Newcastle United’s Jonas Gutierrez has been fighting testicular cancer for the past two years. He has recently been in remission and been playing for the Newcastle U-21’s for the past couple months. Now Gutierrez says on Twitter that he is fit and healthy to play for the first team.
Healthy and ready now is a board decision.
— jonas gutierrez (@elgalgojonas) February 23, 2015
He even thanked his rival Sunderland fans for his support.
I know toon hate Sunderland and Sunderland hate toon but I recieved a lot of support from Sunderland and toon fans that means that healthy
— jonas gutierrez (@elgalgojonas) February 23, 2015
Is more important that the team that you support, thanks for all the support thought my illness doesn't care the team you support
— jonas gutierrez (@elgalgojonas) February 23, 2015
After getting into a collision with Arsenal’s Bacary Sagna in May 2013, Gutierrez went to get a scan after experiencing pain from the collision. It was there that it was discovered he had testicular cancer.
After he got his cancerous testicle removed, all was good for about a year until it was discovered that his cancer had spread before the surgery. Gutierrez underwent chemotherapy for five months in the summer of 2014. Gutierrez was discharged from the hospital in November 2014 as his cancer went into remission. Since then, he has been training in hopes of a comeback primarily with the U-21 team.
Now, after going through a couple years of hell from the surgery and chemotherapy as well as being told by his former manager Alan Pardew to “find another club,” Jonas Gutierrez is ready to come back to play the game that he loves, in the city that he loves, for the fans that he loves and who love him back. If you have that kind of fight and determination as well as support from so many people, that kind of support helps you get through those dark days. Wishing Jonas Gutierrez continued health and a powerful, inspirational return to the soccer field in the very near future.
(Daily Mail/Telegraph/101 Great Goals)
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Stories like Jonas Gutierrez really stresses the need for everyone to be educated and be aware for cancer symptoms as well as receive regular, recommended screenings. Gutierrez was lucky that he got in a collision because if it wasn’t for that, it may not have been discovered until it was too late. Get yourself educated and checked before it’s too late.