After Sébastien Haller was diagnosed with testicular cancer, his former team-mate Marco Russ does not believe that the striker will make a quick comeback for Borussia Dortmund.
“I’m afraid it will take longer for him to come back,” Russ said “Picture”-Interview about the BVB star, with whom he was under contract at Eintracht Frankfurt between 2019 and 2020.
Russ, who was also diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2016, was “affected” by Haller’s disease, whose tumor is malignant. “I wrote to him and I didn’t expect him to get back to you quickly because I know that in this situation you have other things on your mind. But he got back to you straight away and we’re in regular contact now.”
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“The positive head helped him the most,” recalled Russ, who, like Haller, had to undergo chemotherapy. “Seb also has a wife and children. If he gets through this time positively, that will help them enormously,” said the 36-year-old.
Russ added: “During my second chemo I felt completely miserable for a whole week. But as a competitive athlete you have this motivation to achieve everything. It doesn’t matter whether it’s about securing a regular place in the pre-season or the To beat cancer. That’s why it’s a little easier for us than for a non-competitive athlete, we’ve already internalized fighting.”
“After chemo you start from scratch”
After a break of eight or nine months, he himself made his comeback for the SBU, the long-time Frankfurt professional recalled. “But I wasn’t at 100 percent then, it certainly took a year. It’s not like after a cruciate ligament rupture, where you can start exercising again easily after two weeks. After chemo you start completely from scratch . The first few months were tough, gross, monotonous and not fun at all.”
In view of the testicular cancer diagnoses in Haller as well as in Timo Baumgartl (Union Berlin) and Marco Richter (Hertha BSC), Russ called for regular examinations of the Bundesliga players. “During the sports medical examination, the heart and lungs are examined – why not the testicles as well? The examination takes no time and, compared to what clubs have to pay if a player is absent, hardly any money,” said the ex-professional.