Tuesday, December 21, 2021
“I can and will live”
Despite chemo, Semechin believes in the start of the World Cup
In a year in which she is doing everything she can, Elena Semechin receives shock news. The diagnosis of brain tumor followed the gold medal at the Paralympics. Heaven and hell. After her operation in early November, her fight against cancer continues. Sport gives the swimmer strength.
Elena Semechin has only one wish for the new year: “Health. Because without health nothing really works.” She knows from her own experience what she is talking about. After gold at the Paralympics, the visually impaired swimmer was diagnosed with a shock of brain tumor in October. After the successful operation, your most important fight continues.
Semechin has not been able to meet her parents for three years in Kazakhstan again. Instead, she and her husband spend the holidays “comfortably at home”. The six-week radiation therapy, for which the Berliner has to go to the hospital every day, began on Monday, and the 48-week chemotherapy begins in February. “I’m curious to see how I can handle it,” she said: “A lot of people have done it before me. I’m fit, I train and I’ve done a lot for body and mind.”
The long-awaited victory in the Paralympic final over 100 meters chest, the first award for Para-Sportswoman of the Year or the “title defense” as Berlin’s Sportswoman of the Year. In terms of sport, Semechin cleared everything this year. “It’s actually been a great year for me,” she says – despite the diagnosis that changed her life. Instead of being discouraged, Semechin began to fight. “I can and will live,” she announced two weeks after the diagnosis. Shortly before the complicated procedure, the 28-year-old, who became known by her Kazakh family name Krawzow, married her long-time friend and trainer Phillip.
The World Cup dream is alive
“He was always there for me in these turbulent times, like a safe rock,” says Semechin. Before the operation, the couple achieved facts with a lightning wedding. “We have pulled out all the stops to do that beforehand. I didn’t know how I was going to wake up,” she says. Thanks to a flexible registry office and a few lucky coincidences, the spontaneous wedding was successful, and the procedure followed two days later. She has been back in the water for more than two weeks. “I feel fit,” she said: “It is important for me to have a certain routine and structure during the day. That distracts me from the illness and gives me strength for the future.”
Even a start at the World Cup in Madeira in June seems possible. “My doctor said that he wanted to beat me there if necessary,” says Semechin: “I have to see how I am, but I’m optimistic.” She never loses her laugh or optimism. The main thing is that the family is not worried again as it was in October: “I hope that I never have to spread such news again,” said Semechin. Health weighs far more than any gold medal.