A lot of amazing things have happened this year in medical science and research, but it’s always especially heartwarming to see how those results in the lab pan out in real life. Or in this case, how they play out–literally.
In 2011, Eric Abidal was diagnosed with a tumor on his liver, but even after surgery to remove it, the French fullback was ready to get back out on the field in mere months.
But later, when Eric’s medical team determined that he would in fact need a liver transplant to beat his odds at cancer, many thought for sure this warrior’s days of football were sure to be over. Wrong!
According to recent post by Luis Mazariegos on the Barca Blaugranes fan page, Eric Abidal has been given the green light to hit the field after his successful liver transplant. Mazariegos writes, “The prognosis was grim. Forget the fact that most people wondered whether a player on the wrong side of 30 could play football at the highest level ever again: it was possible Abidal would not make it, or have his quality of life suffer greatly in some manner.
Abidal stated that he would like to return, but again, he stressed it was not really his priority. Meanwhile, Barcelona lost the Champions League and La Liga titles – but football did not seem so important, anyway.
The transplant in April went fine. Abidal’s body was in poor shape, but his spirit remained intact. He continued his recovery despite not knowing if he’d be able to play again.
In October he began light training, slowly but surely getting fitter and fitter. He continued training in a separate group apart from the club, but began approaching full training levels.
‘As the doctors say, I shouldn’t have survived,’ Abidal told Marca. ‘I’m working towards my comeback. If I can, I will, and if not, no problem, I’ll carry on with my family life.’
It’s looking like he might be able to do both soon.”
Anthony “Siggi” Clavien 