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Ο λογαριασμός του ‘Humans of New York’ είναι το πιο σκληρό πρόσωπο της ζωής

Ένα από τα πιο διάσημα accounts του instagram στον πλανήτη, τις τελευταίες ημέρες δημοσιεύει ιστορίες ανθρώπων που θα σε κάνουν να δακρύσεις.

Στον τρομερό τύπο που βρίσκεται πίσω απ’ το προφίλ του “Humans of New York” στο instagram, αλλά και στο Facebook, έχω αναφερθεί εμμέσως ξανά.

Πρόκειται για τον φωτογράφο Brandon Stanton, ο οποίος τον Νοέμβριο του 2010 ξεκίνησε να φωτογραφίζει τυχαίους ανθρώπους στους δρόμους της Νέας Υόρκης, μεταφέροντας ταυτόχρονα τις ιστορίες τους.

Όλα ξεκίνησαν από ένα blog, εκτοξεύθηκαν μέσω των social media και ήδη έχουν μεταφερθεί και σε βιβλίο, με το πρότζεκτ του να είναι πλέον ένα απ’ τα πιο αναγνωρίσιμα στον πλανήτη.

Ο Brandon δεν δίστασε να εξελίξει την ιδέα του, ταξιδεύοντας και σε άλλα μέρη του κόσμου, με την Ελλάδα να αποτελεί μία απ’ τις στάσεις των ταξιδιών του, για να μεταφέρει μέσα απ΄το φακό του τις συγκλονιστικές ιστορίες των προσφύγων.

Η ανταπόκριση που γνωρίζει το “Humans of New York” είναι πια τόσο μεγάλη, που έφτασε στο σημείο να φιλοξενήσει και τον ίδιο τον πρόεδρο των Η.Π.Α., Barack Obama, ο οποίος μάλιστα ανέλαβε προσωπικά την παροχή ασύλου σε έναν Σύριο πρόσφυγα, διαβάζοντας την ιστορία του μέσω των accounts του πρότζεκτ.

Τις τελευταίες ημέρες, ο Brandon βρίσκεται στο παιδιατρικό τμήμα του νοσοκομείου Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, φιλοξενώντας ιστορίες παιδιών που παλεύουν με τον καρκίνο.

Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be posting stories gathered from the Pediatrics Department of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Obviously these are not going to be easy stories to read. These are war stories. The treatment of cancer can be nearly as violent as the condition itself, and even the doctors will frame their efforts in terms of warfare. But the fight against pediatric cancer is uniquely tragic because the battlefield is the body of a child. So these are definitely war stories. But as with every war, there are heroes. You’ll meet the amazing doctors, nurses, and researchers who have committed their lives to this fight. You’ll meet the moms and dads who refuse to crumble while living out their greatest fear. And most importantly, you’ll meet the reason that everyone is fighting, and the greatest warriors of all—the kids. So yes, these are war stories. But this is also the story of humanity’s bold response to the greatest injustice of nature. And as we learn these stories, we’ll be raising money to play our own small part in the war.

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Τα ίδια τα παιδιά αλλά και οι γονείς τους, καθώς και το προσωπικό του νοσοκομείου, μεταφέρουν τις προσωπικές τους εμπειρίες, μας συγκινούν, μας συγκλονίζουν κι αποτελούν παραδείγματα δύναμης και αισιοδοξίας.

Ακολουθούν μερικές ενδεικτικές ιστορίες. Προσωπικά, σε συμβουλεύω να αφιερώσεις κάποιες ώρες για να τις μελετήσεις όλες. Ιστορίες αληθινές, βγαλμένες μέσα απ’ τη ζωή, που θα δεν θα σε αφήσουν αδιάφορο.

Η ΣΥΓΚΛΟΝΙΣΤΙΚΗ ΑΦΗΓΗΣΗ ΤΟΥ ΓΙΑΤΡΟΥ

“All doctors have those patients who sit on our shoulder. Their image is always with you. One kid will pop into your head every time you hit a wall– when you encounter a disease that is so unrelenting that you’ve exhausted all therapies and you’re still not even close. One memory will keep you going. It’s a different kid for every doctor. It’s hard to know why they stick with us. I remember one patient that had red hair just like my son. And I remember one five-year-old girl who made me laugh, because when I asked her how she was doing, she told me: ‘I don’t know. You’re the doctor.’ And then there was the boy early in my career who was born without an immune system. He’d already lost two older siblings to the same disease. He lived the first two years of his life in an isolation room with no windows, and his entire exposure to the world was through a black-and-white TV. We gave him a bone marrow transplant, and suddenly his immune system came online. And we took him for a walk in the garden. This boy who had spent his entire life in a windowless room. And a sparrow landed on a bush, and he pointed at it, and said: ‘Bird.’ That moment will always be with me.” ———————————————————Dr. O’Reilly is stepping down this year after thirty years as Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at MSK. As we learn these stories, we are holding a fundraiser in his honor to fight pediatric cancer. Please consider donating. Link in bio.

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Η ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΓΕΝΝΑΙΟΥ GABE

(1/6) "Gabe was a perfectly healthy boy. He’d reached all his milestones as a child. He talked early. He walked early. He never got sick except for colds. He did baseball and swimming and kickboxing. Then two years ago he began to have a ‘pins and needles’ feeling in his mouth. Then it grew numb and he had trouble talking. One day the teacher had him read out loud in class and he drooled all over the paper. So I raised a flag with the pediatrician. He thought it was just an allergy, but sent us to a neurologist just in case. The neurologist thought it was just a ‘tick’ and part of a growing phase. But he did an MRI just in case. When the results came in, he asked Gabe to wait outside the room. That’s when I became scared out of my mind. It was the worst possible news. The doctor said it was a tumor the size of a big olive. In the brain."

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(2/6) “I didn’t tell my husband right away. I just told him to come meet me at the park, and that’s where I told him. The whole time Gabe was playing nearby. My husband took it very hard. He started crying. He had a panic attack. Our lives had not been easy. It was very difficult for us in Albania. My husband grew up without a father. We decided to come to America alone as teenagers. Neither of us spoke any English. We had no family here. It was very lonely. We came from nothing. We worked very hard and we went to school at night and we taught ourselves English. My husband got a job as a steam worker and I got a job in marketing. We bought a beautiful, sunny one-bedroom apartment. We had recently paid off the mortgage. We could even afford to send Gabe to private school. It felt like we were evolving. We felt like we had finally made it past the hard times. Then the rug was pulled out from under us and everything crumbled. And I didn’t know what to pick up first. Do I comfort my son, who’s about to go through the worst journey of his life? Or my husband? Or myself?” ———————————————————-As we learn these stories, we are holding a fundraiser to help Memorial Sloan Kettering develop innovative treatments for cancers such as Gabe’s. A portion of the funds raised will also be used to provide psychosocial support for parents and siblings. Please consider donating. Link in bio.

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(3/6) "The doctors gave us peace of mind. They seemed so sure of their profession. They were using all these medical terms and speaking to each other so calmly. They spoke about the tumor like it was a simple puzzle. We tried to explain the surgery to Gabe as if it was a cartoon. He loved cartoons. We told him that there was a black hole that was sucking all the good energy out of his brain. We told him that he was going to be cut a little bit, but we did not tell him how much. I told him that he may have difficulty speaking when he wakes up, but don’t worry, because we’re going to write to Mommy on a notepad. But I’m thinking inside that I’m never going to hear my son speak again. During the surgery, my husband and I just walked around aimlessly for hours and cried. Finally they called and told us they were finished. We went in to see Gabe and he’s speaking words. He’s speaking regular words. My husband is so excited that he’s taking a video. But I’m looking at Gabe and he’s in a fetal position on the table. And I remember thinking that the way he was lying there, he looked like he did when he was born. It was just a bigger version of baby Gabriel. He had been such a healthy, beautiful baby boy. And here he is again. And he’s not well." ———————————————————-As we learn these stories, we are holding a fundraiser to help Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Department of Pediatrics. Please donate to help develop innovative and life-saving treatments for cancers such as Gabe’s. Link in bio.

A photo posted by Humans of New York (@humansofny) on

(4/6) "After the surgery, we thought it was over. We think it’s done. Gabriel is getting better and it’s like nothing happened. His teachers can’t believe it! We’re even planning on going to the beach. But the doctors tell us that they can’t identify the tumor. The surgery was in July. August passes. September passes. Now that the tumor was gone, we were anxious to start treating the cancer, but nobody knows where to start. Every hospital is saying something different. Then finally two hospitals gave the same opinion: Descmoplastic Small Round Blue Cell Tumor. Nobody had ever seen this tumor in the brain before. They told me not to read about it. They told me that every case was different and not to read about it. When you read about it, it’s very bad. Oh my God. This cancer always comes back. And when it comes back, it’s worse. ‘Less than three years,’ it says. Oh my God. What did I do? What did I expose him to? What did I feed him? The chemo is so painful for him. My family tried to talk me out of it. They told me that I’m killing my son with my own hands. But what can I do? There’s nothing I can do. I want to give blood. I want to give bone marrow. But all I can do is watch. It’s the worst show you can imagine, but you have to watch. You’re forced to watch." ———————————————————-As we learn these stories, we are holding a fundraiser to help Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Department of Pediatrics. Please donate to help develop innovative and life-saving treatments for cancers such as Gabe’s. Link in bio.

A photo posted by Humans of New York (@humansofny) on

(5/6) "My biggest challenge? Two words for you: third grade. It’s kind of like second grade but harder. I was a very special student in second grade because I had a brain tumor. A very rare one actually. I was the only one in the world with this type of brain tumor. Everyone who knew me was shocked! Their heads blew up! I’ve been through a lot of things this past year. But I can tell you, if you get brain cancer, try not to worry! It will be very hard and you will get lots of fevers but you have to be brave. You have to be brave like me because I’m very brave about this thing. And if you don’t know how to be brave, I can teach you. I know the surgery seems scary, but I have four words for you: you’ll be on anesthetics. When you wake up, your head will be wrapped like a mummy and your mom will take a picture and show you. When it’s time to get shots, do a countdown from thirty and tell yourself: ‘Calm down, calm down, calm down.’ Then whenever you’re ready, tell the nurse to go. And if you need more time, ask for more time!" ———————————————————We are currently holding a fundraiser to help study and cure rare cancers like Gabe’s. Almost 1000 people have donated so far. I hope over the course of the series, more people will consider donating. Rare and specialized cancers like Gabe’s require innovation. There are numerous instances of dedicated researchers making life-saving breakthroughs with small amounts of money. We can make a difference. Link in bio.

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(6/6) "If your child has brain cancer, I can give you some advice. First I would say to you: Oh my gosh! Your child has brain cancer. I’m so sorry that happened to you. I’m sure you’re feeling very sad, but don’t be worried because my mom was sad too. I actually have five words for you: It’s the saddest thing ever. So you can be sad whenever you want. If your child is sad, something you can do is tell them to never give up. If they are getting a needle, you’ll probably feel them squeezing your hand really, really, really tight. Tell them: ‘Don’t worry. This is a one time thing.’ The hardest part will be seeing your child with a line to a machine that gives them weird medications that might hurt and make them sad. Then you can give your child a lot of hugs because that will make them less sad. And your child will say: ‘Don’t worry Mom, I love you and I’m going to make it through this.’ And then you can hug them even more." ———————————————- —-We are currently holding a fundraiser to help study and cure rare cancers like Gabe’s. So far we’ve raised $50,000 from 1400 donations. That’s a great start. If even one percent of the people who follow this page were to donate, that would be 175,000 donations and the results would be staggering. A relatively tiny amount of us can make a giant difference, so please consider being counted! Rare and specialized cancers like Gabe’s require innovation. There are numerous instances of dedicated researchers making life-saving breakthroughs at Memorial Sloan Kettering with small amounts of money. Please consider donating. Link in bio.

A photo posted by Humans of New York (@humansofny) on

Η ΑΘΥΡΟΣΤΟΜΗ (ΓΑΜΑΤΗ) ΝΟΣΟΚΟΜΑ

“A big part of a nurse’s job is translation. We have to turn medical language into common language. We explain the ‘why’s.’ Why they can’t eat. Why there is pain. Why their hair is falling out. You never know what those big medical words mean to a child, so we do everything we can to demystify them. If they play sports, we may describe their tumor as a baseball. And everyone knows that baseballs don’t belong in your belly. Ninety percent of them play video games, so sometimes the cancer is a monster. We’ve got to shoot the monster. We’ve got to bomb the monster. But we’re going to work together and get that monster. We’ll use any frame of reference that they understand: their favorite TV show, their favorite book, their favorite toy. And if we have an adolescent who’s a little bit angry, we’ll just shove our foot up the cancer’s ass.”

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ΤΑ ΑΓΑΠΗΜΕΝΑ ΑΔΕΡΦΑΚΙΑ

“I got cancer in the summer when the pools were opening. And I really wanted to go swimming but I couldn’t leave the hospital. I begged her not to go swimming without me. And she didn’t because I couldn’t.” ——————————————————— As we learn the stories of doctors, nurses, and patients at @sloankettering , we are raising money to research and cure the rare pediatric cancers they are battling against. So far over 10,000 people have donated and we’ve raised $350,000. If only one percent of the people following this page were to make a donation, the amount raised would be over six million dollars. Many children come to MSK when they are out of options, and new options must be invented. The study of rare cancers involves small and relentless teams of researchers. Life-saving breakthroughs are made on very tight budgets. So your donations will make a difference. They may save a life. Please consider being counted. Link in Bio.

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Η ΔΥΝΑΤΗ ΜΗΤΕΡΑ

“Her tumor was the size of a grapefruit. I don’t even know how it fit in her body. There’s no protocol for neuroblastoma. Everything is experimental. Different doctors have different opinions, so I have to make choices that you couldn’t imagine. Horrible choices. She’s had several rounds of chemo, antibody therapy, a stem cell transplant, and a twelve-hour surgery. The surgery was risky. One doctor tried to talk me out of it. I don’t understand this stuff but I still have to make these decisions. I think I’ve made all the right choices so far but the next one could be the wrong one. It’s so stressful. You know that feeling you have when you’re waiting for a call back from a job interview? That’s all the time for me. Except it’s not a job. It’s my kid’s life. I push all the emotional stuff to the back burner. I feel like the only way to keep moving is to stay numb. My only therapy is talking to the other moms here. We’re all going through the same thing. So that helps. But then again we lose a lot of our friends here. Her best friend’s cancer just spread to the brain. So that’s scary as shit.” ——————————————————–Just a few days left in our fundraiser to help Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center fight pediatric cancer. Nearly 28,000 people have donated so far and we’ve raised over $1,000,000. This money will be used to help develop innovative treatments for the rare childhood cancers that MSK helps fight. If you’ve been inspired by the stories of these patients, doctors, and nurses, please consider being counted in our effort to support them. Link in bio.

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ΟΙ ΓΟΝΕΙΣ ΠΟΥ ΠΡΟΣΠΑΘΟΥΝ ΝΑ ΑΝΤΕΞΟΥΝ

(1/3) “I feel like it’s draining us. Both emotionally and physically. Her immune system is so depleted that if she gets sick, it could kill her. So I’m afraid all the time. And that fear tends to keep me on the attack. I can be short tempered with my husband and my boys. I feel like if I scream, everyone will stay away from her and she’ll be OK. My husband and I have been fighting a lot. We’ll snap at each other over little things like the chores or giving her medicine. Before the diagnosis, we were always sure to talk things out before bed. But now we’re both so stressed that we hold stuff in. He doesn’t know how I’ll react. And I don’t know how he’ll react. So we just choose not to discuss our problems. This Saturday we went on our first date since the diagnosis. It was only two hours at an Italian restaurant, but it was nice to finally talk. We acknowledged that we’ve been on edge. And we apologized to each other.”

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(3/3) “I think it might be easier for children because they don’t understand what can happen. They don’t know the ‘what if’s.’ She can handle how bad it is because she doesn’t know how bad it can get. All she worries about is playing. You can’t even tell when she’s feeling bad. She uses her IV pole as a skateboard. She skips through the hall and sings Dora. She climbs rocks and rides her bike. I always have to remind her that she’s sick. I’m always telling her that we can do more things once she feels better. And whenever her friend has a birthday party, she tells me: ‘I’m all better now!’” ———————————————————-As we learn these stories, we are trying to raise $1,000,000 to help the team at @sloankettering in their fight against pediatric cancer. Thanks to the 15,000 people who have contributed so far. We're more than halfway there. Please consider donating. Link in bio.

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Αν θέλεις να βοηθήσεις κάνοντας μια δωρεά στο συγκεκριμένο παιδιατρικό τμήμα, εδώ. Αλλιώς, μπορείς να βοηθήσεις κάνοντας μια οποιαδήποτε δωρεά στον αγώνα κατά της κωλοαρρώστιας που λέγεται καρκίνος.