How cheating death inspired star's mission to help sick kids
By Pirmin Schwegler
I speak Swiss-German, German, French and a little Spanish. Now I’ve come to play in the A-League with Western Sydney, I’ve started to work more on my English.
No matter Swiss or English, AML is the same in both: Acute Myeloid Leukemia.
I was diagnosed with that blood cancer in 1989. Two paramedics brought me in an ambulance to the University Children’s Hospital in Bern. I was 16 months old, pale and with bruises on both legs.
I had been on a vacation with my family when I started ailing and my mother took me to a local doctor. The findings in the examination and then the blood scans left no doubt that I was suffering from leukemia.
The first years were very difficult and different, especially for my parents.
I was about 14 or 15 when I found out how sick I had been. When I was about 19 I started to tell my story in the papers to help other children understand what it means and the possibilities you have to go back into a normal life.
That’s the most important thing and it was important for me to pass on that information.
AML is a very strong leukemia. Doctors told me I had a 10 percent chance to go through it.
I don’t really know why I survived. I’m a fighter, even on the pitch, my whole life.
Good medicine, good doctors, and a positive mind as well. Even now in a normal life, not just when you are sick, a positive mind is important.
I think that comes from my parents and it is in me. But how do you know why you get through and others don’t? It’s a tough question.
It was not an easy time for my parents then.
We lived out of the city, in farmland, and my dad was a roofer. We had not a lot of money, so my mum and dad had to work a lot and very hard. They gave everything for me and my brother and sister.
They always explained what was going on to me, and it helped me.
The privations for me and my whole family were back then. They are not an issue today. The gratitude we feel outweighs everything.
Me and my family are happy that I am feeling so well today and that after finishing school I realised my childhood dream of becoming a professional footballer.
I know I have a fantastic life and job and I’m very appreciative to have it.
It was a tough time and I know it’s big part of my life. I needed luck and many good people around me who helped me. I was close to going from this world, and now I really enjoy it and know what I have.
An emotional reunion
Back in 1989 Dr Annette Ridolfi Lüthy warmly welcomed me and my family in our hardest hour at the hospital. She was then a senior physician in the children’s cancer department, and became the closest care-giver to my parents in the following weeks and months. She was always there for us and gave us a lot of support and strength.
We had an emotional reunion with her in 2008 and since then we have been in contact. She is one of the people behind the Childhood Cancer Foundation I launched at the hospital.
I started the foundation because I wanted to make a difference for the children, and the parents.
When the children are diagnosed the parents are usually extremely sad and negative.
Doctors told me I had a 10 percent chance to go through it. I don’t really know why I survived. I’m a fighter, even on the pitch, my whole life.
It is a devastating experience, the first time you are confronting this disease. They hear my story and my history and the first reaction every time is ‘wow, you can do sport, you can have a normal life’.
I say ‘yes this is possible, be with your children and remain positive’. To me that was the important thing, to deliver this message.
Of course there are times the children don’t get through. I don’t like to dwell on that, as it is too personal. But I stay in touch with many families.
It’s a passion for me because I feel I can help them and I have time to give back.
I have gratitude. My life is wonderful and I have almost everything you can have.