by Giulio de Santis
This is Gabriele Marchetti, the participant of the Canale 5 program “Ciao Darwin” who became paralyzed after a game. “Now I am without autonomy and completely dependent on my wife and son”
With a touch of embarrassment, Gabriele Marchetti, the show’s competitor Ciao Darwin, who was left quadriplegic after slipping on the rollers while testing the Genodrome, says he can’t describe what he’s feeling, saying instead his words are a punch in the stomach when they talk about his tragedy: «Before that day I was a man who did a thousand things. It’s all over for me now.”
Since that day, April 17, 2019, more than three years have passed, 1152 days: «But Paolo Bonolis never looked for me to find out how I was doing. Not even people close to him have ever contacted me ». Marchetti emphasizes that “in the beginning, only someone from production contacted my family by phone and e-mail to find out about my physical condition. They made themselves available for all of our needs. But then there were no other contacts ».
His second life, after the dramatic accident, is a series of “boring and very long days because I can’t do anything, no activities,” says Gabriele, “I completely lack autonomy and I’m totally dependent on my wife Sabrina and my son Simone for carrying out every daily action”. In his early life, a sweet and very brave tall man, Gabriele remarked proudly and with inconsolable nostalgia on a fixed point: “I have always worked and devoted myself to the family”.
He also worked on the day of the tragedy: “On the other hand, as always. Then around 11 I went to the Titanus TV studios to record the show ». Gabriele remembers the days leading up to the appointment at “Ciao Darwin” and does not hide the fact that he “was happy to hear that he was able to take part in a television program and have a new experience. As always, I shared this adventure with Simone and Sabrina. “I thought I’d spend another evening and have fun,” says Gabriele, who burned every fraction of the moments after falling off the rollers into his head: “I landed upside down, with my legs drawn up and in the water, my arms gathered – he remembers – I thought I was going to drown because I couldn’t move anything. Then I heard the rescuers, who intervened immediately».
The roles to which Marchetti fell – aided by lawyers Federica Magnanti and Giovanni Ciano – are at the center of the trial of four executives, two of whom are accused at the head of RTI (Italian television channel, a company merged into Mediaset) the prosecutor Alessia Miele from very serious injuries because her surface would have been made “slippery” to make the stage more difficult. When he opened his eyes, Gabriele received the damned verdict: he would have remained paraplegic forever. “It was a total breakdown for me – Gabriele admits – I was in despair, like my family, since from one day to the next we found ourselves with a completely turned life upside down.” Among the many things he can no longer do, what is he missing? “I loved playing five-a-side football.”
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June 13, 2022 (change June 13, 2022 | 08:52)
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