Atlético Madrid midfielder’s comeback from brain cancer and mother’s paralysis is inspiring others
Treatment helped him beat his terrible disease
He said: “The illness has affected me but it hasn’t stopped me from enjoying life. The cancer was the easy part.”
“I’m not a hero. I just try to do what’s best for my family.”
As one dad’s daughter turns 10 later this year, we’re celebrating the lives of two extraordinary women.
They’re fighting a battle that will affect the rest of their lives.
And that battle continues today – as Marta is learning to walk again after a year of chemotherapy.
But her amazing journey was just beginning when her mother died in 2003, just three months after giving birth to twins Gabriel and Daniel.
With the help of their father, Marta, now 36, turned to a support group for parents with a similar situation.
And that’s where they met Ana, who lives in Spain and is a close friend.
Marta: “He is my hero”
Hospital workers help Marta get out of bed and into a wheelchair while her mother, Ana Maria, watches.
Ana and Marta are now close friends, but Ana said she needed to know what was happening in Marta’s case to give her hope.
She said: “I just wanted her to be happy, to be free to have the children she wanted with her husband, because children are the greatest gift.
“But to me she was very brave and very strong.
“And she is so beautiful, so brave, so strong – she has a great character and has a great spirit.”
Marta’s family in Spain, including four other daughters, two sons, and twin brother Gabriel.
The twins are now adults, aged 23 and 16 and with their own children but want to be closer to Marta.
Marta: “Every day is a struggle”
Marta holds her twin sons – Gabriel and Daniel – by her side while her son Gabriel, pictured with his mother, walks with his wife, Ana, to the hospital.
“I’m so grateful to have them. My life was so empty and they have given me more meaning.
“We were very happy when they were born and we just
