RIETI – There are bonds that arise by chance, when two very different life stories meet on a January morning, in a fire brigade headquarters. And then they sprout and go beyond the pain, savoring the small and beautiful things, until the last breath of life. As it was for Marco and David.
The initiative. David Martini, 12 years old, had experienced that day spent in the Rieti fire station as a great gift, desired for some time and expressed between the lines of this newspaper, on its first anniversary “with a new heart”. Beating in his chest, after so much pain and difficulty, is the organ transplanted at the Bambin Gesù hospital in Rome. “But today I’m fine, and I want to spend a day with the firefighters, who are much braver than me,” David said. No sooner said than done, and a big party for him at the barracks in via Sacchetti Sassetti, under the careful organization of commander Domenico Petrizza. Among the firefighters “colleagues for a day”, who joyfully welcome the child, help him get into the vehicles and turn on sirens and flashing lights for him, there is Marco Spinicci, 55 years old. He too, like his colleagues, has lunch with him in the canteen, then we think about the gift package on behalf of the command: gadgets, t-shirts, hat, “Firefighter for a day” certificate. Marco was already suffering from a pathology that prevented him from active service in the Corps, so he worked in the warehouse. And for the most welcome gift, the red helmet, he thinks about it personally, and places that very precious object, which he would probably never wear again, on David’s little head.
The testimonies. «By volunteering at the San Francesco Hospice, where Marco was hospitalized in the terminal phase of his illness, I discovered that he was one of the firefighters who had welcomed my son and I put the pieces back together», says Luigina, David’s mother. «He always remembers that day, a priceless memory. And at Marco’s bedside I met other firefighters, I thanked them.” The large family of firefighters never leaves anyone behind, especially if they are experiencing a moment of suffering. «His colleagues never left him alone, not even for a minute – says a cousin – we must thank them for their closeness. Marco had only found out three months ago that his illness was getting worse, yet we never heard him complain. In fact he was making plans for the future.” Coincidence, both David and Marco were born on May 23rd: «We discovered it recently, a little party was organized at the Hospice, he wanted my son to be there too. He told him that he was his greatest gift.” And David is on the front line to give him food and drink. Because if someone is a superhero, he always is. «He wanted to pick him up but he couldn’t do it, I saw the joy of sharing in their eyes, even in that very delicate moment. David knows what suffering means, so in certain circumstances he moves with a rare sensitivity”, adds Luigina. And that red helmet of Marco’s kept at home like a relic, David took it and put it back on his head on the day of his friend’s funeral. «There was no way, he wanted to be there – his mother recalls – he brought a drawing of himself, they put it inside the coffin. Then he stood next to the firefighters to pay homage.” And at the Rieti command they welcomed him “into the team”, lined up both in the barracks and in the church, on the picket line and at the honors paid to Marco Spinicci. Firefighter for a day, once again, with a brand new heart in his chest and the memory of a special friend on his head.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Read the full article at
The messenger
