“Life is a rollercoaster,” Kirian Rodríguez said. When second division Las Palmas reported for pre-season last summer, the midfielder told them something wasn’t right: he was tired, didn’t want to eat and couldn’t sleep. His spleen was inflamed, his kidneys hurt and his calcium levels were too high. Doctors removed a cyst and the results of the biopsy revealed a Hodgkin lymphoma, cancer. It was August 2022 and he was 26. He underwent six sessions of chemotherapy, crossing them out on a calendar. There were pills and injections, he felt weak and his hair fell out. But the worst thing, he said later, was the fear that he wouldn’t play football again, which is what really makes him happy.
It’s what makes a lot of other people happy too. “Cancer is something associated with death; I had to be the strong one,” Kirian told ESPN. The day he announced his illness, sitting smiling in a press conference surrounded by his teammates, he told them in a calm, steady voice that broke only once and only briefly, that he didn’t want pity and that he would still be there, still shouting from the stands, still the pain in the arse he always was. Above all, he told them he would play again. There was no hurry, but he set a date. Mentally, he needed to: a public promise there to be fulfilled, it would be done, the positivism part of the process and consciously chosen. The winter window would the best they had had because he would be back.
