“The precariousness of health professionals is very unfair”

Nani Roma returns to the Dakar this January after a year’s absence after being diagnosed with bladder cancer in March 2022. He fought with his courage and optimism, and thanks to this, his physical strength and the great work of the professionals at La Vall d’Hebron Hospital, he was able to leave. In a conversation with MD, from Folgueroles, at 51 years oldadmitted that he thought his days of competition were over, but Ford gave him the opportunity to lead its long-term project, starting with a Dakar 2024 that will help the oval firm gain experience in this event.

[+] Watch the interview with Nani Roma:

He returned to Dakar, but the most important race of his life had passed.

The worst has happened. Everything we went through last year had nothing to do with sports, work and all. Today I am here happy, content, before another Dakar for many things, for new equipment and for sensations, but the happiness is great. I’m really looking forward to the start of the Dakar.

Sometimes Dakar drivers are like superheroes. But then, life is unforgiving.

That’s the reality. Although there are people who don’t think, athletes, artists, musicians… we’re just lucky that it’s a job that fewer people have access to, or it’s different, because we do passions and person like what. we do. But in the end we are equal people, vulnerable people where things can happen. And like all people in this world, we also have diseases. I am lucky that I passed my disease (cancer) well. There are people who don’t have it either. But we are like everyone else.

Did you ever think you’d never compete again?

Obviously, because you don’t know the level of the pain, how far you will go, how you will recover or if there is a team that will trust you. I have to thank Ford and the Wilson family for trusting me to be a part of this project. There’s a good chance we’re not here today.

In addition to being an example on a sporting level, he is now an example for people fighting cancer, who see the need to continue the fight.

I don’t want to be an example of anything or anyone. But maybe the fact that people see what I’ve done, if it helps people, well, wow, reward! I believe that I will overcome this and I think that this is the interesting thing, that people who suffer from this disease, which unfortunately are many, think that it is important to fight, that it is very good to fight . My life has changed a lot in recent years. The change I experienced was brutal. So if I can help people, I’m happy to cooperate.

During your Dakar 2024 presentation with Ford, there was a very emotional moment where you got emotional talking about health professionals, asking for better conditions. What do you think?

The basis of one is education and health. They are the main pillars. I lived part of it and realized that people condone the system. Endured by doctors, nurses men and women, people who are there every day who put up with us, because when you’re sick you don’t have a good mood. I have experienced unpleasant situations. At La Vall d’Hebron Hospital there are people who are very sick and I assure you that I have no words to describe how the professionals endure it. So it is very unfair for you to listen to people who tell you about the difficulties and precariousness that many have. I was hospitalized for 15 days and I talked to the nurses a lot. It is a barbarity. And those people are saving lives! And they saved me and they saved a lot of people. Thousands of people! You can’t imagine what it is. I am in the world that when I break something I go to Dr.Mr, he operated on me and he came. And this time, no. I am very grateful. Those people, including my family, Rosa (his wife) and everyone around me, helped me. But the thing about doctors, I assure you, is very beastly.

You want to deal with the pain through training, but you went for a bike ride one day and had to get off the bike and walk back.

This is the chemotherapy process. I admire and respect people who spend years on treatments like this, because I was there for two or more months. It’s a very difficult, very difficult feeling. And many people. Cancer is a disaster, the annual increase has. But luckily, we have professionals who take great care of us, who know and learn more every day and who save lives. But it is very difficult. I came from doing a lot of sports and when I saw how I looked, I couldn’t believe it. But here we are.

But life smiles on warriors. He will be able to continue showing his speed in the Dakar. What is the goal in 2024?

It’s a year of filming, a year of learning, that we will enjoy and also suffer, because in sport you also suffer and the Dakar is a race where you don’t have a good time every day . But I think that at the end of the race we learned a lot and enjoyed what is coming in the future (the 2025 car will be completely new based on this year’s study).

Thank you, Nani. Good luck.

Yours