TITLE: Accompanying a son to hell and bringing him back

This is the story of my son Valerio's fight against Wilms tumor, a rare kidney cancer, that affects eight children out of a million. On June 16, 2023, after consulting with your pediatrician, my son Valerio was sent for an ultrasound at Rome's "Bambino Gesù" pediatric hospital. The physicians immediately handed us this sentence, which would change our lives.
We were urgently hospitalized and after a day of analysis, we immediately started chemotherapy.
Living in a pediatric oncology department for 20 days is like visiting hell; it is both a terrifying and enlightening experience, and the things you see will change your life forever. After the first cycle of chemotherapy, which succeeded in reducing the mass, surgery was performed. The procedure took six hours, and the surgeon was able to salvage part of the kidney by removing only two-thirds of the diseased kidney.
The recuperation was tiring for a two-and-a-half-year-old child, but it was accomplished with the help of painkillers and medications, as well as Valerio's incredible spirit of fortitude. Valerio resisted, demonstrating a temper appropriate for his name, which in Latin means valiant, and strong. ("Valerius" from the Latin word "valere"). After nearly 6 months of medical treatments and therapies, outside and inside the hospital, he was able to resume his "almost" usual childhood. This is a great life lesson, which helps us to always look for the glimmer of hope and the positive side in every situation, even if it is often very difficult. The story is told, through the only form that allows me, as father, to face up to and exorcise my pain, The photography, rather than words. So that I can truly realize that I took him on a journey to hell and brought him back.

AUTHOR: Emiliano Pinnizzotto (Italy)

Born in 1983, begins to take my first photographs from the earliest memories. Around the age of 18 i directs my photographic passion to Social Reportage, and begins, when it is possible, to travel around the world.
I'm specialized in social portraits, taken in a natural luminosity, with the exclusive use of light available, never constructing or altering the story or image.
I have various publications on magazines and on photographic books, and show my photos in numerous exhibitions in Italy and abroad, the last important: India - Unusual Visions, in Museo Nazionale Delle Civiltà "L.Pigorini" of Rome in May 2017.
portfolio visible on www.emilianopinnizzotto.com