Martina Navratilova recovered from cancer: “I thought I wouldn’t make it to next Christmas. It was the toughest challenge of my life”

The former tennis world number, one of the greatest ever, Martina Navratilova, nine-time Wimbledon winner, has announced that she has recovered from double cancer, breast and throat, announced last January. The good news came during an interview with the English journalist, Piers Morgan, which will be broadcast today in its complete version.

Navratilova, 66, had said on social media that the new diagnosis (she had already defeated another tumor 13 years ago) had come after the discovery of an enlarged lymph node in her neck. The victory against the disease was confirmed by the doctors who treated her: “Initially I panicked for three consecutive days because I thought I wouldn’t get to celebrate next Christmas”. She then her confession: “The treatment to defeat cancer is certainly the most difficult challenge I have ever faced in my life”.

The discovery of the disease, Navratilova said, had forced her to suspend plans to adopt a child with her wife Julia Lemigova. The Daily Mail, which reports the news, writes that the former champion, terrified after the diagnosis, had started compiling the list of things she wanted to do before she died. However, she struggled and, now, she says she only has two more weeks of radiation therapy to her breasts before the cancer is officially eradicated.