He’s “empty on the inside” because his stomach, rectum and colon have been removed, but he has managed to be a marathon runner: “I want to fill myself with adventures” | the Chronicle

This is the story of Juan Dual, a Spaniard who overcame all the adversities he encountered in life. and always learning something, as he himself claims, “My life is made of trial and error.”

This boy has not had it easy. When he was 13, he was diagnosed with an inherited condition that had previously been “charge” to his aunt and grandfather. Familial multiple polyposis gave him a 99.8% chance of developing cancer of the digestive system. Therefore and to avoid this scenario, they had to remove his stomach, rectum and colon. Of course not all together, but rather at different times. His father had also struggled with the same paint but came out ahead.

Despite all that has been taken from his body, Today a marathoner, he travels the world to tell his story and thus inspire other people.

It was not easy

Six years after the first diagnosisAt the age of 19, our protagonist was informed that his colon and rectum needed to be removed. It would be the right start since the operation was complicated and almost “it doesn’t count”. “A prediction of dates is made when parts of the body will begin to appear”, Juan explained the process.

Your reading friends may think the worst is over. The truth is, no, there were still steps to climb on a very steep staircase. Nine years later, they had to remove her stomach to prevent cancer from growing there. Once operated, he presents a significant hemorrhage which puts him again in the face of death. and soon after, his gallbladder was colonized with bacteria, so it had to be removed as well.

“When we have played so closely with death, two or three times, we realize that the scale of values ​​… We are here very little time”, Note.

Live to motivate

From then on, Juan recovered and his life changed dramatically. “I lost 50% of my body mass and was completely without strength “, The survivor pointed out and clarified that he weighed 57 kilograms. At this point, an opportunity presents itself and he heads to Japan. “We were in the midst of an economic crisis and everything around me was quite negative, so as soon as I recovered I decided to take the opportunity given to me by some good friends of my parents and to leave. live for a while in Japan “, remembered.

“I don’t speak a word of Japanese, I didn’t understand anything on the TV, so I walked a dog every day until one day she pulled me up and realized I could do jogging”, He added about his stay in the Japanese country.

After a few months in Asia, the chance arose to emigrate to England, where he found his passion for running. “In a beautiful city, but with no entertainment other than beautiful hills, so I started running. There I met a group of athletes who I started hanging out with, and some of them have was surprised by the amount of dust that remained after each ride “, he recalled and added that “I told them what was happening to me and they were amazed, and that’s when the idea of ​​focusing my life on motivating others was born.”

There, he understood what his two passions were: running and helping others through his story. With that already defined, he decided to return to his native Spain.

How does it feel to be a marathon runner without having a stomach?

Regarding his relationship to food, he thanked his nutritionist for allowing him to continue the sport. Remember that you are a person who runs marathons but does not have a stomach, rectum, or colon. “I played dumb once, but not twice. With the support of Pepa, my nutritionist, I learned to eat again. So I started walking again, then jogging and running. I can digest, but not save too much energy, so I have to eat all day; it’s complicated, but I learned it “, Juan explained.

This is where the problems start, because with your stomach not counting on when you need to eat and only having 3% body fat, your body struggles to find the energy to keep up. Therefore, you have to make some technical stops to eat. He always carries snacks in his backpack that inject energy to keep going.

“No puedo comer en movimiento, me tengo que detener. In muchas carreras me pasan rivales porque me detengo 10 or 15 minutos y luego les vuelvo a pasar. Muchos se quedan extrañados cuando le vuelvo a adelantar repeats the historia en el siguiente puesto food”, surprised.

In order not to forget, you already know at what times of the day you should eat.

“You start talking, they talk to you about their work issues or personal issues, and when I tell them about mine, they’re frozen, ‘Damn, and I’m complaining,’ they usually say to me. I always tell them that each of us complains about what affects us, the wrong thing is to do nothing to change what you are complaining about ”, Express.

If there’s anything left of Juan Dual’s story, it’s that no matter what adversities you face, you’ve got to hold on to something and move on. In the case of our Spanish friend, it was something that was sport.

“Sport helps me a lot and has given me everything. The more I run or pedal, the more I eat. If I eat, I have more energy and strength. My family calms down because they see me better. plus, i serve as motivation for a lot of people they know. my story. he sends me messages that push me forward. you always have to hold on to something. life has given me so many opportunities to continue living that, since I am empty inside, I want to fill myself with adventures. My life is repetition and error “, he claimed.

Finally, he leaves a final moral to all those who have heard or read, as in this case, his story. “If a person without a colon, rectum, stomach, or gallbladder can do all of these, what might a person with normal conditions be able to do? If you do nothing to change something that happens to you, the right to complain is diluted ”.