“The chemo was devastating” – Corriere.it

Sbastien Haller, Borussia Dortmund striker – he had discovered testicular cancer in July – returned to the field after six months of absence in the match against Augusta won by the gialloneri 4-3. he was greeted by the roar of the audience and a very long applause. Six months during which Haller underwent two operations and four cycles of chemotherapy, and finally in January he had the green light from the doctors to be able to return to training with the first team and play. For the occasion, Puma, the player’s technical sponsor, celebrated the attacker’s return with a personalized pair of shoes: on the outer back of the shoes a message to the defeated disease: F**k CancerThe forward gave an interview to the French newspaper L’Equipe in which he stripped naked, told everything about the illness and the long recovery period. I pushed away the fear – he said – that state of mind would not have served to overcome it, nor to live with it. The story: I thought: if something is going to happen, it will. If you have a little bit of control, you can have more apprehension, fear, but… I had no choice but to trust the doctors, who have been amazing to me. I had to continue to be mentally strong, tell myself that with this attitude I would overcome everything. As a professional player I felt that I had to have this responsibility.

Symptoms and diagnosis

Haller relives the film, the nightmare he slipped into from the moment he felt the first (and even trivial) symptoms. It was May and I had just arrived in the national team. I had stomach discomfort that lasted for a few days, then I caught the flu. We were in South Africa, I remember wearing a down jacket but I was very cold. I felt very weak. Haller didn’t pay much attention to it at first, when he returned to Europe went on vacation with his family and signed for Borussia. Then a kind of abdominal pressure began, I thought I had a hernia – he added – and I consulted the physiotherapists. Tried everything, massage, acupuncture on the affected area, but no pass. They advised me to do an ultrasound to clarify the situation. Then they saw a mass. We had an MRI done the next morning to find out if the tumor was benign or malignant… However, I continued to train. And then, when the urologist arrived, he made me undress and in ten seconds he told me: “a tumor”. That’s all, in that moment the world collapses on you.

The first intervention and the effects of chemo

The attacker thus warned his wife, who was on holiday with the children. Three days later she was already in the operating room. We had to speed up given the size of the metastases, this was the most worrying thing. The surgery, then the four cycles of chemo: The worst part after chemo is actually. Chemo broke my body from the inside, surgery from the outside. So, I had to pick it up little by little. And after chemo, even if you feel quite well, you really look like a sick person, you have sunken eyes, less hair, black lips… The first few days, because of the catheter in my throat, I had the voice of a boy who had taken a cold. It’s not often that a footballer gets cancer.

Metastases and second surgery

Have you discovered a world other than football? And that I would be fine without football (laughs). But it is interesting when you are faced with certain things because you learn, it is rewarding, I will pass it on to my children, I will do more prevention… It has strengthened me in my personality. In November, another intervention. It had been planned from the start, due to the level of the tumor. The metastasis was very, very large, in fact. In short, it was necessary to operate once, do chemo to remove the metastases and then go back to the operating room. His life changed in those months. Haller, as he continues to tell the Equipe journalist, dedicated himself to affection.

The family and the travels

So many things happened, but I spent time with my family, it made me feel good, I watched the kids grow up, it cleared my mind. I did other things like cycling, arranging sport fishing, a day trip, paddle boarding, golf… We went to New York, London, Qatar for the World Cup. I thought it was nice in my position to do things I didn’t have the opportunity to do. You have also been to the Ballon d’Or. Yes, it was a great event, I received a lot of support, from the organizers, from the participants… In sickness, there are moments that bring us closer together, it feels good. And we open up. We are no longer the same, we no longer have the same story, the same way of seeing evidence. There are so many things to experience, you savor even more as you go through it all.