http://www.uefa.com/magazine/news/Kind=512/newsId=38946.html Europe unites behind Molina Friday, 18 October 2002 By Luis Arconada Lamsfus http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Photo/competitions/UCL/6516_104X102.jpg [pic] Molina has been a dedicated servant for Deportivo and Spain "Good morning ladies and gentlemen, are we all here? Well, to avoid any misunderstanding, I am going to start at the beginning..." The story of the day in Spain last Tuesday came out of a specially convened press conference at the Riazor stadium, home of RC Deportivo La Coruna. Stark message If the preamble was polite, the message from the speaker, Deportivo's Spanish international goalkeeper Jose Molina, was stark. "A year and four months ago, I think it was 18 June 2001, the day after my first season with Deportivo ended , I had an operation for testicular cancer." http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Photo/competitions/UCL/19252_104X102.jpg [pic] Cobian: "He will be back" Grim result Molina, it transpired, had undergone surgery to remove a tumour, which tests showed to be malignant. But the cancer had not spread, making the prognosis good and allowing the player to get on with his life and career. That was until Tuesday, however, six days after Molina's latest round of examinations had yielded positive results - and two days after the custodian's customary appearance in the No1 jersey for the home match with Real Racing Club Santander. Deportivo lost 2-0. Early retirement The result was a surprise, but nothing compared with the shockwave that went through Spanish football with Molina's subsequent announcement: the 32-year-old was to retire from the game with immediate effect to concentrate on beating his toughest opponent yet. Press concern Since then, Molina's illness has dominated the news. Experts from the football and medical fields have been sounded out, from Deportivo president, Augusto Cesar Lendoiro - who had supported an emotional Molina through Tuesday's ordeal - through the Galician club's first-team squad, to Eduardo Solsona, one of the medics treating the player at an oncology unit in his home town, Valencia. Therapy schedule The latter says his patient is "tough - and has to be to put up with what he does on a football field". But the rigours of a matchday pale into insignificance against the four courses of chemotheraphy the goalkeeper faces. Each cycle will take five days and be followed by three weeks of rest. The treatment will last four months. Such facts and figures have been commonplace in the sports pages. Even the football-only papers have made it their job to educate about a disease to which the 15-35 age group is most vulnerable. Positive prospects Yet the most striking detail is that 90 per cent of tumours are curable. Molina's former team-mate at Club Atletico de Madrid, Lubo Penev, beat the illness despite losing a testicle and enduring eight months of treatment. The Bulgarian later returned alongside Molina in Atletico's double-winning side of 1996. 'Will to live' That is the example Molina will follow. Deportivo club doctor Cesar Cobian said: "Molina is going to get better. We are confident that he will be back playing football. His integrity and will to live are the most important thing. " Molina's left testicle was removed in the operation in 2001, but doctors believe cancerous symptoms have reached his lower abdomen, though no vital organs have been affected. Spain united Valencia is where the fightback will begin, starting on Tuesday in the care of Dr Solsona. It had been "important", Solsona said, "that he [Molina] surrounded himself with his loved ones, because these are hard times". Certainly, the keeper has known better. Two league title medals - the second won with Deportivo two seasons ago, two Spanish Cups and nine international caps are proof of that. Those were chapters written in gold. Now the whole of Spain waits to see how the rest of his story unfolds. http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Photo/footballcentral/FootballCentral/38394 _400X600.jpg --

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