Angelos Foskolos: “He who is not afraid wins” – The shocking confession of the athlete about the battle with cancer

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The water polo player’s message from this whole adventure? “Prevention saves lives and it saved mine too”

In a shocking confession, Angel Foskolos spoke about his health adventure, delivering free life lessons.

The athlete of the Peristeri Gymnastics Club was diagnosed in September with early stage testicular cancerimmediately underwent surgery and then chemotherapy, having now emerged as the winner!

His message from this whole adventure? “Prevention saves lives and it saved mine“, as well as that: “Don’t be afraid, face reality, whatever it is. Optimism and faith for the best. Whoever is not afraid and believes in himself wins»!

The problem started in the middle of September, when the discomfort in the groin had started. Because of this discomfort, I immediately had an ultrasound, which diagnosed that something is there… Because the pain was intense, the doctors told me that it should be removed and that there are chances that we are talking about malignancy. All the other, detailed, tests I underwent showed absolutely nothing. Not the cancer markers, not the blood tests, not the x-rays, not the magnetics, nothing”he said among other things in his interview with aquafeed24.com and continued: “I did the surgery very quickly, I didn’t waste a minute and removed the lump (1.5 cm). When the biopsy was done, something was found again, at a very early stage, showing no further signs of vascularization. After the surgery, I had the options to either do nothing and watch it or do a course of chemotherapy with the aim of keeping this rate of recurrence or occurrence to a minimum. The truth is, I acted too quickly. It was all very sudden, we are talking about the start of my preparation period with GS Peristeriou and you know, when you have a disturbance, especially us athletes, we cannot imagine that something so extreme is happening… I mean, me the doctors, for example the urologist at the beginning asked me if I had received a blow, something that is strongly present in the position I compete in (s.s. fantaristos). Of course I could not know such a thing because over the years I have developed a tolerance for pain».

How did he handle it?

I think I managed it very cool, the most important thing is that I was not scared for a moment. I was lucky because all my doctors emphasized that it is an early condition and if the necessary steps are taken I will not have any problems. I made methodical moves, as at the same time I had competitive obligations and I did not allow myself to get disoriented and most importantly, to be afraid. When I was told that the tumor needed to be removed, I acted within the timeline to schedule the surgery so that I could meet my racing commitments. I went to the preparation in Serbia, where we played a tournament and then, I missed the first three games, to be ready with Apollo Smyrnis. I was then told the extent of the problem. I had to, for my own good, have chemo treatments, as the doctors explained to me, it may never happen, but I have a 15-20% chance of something worse developing in the next two years, and then the cycle of said treatments should to be long term… This, as you understand, would be very toxic for my body and a risk for my sports career because I would have to be out for about a year. We see the example of Ale of Dortmund that the lad has been out of action since last July».

With his health now in his favor, Angelos Foskolos talks about his goal, which is none other than that of returning to competitive action: “The doctor told me to come back gradually, but based on my good tests and my will, I want to try to play against Apollon Smyrnis to help my team. I don’t know if I can offer one, two, five minutes or the whole game or if that will set me back further in my recovery. This is the first small goal, but more broadly, the goals don’t change. My ambitions are too high and as the doctor said, I did what I had to do, to put it behind me and forget it. It has no effect on my body, my muscles, my organism. The truth is that I was upset by all these rumors about my health. To my regret, rumors spread in our area that I am dying, that I will have surgery again, that I have active cancer in my body. These things are unacceptable and are taking our space back, while there are people like you who are trying to create a product from scratch. I’ve had psychological warfare on me all this time, I’m really sorry. They essentially forced me to make this announcement and this interview. I had my problem and I was trying to deal with it as calmly as possible and I saw that day by day more and worse rumors were being spread about my health. It is not possible in such a closed and small space, that some of us are trying tooth and nail to upgrade, among us to dig each other’s pit».

As for the lesson from this story? “This is a difficult question because I can say a lot, which will be a different topic of discussion in the future. From the insurance we don’t have, from the security we don’t feel as athletes when we compete. Professional athletes, of the first category, we do not have the right in a serious injury or a more serious health issue like now, not to have the provision of examinations and medical control. This is a very big problem. After that, I am a professional athlete, I take care of my life, my diet, everything. This disease does not discriminate and I want to advise anyone who reads us to have regular medical checkups and tests often, as prevention saves lives and it saved mine. Also, don’t panic, everything is in life, stress doesn’t help anyone. With calmness and without fear any problem can be dealt with effectively. After an intense difficulty, you appreciate some things more. You value the moment, the now, a walk with a friend, a coffee, a workout, a game. The truth is, however, that if you don’t suffer, you won’t learn… It’s very difficult to learn as a spectator. Therefore, through all the evil, this light within me emerged. I want to live, love, appreciate things everyday. The years pass and since only the memories remain, I want to have strong and with great substance from now on. You never know what life throws at you».

Was he himself panicked by this whole adventure?

No. I didn’t panic. But I want to tell a story. When I started having the discomfort, I had a test done and was told it could be something bad. In general, I am a moderate person and I have balance within me. But there, in the first few minutes of being told the extent of the problem, I was standing outside a director’s door at a hospital and waiting for quite some time. When I looked at the folder with my name on it and thought that was the problem, I thought I was living a nightmare for a few seconds. That I lost my mind and the earth beneath my feet. I thought I would wake up.. everything was spinning.. now I will wake up and say I was scared.. but that didn’t happen. For a few minutes after that I was at a loss, it wasn’t a nightmare. Then logic returned to my mind, I didn’t panic anymore and did what I had to do. Apart from the person who has the problem, parents, siblings, friends are also passive victims. And I wanted to manage it in the best way possible. Announcing what was happening to my family was something very difficult. I felt a responsibility towards them, so that they would see it as coolly as I saw it. This was, in fact, the first challenge for me and the thoughts started on the way from the hospital to my house. I remember characteristically that my own self protected me from bending myself, because then what would those around me do ; How would they react to the image of me being psychologically broken, crying, panicking? I kept my cool, let them know it was treatable, I was on my feet, it didn’t seem to affect me that much. I had many thoughts, many evenings when I was alone I thought about things. All that happened so suddenly, contributed to creating an even stronger character and a more complete person».

Angelos Foskolos also spoke about the “National team” chapter, stating: “The National team is an honor for every athlete. I have completely left the health problem behind me. It was a simple pause. From the moment I get back in the water, I want to be on par with any player. If the Federal coach judges that I am not able to compete at this level, it is fully respected. “Why don’t I go? First of all is my health. If I’m well and called, I’ll go».

RES-EMP

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