The athlete from Lugo, who overcame osteosarcoma in childhood, participates this Thursday at the Albéniz cinema in an AECC event for International Cancer Research Day.
Nicolás Martínez Adega, known as Nico Adega, 20 years old, will participate this Thursday in Málaga at the event organized by the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) on the occasion of International Cancer Research Day. The event will take place in room three of the Albéniz cinema, between 10:00 and 12:00 hours. This is reported by Diario Sur.
Born in Lugo, Adega was diagnosed with osteosarcoma at just seven years old. The tumour was in his right knee, the most common site for this type of bone cancer. “I was at a football training session, my mother saw me limping and took me to the paediatrician,” he recounts. After seeing the orthopaedic surgeon and undergoing an emergency MRI, the family received confirmation: high-grade osteosarcoma.
The treatment was long. He needed 20 cycles of chemotherapy, 34 of immunotherapy, and 15 surgeries. “It was practically two years in the hospital,” he specifies. The main surgery took place on June 9, 2014, after the diagnosis in December 2013. They removed half of his tibia and femur, among other parts, and placed an internal megaprosthesis that extends from the middle of the tibia to the hip. “They didn’t have to amputate; it’s an internal prosthesis. I have my normal skin leg, but inside, instead of having bone, I have a prosthesis,” he explains.
As a consequence, he has a discrepancy of five centimetres between both legs. They also removed one and a half muscles from the four in his quadriceps and the growth cartilage. He has already had four prosthesis changes; the first lasted three years. Since the last surgery, he uses a crutch to walk on the street, although at home he manages without it.
After overcoming cancer, he tried several sports without getting hooked. At 13, he was given the green light to practice canoeing. He started at the Fluvial Club of Lugo, first in conventional mode and then in paracanoe. “I got hooked because I felt just like everyone else,” he says. At 16, he competed in his first international championship, a European event in Portugal, where he finished eighth. Then came the successes: world marathon champion in Hungary and European marathon champion this year, in the paracanoe KL3 category. He studies Computer Engineering in Seville and is in his sixth year away from home.
“Without the researchers, I probably wouldn’t be here or have achieved these medals,” he acknowledges. “Sport has changed my life; it has allowed me to feel the same as everyone else; on a canoe, I feel like I have no limits,” he adds. His next goal is to qualify for the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics and bring a medal to Spain.
Regarding how to face the illness, Adega is clear: “One, keep moving forward and trust that everything will turn out well, or fall apart, which will be worse because if you are mentally down, your body’s defences drop, and it will make you receive treatment worse: at seven years old, I had to learn that the way out is to keep going.”
Nico Adega's appearance at the Albéniz cinema is part of the events for International Cancer Research Day and is open to attendees who want to hear his testimony firsthand.
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