The Fight Against a Devastating Diagnosis
At 13, he was found to carry a positive tumor gene that, through the development of a rare disease called familial adenomatous polyposis, gives him a 99.8% chance of developing cancer in the digestive tract.
At 19, his colon and rectum were removed, and at 28, his stomach. And his gallbladder.
He lost 50% of his body weight in three months.
“People’s minds are blown,” he tells me when he explains it. Mine too. This is the story of Juan Dual, a Valencian influencer, writer, speaker, and athlete approaching his forties.
“It isn’t easy, but you can live with it.” That is the answer I receive after asking him to explain how it is possible to live without a stomach. Or a colon. Or a rectum. Or a gallbladder. For more than twenty years, he has had to go to the bathroom between five and seven times a day. The presence of the tumor gene in his body means he cannot predict—or expect—a guaranteed future, yet I cannot detect the slightest trace of discomfort in his expression. Not during the nearly hour-long conversation.
The Three Times He Came Close to Death
Before I can process the magnitude of each word that comes out of his mouth, he tells me that he has come close to dying three times because of surgical complications, and that this, together with having witnessed several deaths in his family, has shaped a different outlook on life. He is truly aware that no one is immortal, and his priorities are clear: “For a long time now, all I ask the Three Kings for is one more year of life.” Silence.
I had prepared many questions, but I realize they are completely irrelevant and decide to listen to him. “Through sport, I regained control of my existence,” he assures me. “I started by walking, then moved on to jogging and later running. Little by little, I increased the distances, and in doing so I regained physical and emotional independence, which led to financial independence.” He was even able to move out of his parents’ house, where he had been forced to return. But the comeback was not easy: “I couldn’t go more than five meters without stopping to catch my breath.”
Sport as His Driving Force in Life
It is precisely the memory of how much he suffered in the hospital that keeps him committed to sport: “seeing that I’m no longer pushing an IV pole and counting floor tiles.” Juan runs and takes part in ultradistance cycling, and admits that nothing compares with the sense of freedom he experiences when running or cycling alone through the mountains. “It reminds you how insignificant you are as a living being in the universe… and having this constantly in mind is addictive.”
Not long ago, he decided to share his story on social media after his friends argued that such a powerful story could not remain among a small circle of people. And how right his friends were. Since then, he has created content about the fight against cancer. “And I speak openly about death,” he adds. “This comes to an end, and the sooner we realize it, the sooner we can live as fully as possible.”
When he finishes speaking, I feel compelled to ask whether he has a life motto, a phrase that defines the way he faces life. “I have it tattooed on my arm,” he confides: “Don’t think about it.” He believes that as soon as we start overthinking things, we find excuses not to do them, and that we need to keep moving. We are where we are because we have moved. That is why sport means so much to him.
What an inspiring person. In the end, I think, the issue is more about how we face what happens to us than about what happens to us itself. A textbook cliché, yes. But there must be a reason it is a cliché.
