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Who said that a person affected by ALS cannot lead a normal life, or almost, like everyone else?

The shining example is Paolo Palumbo, the youngest person affected by ALS in the whole of Europe, whom C&C has decided to support in his life journey.

Paolo Palumbo was born in Nuoro, Sardinia, on August 16, 1997. Since he was a child, his life has been heading in a very specific direction: that of haute cuisine. In fact, Paolo dreams of becoming a great chef, a passion that will never abandon him. However, in 2015, before turning 18, his daily life is shattered by a struggle he could never have imagined: that with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, known as ALS. But thanks to a determination that transcends his young age, Paolo does not lose heart.

"United we win," he says to all those he meets on his path, becoming an inspiration for those who feel overwhelmed by seemingly insurmountable difficulties that life puts in front of them. Thus, he embarks on a new path parallel to cooking: that of raising awareness about neurodegenerative diseases, being the holder of the unfortunate record of being the youngest ALS patient in Europe.

It is after his hospitalization at NEMO in Milan that he begins to make a name for himself both inside and outside the hospital environment; there, he is struck by a revolutionary insight and patents a swab capable of allowing those unable to ingest solid food to once again enjoy the pleasure of tasting flavors. Paolo's story becomes public knowledge, also due to the great sacrifice made by his older brother Rosario who, in the face of Paolo's ALS diagnosis, abandoned every personal path to dedicate himself to his brother's care and become "his arms and legs."

Together with his great friend Luigi Pomata, he publishes the recipe book "Flavors in Colors." He meets Obama and the most important political figures in the world, makes his voice heard at the G7 in Taormina in 2017, and in 2019 fights to bring the only experimental treatment for ALS to Italy, reaching a direct confrontation with President Giuseppe Conte.

But in 2020, he asserts himself on the scene becoming a cultural phenomenon: he participates as a guest at Sanremo with the song "I am Paolo," a rap song in which he performs thanks to his vocal communicator, publishes his biography "To Fly I Only Need my Eyes", which in a few days ranks first on the charts.

But Paolo does not stop, he fully lives every minute as if it were the last, because life is only one and must be lived to the full regardless of one's own condition, and thus he writes other songs in collaboration with the greatest Italian artists of the moment, and signs the song "Exist" with the tenor Francesco Demuro, to carry forward his message of hope and courage.