life after fighting cancer

In August of last year the world stopped for the actress and singer-songwriter Vanesa Butera. What was going to be a routine gynecological study, was not. Undue bleeding during the consultation led her to the medical ward and hence her discovery: there was a tumor in the cervix. The biopsy followed. See if it was benign or malignant. And it was evil. It was cancer.

Then Vanesa’s world stopped. All plans and projects were put on hold. His energy was completely devoted to the treatment: chemotherapy and rays. She finished it at the end of the year.

“Now, in a few days, I have to have the MRI to see if it worked. I’m afraid, of course, he’s a jerk. I’m going to have to check myself every three months. But hey, it’s what he gave me,” he says today in a bar in Palermo.

Vanesa looks hopeful. It is full of projects. She likes to think that she is living a new life. But no shuffling and turning. The pause served to confirm that he is on the right path.

He started 2024 with pure rock, let’s say. José María Muscari proposed him to do the work Sex for the summer season and accepted: “From the probe to the thong,” he jokes. It had been just a month and a half since she had finished the treatment. I still had lead in my body and I didn’t know if I was ready to go on stage, sing and dance. But I was moved and motivated that Paola Luttini and Jose, the producers and Mati Napp, thought of me being in such a moment. So I canceled my vacation in Henderson, where my mother lives, and came.”

“At first I was afraid because of the level of exposure that Sex. But at the same time, I decided to take in a bit of the irony of life: that my first post-treatment job was connected to sexuality, just after having had cancer that is closely related to sexuality. And it was spectacular. There is some Sex that fascinates me. I ended my participation very happy,” she shares.

But Vanesa keeps spinning. On the one hand, she is with her acoustic shows. Tomorrow, Thursday, she performs at Nün Teatro Bar, to a full house. And on April 5th she re-releases Do not call me, the work of Mariela Asensio, at the Teatro del Pueblo: “To me, andThe work of an artist gives me life. It puts me in a very special place of fulfillment. I am lucky to be able to make a living from this for more than twenty-something years.”

Vanesa admits that she had not had gynecological check-ups for eight years. “From the unconscious more than anything else. One believes that those things are not going to happen to her. I always boasted of being extremely healthy. But well, hearriving at 40 years old with uterine cancer is not the norm for a person who does not catch a cold, who never missed work, who never falls into bed and who never hurts at all. There are no aspirin or ibupirac in my house. I don’t know what it’s like to feel bad. But I am not a super girl,” she emphasizes.

And he gives more details of what he experienced: “Before the treatment I had surgery. I had ovarian transplantation, which is done in young patients to preserve hormones, so as not to have menopause so young. They didn’t touch the tumor. The tumor was not operable due to its size, it measured four centimeters. After the operation, I had about two weeks of recovery. And before starting the treatment I had a hemorrhage, something that could happen. I was hospitalized for a week because they couldn’t stop it. It was the most critical moment. They gave me an emergency tamponade. I lost a lot of blood and they had to give me some transfusions. They referred me from the British to CEMIC, where they stopped the bleeding with some emergency rays,” he details.

Vanesa’s story is without drama. In fact, he was surfing the obstacles step by step. “AND always trying to take it with humor. That’s saving me a little. I tried not to delve too deeply into why it happened to me. Yes, when they told me the word cancer I thought: ‘How do I say it to my mother. I have to tell him that I could die, you understand?’ I spoke about it on the phone, because my mother lives in Henderson, 500 kilometers from the Capital. I never used the word cancer, of course. And I gave him all the good news: It is localized and they do not believe there is metastasis. Until that moment we didn’t know for sure,” she says.

Vanesa admits that waiting for that study was the worst moment. “Because it was not only about having cancer but also the fear that it had gone to the bone or lung. Luckily it didn’t happen,” she says with relief. And she is grateful: “I did the chemo at the Británico and the rays at the CEMIC. I got two incredible places. The people who work in Oncology have a very great level of love. Or at least the one that touched me. It is a very difficult job. I saw many young patients, due to the lifestyle we lead and electronic devices. I had a pretty angelic treatment. But he is brave. And it is very difficult to go from being a person, as I told you, who believes he or she goes unpunished. This was a slap in the face of reality and humanity: ‘Black, you’re just any human.’ And when you work with your body to be on stage, as is my case, and feel that the instrument is not available, it is tremendous. Luckily I had and have a lot of family network, my parents, sisters, friends. Much love,” she details.

-And did you have therapeutic support?

-Yes, with a psycho-oncologist, who is the mother of one of my best friends. She accompanied me again. It wasn’t just the session: he would talk to her at any time.

-Now that a few months have passed, how did you experience the treatment?

– From a distance I am proud of myself. I feel like I blew it. I only relaxed when I finished it. There I started crying like crazy. But before, I was the one who calmed my mother down. I was very focused. It never happened to me to ask myself: “Why me?” It’s clear: I haven’t had a checkup in eight years. I took the blame somehow. For this reason, now I insist that annual check-ups be done because there are many more chances of catching it in time, of giving it an easier battle, of being cured. Now I’m waiting to have the MRI done to see if the treatment worked. I was scared, but I’m in the mode: “What needs to be done, how do we continue?”

-Did you paint inspiration or humor in the midst of chemo or rays?

-You know that no. Inspiration did not come. Everyone told me: “You must have three new albums.” And nothing. I couldn’t hold the guitar. She would get to bed, open the computer and couldn’t connect to anything. Nor write. She slept a lot, she was very tired. Only now is there some of all that gasoline that was accumulating. I’m finishing writing a musical with my songs, the ones that I have been playing on my latest albums, with texts and monologues of mine that will unite them. It’s the first time I tell it. I hope to release it this year. The idea is to take it on tour too, as I like to do. In fact, last year I was playing in Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Valencia, London and Berlin. Also in Mexico, Cuba and New York. I already have 4 albums made. I also do concerts in all formats with my quintet. I self-esteem and today I found a nice balance between work as an actress and songs. Now I have to add the controls.

-Any mantra, amulet or ritual based on what happened to you?

-Look, I received everything from my family, from friends, from people who follow me: candles, cards, keychains with saints, a lot of religious things. When they gave them to me, they told me: “I don’t know if you believe.” And I told them: “It doesn’t matter what I believe, if you believe in this and you want me to be well, fine. I believe in that”. I didn’t make promises, but I know of people who have gone to Luján for me. Others have done Reiki to me from their home. I never imagined. I hesitated a lot to tell it on the networks. I was very afraid to expose itbut when they started to tell me that they were going to do the check-ups, that they hadn’t done it for years, I said: “It was worth it.”