[Sport]Carla Suárez suffers from Hodgkin's lymphoma and will undergo chemotherapy for six months

[SougarLord]

Carla Suárez has announced that she suffers from cancer. Medical tests that she underwent in recent weeks, which forced her to give up the tour of the United States, have revealed that she suffers from Hodgkin's lymphoma. The Gran Canaria explained that "detection is early, its proliferation is curable and of small dimensions", and will have to undergo chemotherapy treatment during the next six months.

Suárez had confessed that he had been unable to train normally since July. "I don't feel good about demanding professional training from my body." She said that as the intensity of work increased she felt a "general malaise" that prevented her from continuing. The Gran Canaria resigned from the Premier 5 of Cincinnati and underwent a series of medical tests in Barcelona. A few days ago, when she announced that she would not be at the US Open either, she revealed that she was waiting for the results.

Hodgkin lymphoma is a type of cancer that affects the immune system. According to the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC), more than 80% of patients who undergo chemotherapy overcome the disease. Age (he will turn 32 this Thursday), early detection and small dimensions play in Carla Suárez's favor. "The reaction will be immediate: we will continue a chemotherapy treatment for the next six months," he announced.

The Gran Canaria tennis player had announced in December that this would be her last season in the elite, but first the pandemic and now this diagnosis has postponed her plans. "The only goal I have at the moment is to follow medical advice daily, leaving any other reality in the background," she said. And in that sense, she ends the course: she will not be in Rome or Roland Garros, the two appointments she had marked on the clay court calendar.

Suárez had not competed since last February, when she lost to Petra Kvitová in the second round of the Qatar Open. That is precisely one of the tournaments that stand out in her record (the other is the Open de Oeiras). It was in February 2016 and it earned her the best ranking of her career: number six in the world.

 

THE SUPPORT OF TENNIS AND VIRGINIA TORRECILLA

Social networks were flooded with messages of encouragement for Carla Suárez after announcing her diagnosis. The most significant, that of Virginia Torrecilla, an Atlético de Madrid footballer who was operated on for a brain tumor last May. "Amiga Carla, 'trying' is not part of our plans! We are going to get ahead no matter what, and when this happens we will celebrate it in a big way with everyone who has been. Always strong," wrote the rojiblanca player.

Garbiñe Muguruza dedicated her victory to him at the US Open against the Japanese Nao Hibino.

"A lot of strength, Carla, in these tough moments of life. Surely, as you say, with positivism, the strength you've always had and the necessary help, you get it!" Wrote Rafa Nadal. The number one in the world on the circuit male, Novak Djokovic, also had words of encouragement for the Gran Canaria: "Carla, you are a fighter and I have no doubt that you will overcome it. Stay positive and come back soon. Good luck".

 

ATHLETES WHO OVERCOME CANCER

The women's tennis circuit offers examples of players who overcame Hodgkin's lymphoma and returned to competition. They are cases like those of Alisa Kleybanova, Victoria Duval (who years later met in the final of a tournament in Lubbock) or Ross Hutchins. Although already retired, tennis players like Martina Navratilova or Francesca Schiavone also managed to overcome cancer.

 

The footballer Yeray Álvarez suffered from testicular cancer for just over a year and today he is the central head of Athletic and came to knock on the doors of the Spanish team. Lubo Penev was key in Atlético de Madrid's double one year after overcoming it. José Francisco Molina extended his career four more years and what Arjen Robben suffered when he was only 20 years old has not prevented him from being one of the best wingers in world football for more than a decade, with a Champions League, 11 league titles behind him.

 

 

American guard Kyle Kuric, then a Herbalife Gran Canaria player, fell into a coma due to a brain tumor and not only managed to return to his best level, but two years later he signed for Barça. Jamaican sprinter Novlene Williams-Mills had to undergo a double mastectomy in 2013. Then she was the world champion in 4x400 and won an Olympic silver.

In recent months, seeing that the pandemic had postponed the Olympic Games and had disrupted the tennis calendar, Carla Suárez had begun to weigh the idea of extending her career a little more until the Madrid tournament in 2021. Although now those plans are parked, it will be another incentive at the end of the tunnel. Put your own end to your career.