The privilege of SURVIVING
Few are those who can afford to tell their experiences with death. They are the survivors who, after suffering an illness, accident or aggression, and after having gone through a traumatic situation in hospitals, have a different vision of life. And certainly, they can help us not only to overcome ourselves in case of having a similar experience, but to value every second of our existence.

Alonso did not give importance to the small cut that a rod caused in his right leg during a meal in the field. "It's a simple scrape", he convinced himself and forgot about it. 48 hours later he began to feel intense pains in the quadriceps area. The medical diagnosis was that a small "thrombus" was lodged in his leg. "No danger", they argued. He did not imagine that 96 hours later he would be entering the hospital and that his future would begin to be turned off second by second.
The omens bordered on the gloomy: 48 hours of life and immediate amputation of the right leg. The culprit took its name and form: the golden staphylococcus ate up every cell in its path. The gangrene advanced and the virus threatened to invade all the vital organs through the bloodstream. Alonso spent 15 hours hospitalized and a month more had to stay at home lying down 24 hours a day. Today, after an implant, 10 admissions to the operating room, lose 10 kilos and learn to walk again, not only saved the leg without any sequel, but can tell. Thanks to a miracle, it matters little whether medical or divine, or the obstinate will to live -or the combination of both elements-, Alonso is no longer the same: he is one of the few who can assure that, before the battle with death, this at last decided to grant him another opportunity. As with all those who have survived an illness, accident or aggression, their way of thinking, seeing the world around them and how to conceive the future, have changed radically. His experience helps us all to face a similar situation.
Time is going
The uncertainty, the pain of seeing the loved ones suffering one by one, the feeling that the fight against the disease depended more on the medicine and the skill of the doctors than on oneself, provoked a series of manifestations in the mood of Alonso During the two weeks he was hospitalized, Alonso's head did not rest for a second, despite the tranquilizers that were given at night. Think, think about everything and different reactions. At times, an internal strength that demanded a fight without quarter against the virus, accompanied by optimism that in the end would leave the hospital alive and "whole". In others, impotence choked him, and he lost himself in the darkest thoughts. Lower the weapons, it was said. He was convinced. Before the assured victory of the enemy, the wait for what it imposed.
Victory at Any cost
The staphylococcus began to give way. The high temperatures disappeared and after two weeks the doctors decided that the battle was won. Now the recovery was at home. Soon changed Alonso's mood to return to "their environment" and see that as insignificant as they seem at first glance, the small details mean a lot. It's true, I still could not walk, the wound was still open and twice a week I had to return to deep cures to the hospital operating room, but I was already in familiar territory, in his bed, eating the comforting homemade foods and, at all hours, junk food. The body demanded calories.
They performed a skin graft and that was where Alonso knew that he had won -at least this time- the battle. He was a survivor. That was the important thing. He had to take advantage of everything he had endured. He had to evolve inside him. It could not be the same anymore. In fact, it was not anymore. The inner strength increased. He had almost never thought of death, and the few times he had assaulted it, he had imagined himself as a happy old man, satisfied with everything he had lived and surrounded by great-grandchildren and a beautiful old woman by his side. Now he is aware that death may be just around the corner. Nobody is invulnerable to her.
Life is a countdown in which you must live every moment, and above all share and try to lead a positive life and separate from projects that only reflect a sour selfishness. In the end, the satisfaction of sharing with others will be the most appreciated. And in those hard battles that life will bring, there will be people we can support. It is the law of life. Alonso knows it.
