Atlético Madrid midfielder’s comeback from brain cancer and mother’s paralysis
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Madrid • Álvaro Negredo’s recovery from cancer is becoming a family story.
His mother, Dora, was paralyzed from the neck down after the soccer star was struck with the disease when he was 18. She has been partially paralysed since then, but has regained the ability to lift her left arm, making a sign as she watched her son play.
His grandmother, María María, has also battled the disease and lost her arms, but is now able to walk again.
“I cannot tell you when I saw the light in Dora’s eyes, I saw that she was no longer a disabled person, she was a mother,” María María said. “She was not just an uncle, she was my best friend and my daughter as well.”
In many ways, Negredo’s story is the story of the city. Like many in Madrid, he grew up in the barrio of El Pescador and was the son of a policeman as well as a mother and grandmother.
Like many in Madrid, he grew up in the barrio of El Pescador and was the son of a policeman as well as a mother and grandmother.
When he was a teenager, Negredo joined the local club at the age of 16 and played professionally for one season in a season-long league in the United States. But the cancer returned in his mind when his father was diagnosed with cancer.
Negredo’s mother died four years ago, but his grandmother’s paralysis and the fact she was able to walk again have inspired him and, he said, led him to fight back.
The midfielder, who was signed to the Spanish national team after a short stint on the U.S. tour in 2010, is playing for a Spanish club in the Champions League tournament this month.
“I’m very proud of how everyone in my family has supported me and my family during the time
