Pirkko Lahti tells Kotiliede about his life after a cancer diagnosis.
Pirkko Lahti has fallen ill with blood cancer. Photo from 2012. KARI PEKONEN
Psychologist Pirkko Lahti tells Hearth-magazine, that five years ago he received an arresting phone call from a doctor.
– I was told that I have serious blood cancer, a very rare and incurable disease caused by an abnormal gene. They were told to contact a doctor immediately, he says.
For Lahti, the diagnosis was depressing at first. He will have to take cytostats for the rest of his life. Lahti was told that the cancer may not kill him, but the heavy treatments might.
– Hands must be washed after taking strong pills. When I swallowed them, I thought that I was injecting quite a few poisons into me, he says to the magazine.
Pirkko Lahti once served as chairman of the Alli Paasikivi Foundation. Photo from 2012. Nina Kaverinen
The drugs first made Lahti feel bad. Then Pirkko lost weight, slept badly, was tired and lost his joy in life. Today, Lahti has adapted to his cancer, which he has nicknamed Antero. Lahti describes cancer as being like a close or familiar friend who is sometimes really annoying, but with whom you have to get along.
Health Library according to the blood cancer, i.e. leukemia, is caused by the transformation of precursors of white blood cells in the bone marrow into malignant cancer cells. In leukemia, a single tumor does not form, but there are cancer cells in the circulating blood and bone marrow. The most common symptoms of the disease are, for example, bone pain, fatigue, bleeding and stubborn inflammation.
Lati became a widow in 2021, when her spouse Kauko Piipari died in. In 2022, Lahti said Ilta-Sanomthat due to a memory disorder, Piipari spent his last year in a nursing home.
– I often visited him, and Kauko usually spent one day a week at home. Now all that time has come to me, Lahti said.