In an extremely brave and deeply human way, Dionysis Savvopoulos wanted to share, for the first time, the battle he fought with cancer in recent years. Although his serious health adventure began in mid-2020, he chose to continue his artistic activities normally without making any public reference to the fight he was fighting for his life.
Today, almost five years later, he shares with the world, through the pages of his autobiography titled "Why the Years Fly by" which has just been released by Patakis Publications, the events, thoughts and feelings of that difficult period, which coincided with the coronavirus pandemic.
He opens his heart wide, and with absolute calm and composure, without tearful sentimentality, he recounts, in his own unique way, which has always been magical for this reason and captivates the crowds, his confrontation with cancer, from the moment the diagnosis was announced and the treatments he underwent until his infection with coronavirus, which made things even more difficult.
But the most important thing is that through this deeply personal confession, Savvopoulos exposes – for the first time to such an extent –, with great bravery, the vulnerable, the weak side of himself, wanting to underline that in the face of the disease we are all equal. And at the same time, he conveys a valuable message of hope and strength to all those facing cancer. A message whose content could be summarized in the title that he himself had chosen to give to the exhibition he prepared in 2022 for the hundredth anniversary of the Asia Minor Catastrophe: “Arise, my soul!”
It was around the end of March '20, during the first coronavirus quarantine, and after he had just completed his successful live performances with Manolis Mitsias at "Alsos", that he received the diagnosis:
"Since I had time at my disposal, I went to see the doctors, because I was having some discomfort. The tests revealed lung cancer. So suddenly? Not so suddenly. I've been all goo-goo lately, I've been smoking for over fifty years, and I'm telling you this so you can be careful, be mindful, and if – it doesn't happen – it happens to you, don't be afraid, face it, and God has it."
"They removed half of my lung, and then I went through some treatments, which have their side effects, to be sure. Fatigue basically. A feeling of great weakness," he confesses.
The artistic challenges, however, and the strength of his character, of course, which dictated that he continue to live his life normally in the post-diagnosis era and to face obstacles one by one as they came, kept him upright and active. Drawing strength from the love and support of his family but also from his unquenchable passion for creation, he took on one mission after another. “I cast aside the shadow of illness,” he describes himself, poetically, in his book.
Dionysis Savvopoulos with his wife Aspa celebrating his 80th birthday on December 2, 2024
He devised an ambitious plan for the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Greek Revolution which, although it excited the Committee, was not possible to implement due to the pandemic. He gave a concert at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall on the occasion of the same anniversary. He set up, at the invitation of the Hellenic Parliament Foundation, an excellent exhibition for the 100th anniversary of the Asia Minor Catastrophe, which was presented throughout Greece, he traveled to Cyprus for a series of concerts also dedicated to the destruction of Smyrna…
It had already been two years since the official diagnosis of his illness and his treatments were continuing. Until the nightmare of the coronavirus knocked on his own door, at a time when his body was weak, weakened:
“There in the spring (2022), it seems I stepped on it. While I was doing my immunotherapy normally in the hospital, I was asked by Cyprus to give a few concerts for the hundredth anniversary of the Asia Minor Catastrophe. It was impossible for me to refuse….We took all the precautions and went down to the island with Giotis Kiourtsoglou. I always wore a mask…And as soon as I got back, I fell into bed with a high fever. We called a doctor. “Quickly to the hospital by ambulance!” he ordered. I had contracted coronavirus. I was already weak from the treatments, I also caught the virus on the plane, because planes are gas chambers, and here is the result.”
Dionysis Savvopoulos strictly adhered to the measures against the coronavirus, but he did not manage to avoid it
The narration of an incident that occurred during his critical hospitalization is truly shocking. Because it captures in words that create mental but very powerful images, the feelings of a man, always strong in the eyes of others, who comes face to face with his weakness, the perishability of his existence. And it proves, brilliantly, that, in such difficult moments, a human touch, a kind word from a stranger are the most precious gift:
"The doctors had a meeting about me, wondering if I should go to intensive care because of shortness of breath. It was Holy Week. They decided to wait a while. They put me on IV fluids, an oxygen mask, and put me on medication, with large doses of Lasix.
I wake up one night soaked. I had wet my underwear, pajamas, sheets, I had made a mess. Now? Should I call the nurses? Should they see me like this? I'm... Savvopoulos. It's not possible.
It's done! What else could I do, I rang the bell. One arrived first, saw what had happened and called the others. All of them expressionless and flawless:
– Get up, Mr. Savopoulos.
Should I undress? I took off my pajamas, embarrassed. They checked me:
– Take off your underwear too.
I took them off and stood in the corner, ashamed, hiding everything I could with my palms. I was a slug, a nothing.
And as I was about to be swallowed up by the earth, I suddenly felt as if it didn't matter anymore, as if a weight had been lifted from me, I breathed a sigh of relief, and I surrendered myself to the women. They washed me, made me wear new pajamas, laid me down on the clean sheets, and covered me up.
"- Happy New Year, the sisters said to me as they left. Easter had arrived."
Source: protothema.gr
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