In Verônica Hipólito’s agenda, 25, there is an event described as radiotherapy. It is the way the sprinter found to see the “glass full”, as defined in an interview with leaf, in his battle against the return of a brain tumor.
There are 30 sessions required, and the last procedure is scheduled to be carried out until the first week of January. A very different end of the year for those who, at the beginning of it, achieved good results and had the hope of fighting again for the podium at the Tokyo Paralympics.
Veronica competes in the T38 class (for athletes with some type of paralysis). In addition to medals at the Worlds and Pan American Games, she won silver and bronze at the Rio-2016 Games.
“I’m going to start 2022 on the right foot, with the 30 sessions completed”, says Veronica, laughing. “I try to see the glass full. During the treatment I’m meeting new people, walking around the city of São Paulo, talking more with my parents. [A cada radioterapia] It’s three hours in the car, then talking to nurses and a radiologist.”
Born in São Bernardo do Campo (SP), Verônica currently resides in neighboring Santo André. Encouraged by her parents, José Dimas and Josenilda, she started to practice judo at age 10 as a way to overcome her shyness. At 12, he was diagnosed for the first time with a brain tumor, which had to be removed in surgery.
Two years later, Veronica suffered a stroke (cerebrovascular accident) and had the right side of her body paralyzed. As part of the rehabilitation process, she opted for athletics. In 2013, he emerged in Paralympic sport by winning the 200-meter race at the Worlds in Lyon, France.
In her journey to take the podium in Rio in 2016, the paulista came across other barriers. In 2015, he developed a serious condition of anemia on the eve of the Pan American Games in Toronto, but managed to win three gold medals (100 m, 200 m and 400 m events) and a silver in the long jump.
Back from Canada, she had a good part of her large intestine removed, which created uncertainty about whether she would be able to be ready by the Paralympics in Rio.
“Something I learned from my parents is that it’s not up to us to judge the other’s pain, whether it’s a tumor, a cold or the little finger that hits the corner and that hurts a lot. It’s up to us to show that it’s going to work, everything will be fine and face it,” says the runner.
“I’m not going to focus on the problems and go ‘oh heavens, life, bad luck.’ I’m going to focus on the solution and continue with the sport.”
In 2017 and 2018, she underwent two more surgical interventions to remove the brain tumor. After the latter, the athlete faced pneumonia.
“I thought, now go: the Games [de Tóquio] were postponed, I started to have good results and training well, but in the routine exam we found out that the tumor had returned”, recalls the São Paulo native. “At the beginning I was very tired, insecure. I joke today that I’ve only been carrying it in my head since 2017.”
Far from Tokyo, Verônica was invited by Grupo Globo to comment on the Games for SporTV channels. It fell in the spectator’s taste and, at the same time, was enchanted with communication.
He left the studios with such nostalgia that he plans to pursue a career in television. Before that, however, he is on his way to complete the economics course at the Federal University of ABC and does not lose sight of Paris-2024.
Veronica collects achievements daily to get back to competing at a high level. There are five different remedies every day, including lifelong steroids. “With this one I get swollen, I don’t do hormone replacement and I have more chances of injury. But it’s what allows me to live and keep running too.”
Veronica was distressed when she noticed an increase in weight. With the help of two nutritionists, he follows a diet that limits carbohydrate intake to a maximum of 60 grams per day. According to her, the equivalent of two tablespoons of brown rice. “I used to eat six scoops of white rice, meat and potatoes, and a chocolate.”
Throughout this process and away from competitions, the sprinter lost the aid of her athlete bag on the podium, the highest, whose monthly payment varies between R$ 5 thousand and R$ 10 thousand according to the competitor’s performance.
Few things afflict Veronica. One of them is the lack of incentives from the federal government in the training and qualification of athletes.
“The student grant is R$ 370, how do you do for a child to train from Monday to Friday and have adequate food with the price of food and ticket at high altitudes? How to inspire these guys?”, he asks.
That’s why she founded the Naurú project, which proposes to provide assistance for athletes and coaches to evolve in their careers. They are training in the areas of communication, management and dissemination of the image and social media, health and supplementation, among others.
Naurú, in the Tupi-Guarani language, alludes to the brave, the warrior, the hero. Words that Veronica learned at an early age. And, through the parents, their meaning.
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