EPL club Aston Villa captain Stiliyan Petrov feels like a survivor after being diagnosed with leukemia, a rare disease that affects white blood cells which are responsible for strength in our immune system. He is not the first one in contemporary soccer to be identified with such a kind of disease; earlier Barcelona head coach has also been diagnosed with throat cancer for which he is still going treatment after two surgeries in last two years. Leukemia is also considered a kind of cancer which can be cured if treated properly, though it also depends upon the age of the person affected. The Bulgarian was associated with Celtic until 2006 and played 30 matches for them, he then joined Villa in 2006 and till date he has played almost 200 matches for them. But the good news is his leukemia is showing signs of recovery in very first treatment session hence he is most likely to get away of it sooner than expected earlier. He recalled how it started and shared it via club website; he mentioned there that “At the start I thought it was just a cold, nothing serious. When I was told the diagnosis, I was a little shocked but accepted it and just wanted to start the treatment straight away.”
He even feels lucky to know about his disease so early otherwise there would be less chances to eradicate it completely, he added, “I’ve had my hard moments but I’ve had good moments as well. I’m lucky because some people with this disease will die very quickly. I’m glad that this hard year is behind me now and I can concentrate on getting back to my life.”
He recently went through a chemotherapy session which was successful and showed some major signs of recovery. He told about his treatment as, “I have finished all of the high intensity treatment and from now on I’ll be on the softer treatment, which is two years on tablets. It was a very, very long year but now, after all this treatment, I can go back to a normal life. The support from all the fans, the club, the players, has been amazing.
“The 19th minute has been just incredible,” he said. “It’s them showing their appreciation and their support. I don’t know how I can thank the fans because it’s been incredible. Sometimes I joke with friends when they text me saying, ‘You’ve still got that applause in the 19th minute, when are they going to stop?!”