The good vibes of Ana Vargas in the W in the midst of adversity

The spontaneity and grace of this Dominican is not only in front of the microphone every morning but to talk about breast cancer that she is sure she will defeat

Contrary to what one might think, one of the few good things that cancer has brought to Ana Vargas is discovering that it is very comfortable not to have hair. When you have those big green eyes, everything shines, even baldness, something that her boss, Julio Sánchez Cristo, cannot say. In the W, this North American raised in the Dominican Republic has found her niche, her family. Also understanding. 15 months ago, when she was still pregnant with Miranda, the only daughter she has had with the Venezuelan xxx, a publicist whom she met nine years ago in a nightclub in Miami, she felt a lump in her breast. She at first thought it was a milk duct. She had the girl with some shocks. The lump disappeared.

But he came back. The lump came back. That night, in which she noticed her return, she had a clear time. The lump wouldn’t go away, so she had to go to her doctor in Miami. She recommended an ultrasound test. The tests were heartbreakingly conclusive: she had cancer. Since then, she has been a mute and disturbing presence that confirms the uncertainties of life.

And we, who followed her, did not know. Always with her good humor, always lighting up our mornings at the W. Sometimes her voice was not heard. It was the exams, it was the chemo. She never said anything to her boss about her but Julio asked and since then her hours are flexible. Ana has the freedom to enter when her body and her schedule allow it. It was the video, published last September 5, that alerted the fans of the W. Many were shocked not so much by the misfortune but by what that video radiated. That Sidney O’Connor face. That face and that voice taken from another era. Listening to him was putting you in another spiritual state.

And to think that Ana Vargas does not teach spirituality classes because of her illness. She only asks women to get checkups on time, so that what usually happens in lives as hectic as hers doesn’t happen: not even having time to get a checkup, to touch yourself, to know that you’re okay. Her consolation is Miranda, her husband and her job. Ana is lucky, she is one of the few people on this continent who make a living giving free rein to her passion. Her radio takes her out of this world and takes away all her problems. She doesn’t think about anything if she’s in front of a microphone. For a moment she stops thinking about that unwanted guest who has lodged in her body. Before our Ana –because she is ours, she has breakfast with us, she wakes us up- she appears in her W they call her from the production and ask her if she is alright. If she is, she does it. And she’s just as optimistic as ever. Her voice exudes colors and paints us the gray of our lives.

But sometimes the exhaustion from chemo overwhelms her. Sometimes the reasons to continue run out. She is 33 years old and the lottery of life – as if it were Borges’s Babylon lottery – awarded her with a disease that she wants to get rid of. She does not pray so much but she cultivates the spirit and serves it. She serves him is reading The Search for Life by Victor Frankl.

And when he has strength he is a presence. This video is the one that best describes it. This video paints it all. And yes, there is Ana Vargas for a while: