By Andrea Hargraves 
Pedro Tavares da Silva was “baseless” when he discovered, at the age of 44, with no predictability, that he had a highly aggressive cancer. They gave him two or three years to live, and one night, after he suffered complications, they called his family to tell them he might not make it the next day. Six years have passed since then. Although it was not treated, the tumor stabilized. But he lives every day with a “sword over his head.”
“A lot of people ask me if I feel angry or aggrieved. Quite the opposite. I've always felt like this was a kind of awakening of consciousness. We take everything for granted in life. We know it will end one day, but we never know when. I I'm not. He had a timer, a stopwatch and it was an awakening of consciousness to make the most of life,” he says in the latest episode of the podcast “Que Voz é Esta?”
After the Champalimaud Foundation in Lisbon, Pedro received psychological support from the beginning of the disease and considers this to have been crucial in the way he dealt with the uncertainty of the cancer and the rigors of the treatments.
“There are things we can't even say to the people closest to us or say and they don't understand it. Get a professional [de saúde mental] Who accompanies us on this path is very essential because we can talk about everything. When people ask me what is important to do when diagnosed with cancer, I answer: First, get psychological support.
Silvia Almeida, a psychologist specializing in psychotherapeutic support for cancer patients, and Pedro Tavares da Silva, who has been fighting cancer for six years, were the guests of the new episode of the podcast “Que Voz é Esta?”
Nuno Botelho
“A cancer diagnosis is generally confusing for those who receive it, in the sense that it is perceived as life-threatening, which awakens many,” explains Silvia Almeida, a clinical psychologist who provides specialized psychotherapy consultations for cancer patients at the Champalimaud Foundation. Emotions.”
In this episode of the podcast, the psychologist explains the most common reactions among cancer patients and the most psychologically challenging stages in the course of the disease, highlighting the importance of psychotherapeutic support in these situations, as cancer patients “have an increased likelihood of suffering” from problems with anxiety and depression. This can affect the development of the disease itself.