Totò Schillaci is fighting and has no intention of giving up even an inch. A bit like when he was on the pitch looking for a loose ball to throw behind the opposing goalkeeper. The hero of Italia ’90, hospitalized since last Saturday at the Civico hospital in Palermo, due to a worsening of his conditions, has everyone holding their breath. Now his health, however, this is the encouraging news of the day, is “improving”, as communicated by the health management of the hospital complex of the Sicilian capital.
“Last night – the note reads – an atrial arrhythmia was recorded, well tolerated by the patient, for which a pharmacological treatment was started which determined the stabilization of the heart rate. The drug therapies have helped to obtain an improvement in respiratory compensation with a reduction in oxygen support”. A piece of news that the entire world of football, and not only, was waiting for and hoping would arrive soon. The former striker of the National team, therefore, is trying to react, after being struck by pneumonia that had complicated his already delicate oncological clinical picture.
Schillaci has, in fact, undergone two operations for colon cancer. An illness that he thought he had overcome and – instead – has now returned. Despite this, the 59-year-old is a tough guy who is always willing to push himself further and never throw in the towel. His fans and supporters – in his career he has worn the jerseys of Messina, Juventus, Inter and Jubilo Iwata – had gone to the hospital in recent days to encourage him. Their support will have played its part, given that at this moment Schillaci “is alert, conscious, with a clear improvement in his anxiety, so he is resting peacefully”. Toto’-goal fight.