of the soul, and he did it especially for young people.
“School is fundamental – he said recently -, because it also teaches injustice. And injustice makes us grow, I have experienced it firsthand: we must teach it to all the children of the world”. And a world without Sammy Basso is not only more unfair, but certainly also lonelier. He leaves us his greatest legacy: he sowed his example in our hearts. Take care to have time to bring it to the future.
Related News :