It was 1989 when Roberta Rapisardi , 28, turned to the cardiac surgeon Ugolino Livi because of a serious heart disease . A heart transplant is performed on her in Padua and after a few years the woman becomes a mother . To Benedetta, her daughter , however, the same heart disease manifests itself. Today the young woman is 25 years old and in October she underwent the same surgery as her mother. Livi always operated on it: it was the last transplant of his career as director of the Cardiac Surgery of Santa Maria della Misericordia in Udine .
When the woman decides to have a child, she is aware that heart disease can be transmitted genetically , but she decides to take the risk. “Roberta came to give birth in Padua , she wanted the heart surgeon who had transplanted her nearby. At that time, there were not many heart transplant women who had had children. Now it happens almost normally, ”says Livi. After a few years, the child then manifests the same illness as the mother. The man directs her to the center specialized in heart disease directed by Giancarlo Sinagra in Trieste . Here Benedetta is followed for a long time but then, when the situation worsens, the young woman finds herself in the intensive care unit, where she remains two months waiting for a compatible heart.
"It was not easy to find it, she was small in build and needed a small heart with particular characteristics. The opportunity has arrived and ", concludes the heart surgeon. "Every morning when I get up, instead of thinking 'I'm a transplant' I think about living normally for the day," confesses the girl.
