More than a vocation, a choice: the story of Alessia, 25 years alongside the young patients of Smile House ETS

I am Alessia Frani, a registered nurse with ASL Roma 1 – San Filippo Neri Hospital, and I have been working with Smile House ETS for over 25 years. Yet I am certain that neither my professional skills, in which I have invested with dedication, nor my role as a specialist in breastfeeding and nutrition, nor even the word “volunteer”, can describe what I truly feel I represent for the Foundation.nnI began my nursing career at the age of 25, after living through two of the most painful moments of my life. It was then that Doctor Scopelliti involved me in my first mission with the Foundation. In that first experience I discovered an extraordinary world, which for me was a redemption from pain. From that moment on, the greater part of my life has been devoted to caring for children born with facial malformations and, whenever I could, I went away to take part in the international missions with the Foundation, all around the world.nnToday, after so many years, I can say that mine was not a vocation, but a choice: the choice to give everything, beyond my strength, beyond working hours, beyond time. Because I know that my commitment makes a difference. Because I am sure that my stress turns into value for the mothers and children who come to the Smile House Centres. Because I am convinced that my “doing more” can change their lives.nnThe nurse who specialises in breastfeeding is the professional with whom parents come into contact right after receiving the technical and scientific explanations about the surgery and the path to follow, already during the consultation after the prenatal diagnosis. And these are parents who are not only looking for medical answers, but often for simple words, empathy, comfort.nnThe first question they ask is always the same: “how will our baby feed?”nnAnd on this question I have built my philosophy of life, my mission. I still have before my eyes the images of mothers breastfeeding children with cleft lip and palate, in corners of the world where people do not even know what a baby bottle is. And it was from those experiences that I understood how essential it was, here with us too, to give these children the chance to be breastfed, and this today represents one of the central goals of the Foundation.nnToday, the Smile House Centres are among the few in Italy to make this small, extraordinary miracle possible.nnAnd after more than 25 years, I am still moved by the magic of a child who receives love while feeding at the breast, and of a mother who experiences the deep joy of being able to breastfeed.nnThat is why I feel happy to be able to say that I have “breastfed” hundreds of children, and that I never want to stop doing so.