Viva Air Colombia – Claudia Obando 8K v1.0
This livery is really special, in commemoration of all those who fight and fought against breast cancer.
Viva Air Colombia launched a pink plane inspired by women who fight breast cancer on a daily basis, such as flight attendant Claudia Obando. This is the story
Life is counted in years and also in these numbers: 16 chemotherapies, 25 radiotherapies and 12 surgeries are the record that the Colombian crew member Claudia Obando bears as marks on her skin and to which she submitted in the record time of two years. She was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Her sister and father also suffer from this disease. Even so, the smile and hope live in Claudia. This is the testimony of a really brave woman.
“I look like a rag doll, I am sewn all over, but each seam reminds me how brave I am. I met a Claudia that I didn’t know existed. My friends tell me ‘you are my super heroine. Everything you’ve been through and you’re fine, ‘”she says at 45 years of age.
Claudia is a flight attendant at the Viva Air company, but she stopped working a few years ago when she found out she had breast cancer, the same disease that her sister had confessed to suffering from a month earlier.
“It is not easy for them to tell you that you have cancer, because we always associate it with death and of course it is scary. I had an ultrasound and had nothing. A month later I felt a lump in my breast, it was grade three cancer and the tumor measured six and a half centimeters, ”he recalls.
Before receiving the news, Claudia had already learned a lot about this disease, as her sister’s case prompted her to do so. They had advised him and given him all possible strength.
Do I cry a lot? “I have had difficult days, but look, I have hardly cried. I strongly advised my sister to be strong and it was of no consequence for me to start crying. From the beginning I accepted the disease”.
However, when faced with the first chemotherapy, Claudia thought “I’m not going to be able to.” “There are many women who do not do it because they are afraid of it and prefer to drink water or go to church. I think that the medical part is very important and of course God’s help ”, she says.
Claudia is not exaggerating when she says that she has scars all over the place, the cancer she suffers from is so aggressive that it has metastasized to her lymph nodes. From bad news to worse news. They did a BRCA test to detect if at some point in her life she would have cancer again and yes, the chances were 90%.
Her hair has grown back, she has shed the wigs, she feels alive again, even if the bad news is not over. Last year, she learned that her father had leukemia. “My father is an 83-year-old person, he is very tired, he does not know that I am sick, neither does my mother, because public health in Colombia is very bad.”
In this process, the unconditional support of her partner with whom she has been in a relationship for 16 years has been gratifying. They are not married, they have no children, but they are full of love for each other. And that’s how Claudia has felt it in the most difficult stage of her life.
“He and his family have supported me a lot, these moments have strengthened us as a couple, and I know that he will be by my side for whatever I need. Cancer patients must let ourselves be loved and helped because these are not easy days. I have always lived in love with my work, motherhood always put it off, it was never my priority ”, she adds.
Claudia talks excitedly about her job as a flight attendant, saying that she misses her teammates, that she dreams of getting started, and that she is very excited to fly on the pink plane.
“It strengthens me a lot to know that there is a pink plane with my name on it, the day I work will be the best moment of my life. The plane has a name but there are thousands of women who have struggled to overcome this disease, many people identify with that, ”she says.
Claudia’s hopeful voice is motivating, contagious, strong. Repeat with joy, with courage, with faith, as if you had not been through everything that happened before. “I feel like I have been born again, I am a better version of myself, I feel more in love with my family and my work,” she says. And there is no way not to believe her.
About Viva Air Colombia is a low-cost commercial passenger airline from Colombia. Founded on September 16, 2009 under the name of Fast Colombia S.A.S., it began operations on May 25, 2012. Its operations center is the José María Córdova International Airport in Rionegro, which provides service to Medellín.
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