Jonas Gutierrez Reveals How He Fought Back From Cancer To Save Newcastle's Season

The Argentine scored and assisted against West Ham - but he fought a far greater battle last year.

By Chris Waugh /

Newcastle United owe their Premier League future to Jonas Gutierrez after the Argentine battled back from cancer to inspire them to a final day victory over West Ham United - and now the midfielder has re-lived the months in which he fought off the disease to return to football. Gutierrez assisted Moussa Sissoko's opener and scored Newcastle's second in the 2-0 win over West Ham at St James' Park that guaranteed the Tyneside club a place in the Premier League for next season. That will likely be Gutierrez's last act in a Newcastle shirt after seven years as well, with his contract expiring in just a matter of days and the club having failed to offer him a new deal. He made his return for the club against Manchester United on March 4th, before appearing in another nine matches.
But the 31-year-old - who had a testicle removed two years ago before the cancer returned for a second time, forcing Gutierrez to have a lengthy spell of chemotherapy - has revealed his thoughts were only on living, and not on playing football again, as he struggled to return to full health. Having also lost all of his trademark long locks during the chemotherapy period, Guiterrez spoke to the Shields Gazette about his cancer battle:
"Since I had the treatment the only thing that I was thinking was recovery. I was not really thinking about playing football, to be honest.

"The chemotherapy is a harsh treatment. Your body really feels it. You lose your hair with all the medication going into your body. It was hard. After that when I finished with the treatment, and I started outside the medication, my body started its recovery.

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"It got nicer, because every day, my body was getting better. But, of course, during the chemo, it was hard watching your body in that type of state.

"In those moments, you don't think about playing football again. Then the doctor says: 'You are okay, you can start again.' I started to think: 'Oh well, let's see what happens.'

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"I didn't know how my body was going to react. Every day, I was improving. One day, I did a two-minute run, the next day four, and so on. Obviously, I got up to doing a marathon too!

"The good thing is my body reacted really well to the treatment and the exercise. The doctor told me the fact I was a footballer, and fit already, was a big help to recover and come back.

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"You train all the days all year, so your body has memory of being well and fit. My body would feel it for a few days then get stronger."

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