Aston Villa's Captain Petrov has been diagnosed with acute leukemia. Untreated this is rapidly fatal...I know someone who had a 'cold' and died within a week. Luckily, once again a footballer gets rapid diagnosis and treatment. Good luck to him.
Cue Pray 4 Petrov T-Shirts! But in all seriousness, good luck to him, scored one of my favourite Premier League goals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukq-5HyZ_bM
An elder brother of mine was diagnosed with leukemia several years ago, and it was bad enough to be a killer, quite quickly. His doctor told him he could get him through at least 5 more years, in reasonable health. Well, he's around 8 years older now and seems to be in pretty good condition, with the leukemia is all but gone. Like Muamba, the other day, for different reasons, these professionals are so fit, and their bodies function so well that I would expect Petrov to respond to treatment very quickly. The advances in the treatment of leukemia have galloped on from just a few years ago, so I would expect the prognosis to be good.
Athletes are fit and strong which can help, but I believe over-exercise can lower resistance to disease. The natural state of a body is rest most of the time with sudden bursts of energy when needed. If you over do it, your body considers itself to be in a state of permanent fight or flight which is stressful. Stress lowers the bodies resistance to disease such as viruses and cancer. Does anyone remember the British runner Bedford who went all out at distance running and eventually had a physical collapse. There is a lot of science involved in exercise and recovery nowadays.
Yep, there is a lot in what you say there, Fran. But athletes bodies recover very quickly indeed, so with rest and recuperation, Petrov should be in good shape to accept treatment. Good luck to him. Modern treatments do give a very good chance of survival, witness John Hartson, for example. Another athlete to add to David Bedford who, in this case, didn't make it was Lillian Board, who was the golden girl of British athletics, but who died in 1970 of bowel cancer.
A nice story about Lilian Board (Britain's golden girl) before she became ill, was that some idiot tried to steal her handbag. He ran off and she pursued him, eventually he collapsed and handed her bag back. Picked on the wrong girl there.
This is sad news. Thoughts are with Petrov and his family at this tough time - hope he get's well soon. Fingers crossed he responds well to the treatment. Sounds silly, but these last few weeks have reminded us that professional footballers are human just like the rest of us.
John Hartson must have been one of the fattest players around. Not sure he helped himself too much there.
