Il paracobaleno it is reality, concrete demonstration that the hope of a new life can arise from pain. Inaugurated on 24 September in Florence in the beautiful spaces of via Lunga, the “Pararcobaleno” rehabilitation facility was strongly desired by the association “Simone Borgheresi – Champions of Life”And its president Simona Spini. “The opening of the activities of our rehabilitation center is the realization of a dream – explains the president Spini – the one shared by me and my husband Simone Borgheresi, national archery champion, but above all ‘Champion of life’, who loved to spend themselves for others, generating wonderful opportunities for inclusion and solidarity “.
The first of its kind at a national level, from now on the “Pararcobaleno” center will offer patients who have suffered spinal injuries and who have undergone a first post-operative rehabilitation in the Careggi Spinal Center, the opportunity to follow a long-term rehabilitation path. A fundamental commitment and a decisive role in finding and adapting the space was played by the Municipality of Florence and the councilor for sport, Cosimo Guccione. “There are several reasons that led me to carry out this project – explains Simona Spini -. I’m a surgeon, sometimes I run into poor territory, where we continually ask the government to do more for our patients. But sometimes maybe we should put ourselves a little on the line to personally enrich the existing offer. My role as a doctor continues in daily life, even when I leave the hospital, and also carrying out activities that are not strictly institutional. Another strong motivation: the project was born in tandem between my husband and me, then he was called into another dimension. But I wanted to carry it out, in memory of one extremely generous person, who wanted to give himself to others. All the people who knew him said about him that he was smiling, kind and generous. He deserved to carry on and complete this project ”.
“Sport is fully part of the rehabilitation program promoted by the Centro Spinale Careggi Onlus Sports Group – he explains Piero Amaticoordinator of sports activities in the Spinal Center di Careggi -, obviously together with pharmacological therapies. We are a multi-disciplinary team. Not all patients are suitable for sporting activity, but if the doctor and physiotherapist give a favorable opinion, a sporting path is proposed that is comparable to a playful and aggregative activity, certainly not competitive. We are talking about people who live the drama of becoming paraplegic or quadriplegic and it sport can be medicine for the mind and for the return to sociability. As an association we are connected with the territory, through collaborations such as the one with Aps Simone Borgherese, which offers our patients the opportunity to continue the experience tried in the ward, becoming part of a sports association recognized by the Federation. A very nice aspect is that the ‘Pararcobaleno’ gym welcomes everyone, from people in wheelchairs to the able-bodied, who can share one truly inclusive space”.
Many people who at the moment of the inauguration wanted to pay homage to the memory of Simone Borgheresi. At the cutting of the ribbon was present the Councilor for Sport of the Municipality of Florence, Cosimo Guccione: “I am happy to inaugurate this activity that will take place at the ‘Pararcobaleno’, which thus enriches the sports offer of rehabilitation and inclusive with archery. This specificity was missing, which is why the structure is unique in its kind in Florence. One more tool for the rehabilitation and inclusion of people with disabilities. A great opportunity made possible by the passion of many volunteers and above all of Simona Spini whom I thank. To try your hand at this discipline, you don’t need excessive physical prowess, and this makes it an inclusive sport par excellence. The athletic gesture, however, needs a necessary concentration, and these two factors lend themselves very well to rehabilitation path, for example after a certain type of trauma. Archery is a sport whose benefits represent a determining factor in the recovery activity ”.
On the occasion of the inauguration the activities of the center, also through a practical demonstration of archery, and the first supporting members of the project had the opportunity to join the “Simone Borgheresi – Campioni di Vita” Association, paying a fee of 25 euros. He was also awarded as an example of ‘champions of life’ Tropos in the person of Leonardo Lombardi.
“The Pararcobaleno – explains the vice president of Aps, Giuseppe Marascia – it is an innovative reality because we go to help children who have had an accident and suffered major damage in medullary level. Archery has the opportunity to put these guys back into play and, most importantly, on a par with able-bodied people. Let it be one inclusive sport par excellence this is demonstrated by the fact that he manages to challenge able-bodied children and people with disabilities in the same race. I speak from personal experience: with our work group, I am president of the amateur sports association ‘Frecce Azzurre’, this year we have achieved an Italian team title, it was a national championship, and in the competition two boys with disabilities and one able-bodied boy they arrived first “. Marascia adds: “I was appointed vice president of APS by the will of Simona Spini and the ‘big brother’ – that’s what we called ourselves – Simone Borgheresi, with whom we had already planned something like this. I’ve been following for eight years children with disabilities, ranging from paraplegia to quadriplegia, to complete blindness. How do they pull the guys they don’t see? Thanks to a tactile viewfinder. But the main aspect is bring these people out of the home. There was a time and there are countries in which, in order not to be seen, these people go out at night. Fortunately for us, however, this no longer happens, on the contrary, new possibilities are always being studied to put these children with disabilities in the conditions to live a new life ”. Our thoughts inevitably go to Simone, and with his voice broken by emotion Joseph tells us: “A memory of her? It was a volcano of ideas. Sometimes we even spent hours on the phone making plans, which fate has unfortunately interrupted. But for me the memory of him is always alive. It was he who introduced me to Daniele Cassiani, who has hit two world records ”.
Marascia is trainer archery, a retired air force colonel and has a laboratory where, together with another technician, they invent and build aids to help children with severe motor or joint difficulties, flexion of the fingers, or who do not have a grip, just to name a few. These aids, the result of their invaluable work, enable them to be able to shoot with a bow. “What I want to emphasize – he concludes – is that before we saw young people with disabilities who tried their hand at sport, while today we see men and women on the firing line with the bow that teach us to be stubborn, that we must never give up, and that there is always a possibility of a new life ”.
“The Aps dedicated to the memory of the Corporal Major of the Fire Brigade Simone Borgheresi – comments the president Spini – represents a absolute novelty on our territory, because it aims to offer activities aimed at physical, psychological and social recovery of Medullolese people discharged from the Careggi Spinal Center, thanks to national archery instructors who put their expertise at the service of the cause. Until now, patients discharged from the hospital had two options before them: to pay for effective rehabilitation privately, or to shut themselves up at home gradually losing many of the skills that could be maintained, in addition to the not secondary aspect of sociality “.
Archery is the inclusive sport par excellence “because – continues Spini – each athlete can participate indiscriminately in Paralympic competitions and not, and because the teams can be made up indiscriminately of men and women. It is also a sporting discipline recognized as rehabilitation for people with spinal injuries. However, our Aps is not interested in competitions: we are not looking for competitive champions, but champions of lifethat is people who want to recover after having suffered a difficult “mourning in one’s body“, Through a path of rehabilitation of the body and mind, with the aim of regaining self-confidence and obtaining satisfaction from daily improvements”.
