Monica, the woman who beat cancer four times

She doesn't consider herself a heroine, and when she talks about her four lifelong battles with cancer, she lumps them together, referring to "a story of rebirth, not of illness." Monica Oriente, born in 1973 in Sapri, in the province of Salerno, has lived in the company of the "bête noire," engaging in a perpetual tug-of-war, which she has always won.

The first time, she was just 20 years old, when the diagnosis of stage IV Hodgkin's lymphoma, an advanced form of lymphatic cancer, hit her like a blow. This resulted in 12 rounds of chemotherapy and 28 radiotherapy sessions, with the associated side effects: nausea, exhaustion, and constant fatigue. Then came the recurrence, also a defeat, and a bone marrow transplant with a month's hospitalization at the Policlinico Umberto I in Rome. Another battle and another victory, until the third diagnosis, in October 2021: hormonal breast cancer, fortunately detected in an early stage through mammography and ultrasound. With a quadrantectomy, followed by 34 radiotherapy sessions, Monica had a lump about one centimeter in size removed.

In April 2026, Monica decided to tell her whole story in this book, titled, not by chance, Four Times Me – My Rebirths After Cancer (Piemme editions), with an introduction by virologist Matteo Bassetti.

Cover photo from Monica Oriente's Instagram profile 

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