Alexandra Polzin
Husband Gerhard Leinauer makes cancer public
Gerhard Leinauer with his wife Alexandra Polzin
© Steffi Adam / Geisler-Fotopress / Picture Alliance
Eurosport moderator Gerhard Leinauer had withdrawn for a long time: The reason: his lymph gland cancer. His wife Alexandra Polzin does not leave his side during this difficult time.
First in the stomach, then in the eye socket: In an interview with “Bunte”, sports commentator Gerhard Leinauer, 58, describes the difficult path with his lymph gland cancer. Always by his side: wife and TV presenter Alexandra Polzin, 46.
Gerhard Leinauer: Doctors discovered a tennis ball-sized tumor in his stomach
“Gerhard stood in front of me and cried. At that moment, the cancer was so tangible,” Polzin recalled to “Bunte”. That was when Gerhard Leinauer’s cancer came back and his hair fell out after the second of a total of six chemo cycles.
Two years earlier, in the summer of 2020, the Eurosport presenter noticed physical abnormalities and had a very fast heartbeat during a hike. His family doctor found that he “hardly had any red blood cells,” said Leinauer. A tennis ball-sized tumor was then discovered during a gastroscopy. The diagnosis: lymph node cancer.
“The doctors suggested that I have an operation to remove the tumor and thus part of the stomach. After an intensive discussion with a radiation therapy expert, who told me there was a good chance of recovery, I chose this option,” says Gerhard Leinauer. He was irradiated 17 times until the tumor was “completely removed” at the end.
Another tumor in the eye socket
Then the cancer came back. Leinauer’s wife Alexandra describes the bad scenario as follows: “His eye got worse from day to day. You could almost see how his eyeball was pushed forward. The entire axis of the eye was shifted. His doctor then sent him to the hospital immediately.” The MRI then revealed a tumor in the eye socket of the sports commentator, who has been responsible for cycling, the Olympic Games, winter sports and ice hockey at Eurosport since 2006.
Leinauer is currently having to endure another 20 radiation treatments and four months of chemotherapy. But he and his great love are still optimistic: “We completely ignored this scenario: ‘What if it doesn’t end well’. Also because we both felt that Gerhard could do it,” says Alexandra Polzin. She feels for her husband, also feel the pain he feels. In August they still want to celebrate their ninth wedding anniversary – to look ahead.
Source used: Bunte.de