My Story is about Massimo Canonica and his adventure “Road to Mont Blanc”

This event took place from 01 Jul 2019 to 21 Jul 2019

The Discovery

In the fall of 2017 Massimo experienced digestive problems, unexpected weight loss, fatigue and back pain. In December 2017 a CT scan reveled the presence of tumor on his pancreas.

This is My Story

For Massimo the concept of time is very important. During these past years he focused on accomplishing important projects with his son. You can find them travelling, biking, flying in a small plane, skiing, climbing, surrounded by the astonishing nature.

Massimo “listened to his body” and the early detection allowed him to go through surgery first and adjuvant therapy later. He is still under treatment and his attitude to life is making everything possible for him.

The Impact of Time

Massimo reached out to our Foundation in 2019, after he went through surgery that removed part of his pancreas. He was looking for advices for a second opinion, since he was receiving adjuvant chemotherapy. I was amazed about the knowledge he had about the disease, but most importantly I was impressed about the way he was facing the disease. Massimo is a very active person, he does a lot of sport (gym, bicycle, skiing, hiking, climbing), he follows a proper diet, he has psychological support, he spoke with many pancreatic cancer specialists in Italy and abroad. By following his path, we became very good friends! In July 2019, Massimo and his friends decided to climb the Mont Blanc (Italian and French side, in 5 different steps) to create awareness about pancreatic cancer.

On July 21st, Massimo and his crew reached the Refuge du Goà»ter at 3815 meters, completing successfully his challenging dream.