He has not yet played a game for Borussia Dortmund when Sebastien Haller falls out with the shock diagnosis of testicular cancer. For the 28-year-old, everything revolves around his recovery instead of the ball. In an interview, he explains how he is doing, what he thought of first after the diagnosis and what he is looking forward to.
Sebastien Haller had to cope with the shock diagnosis of testicular cancer shortly after moving to Borussia Dortmund. The national player from Ivory Coast has not been able to play a game for his new club so far, the sport has become a minor matter. Everything revolves around his recovery. “It’s going well for me,” he said in an interview with ESPN.
“I’m lucky that I have a lot of people around me and get a lot of support,” said the 28-year-old, who returned to the Bundesliga from Ajax Amsterdam. “I’m also lucky that I don’t feel bad. I can still go for a walk every day and spend time with my family and friends, so everything is fine.”
Not everything was good in Haller’s preparation. Even at the training camp in Switzerland, he didn’t feel quite fit, he explained. “I had a weird feeling in my stomach. It wasn’t painful, but it was just a weird feeling. Sometimes you think it’ll go away after a few days, but it didn’t feel right. So I decided to check myself out to let.” An ultrasound scan was followed by an MRI, then a biopsy because the tumor was visible. The diagnosis: malignant tumor, testicular cancer. “When you hear the word, it’s a shock,” says Haller, who appears for the interview with a bald head.
He hadn’t even been with BVB for two weeks at the time and his first concern was neither himself nor his family, but the club. “The first thing I thought was, ‘Come on, I’ve only been here ten days and I can’t even play for the club.’ We did a lot for this transfer. Everyone was happy and I really wanted to play,” the striker described his thoughts. “‘They paid about thirty million euros and I can’t play for months. That doesn’t seem like a good deal,’ I thought at the time, but if you think about it further you see that there was nothing you could do about it. You couldn’t have prevent or change.”
Instead of training or playing, he now has to get healthy first. He had to spend five days in the hospital, connected to the IV fluids that put the chemotherapy drugs into his body for 24 hours. “You can’t move, you’re just lying in bed. You lose muscle strength and fitness, especially on these days,” says Haller. He then immediately started running and training in the gym. Nutrition also plays an important role: “My wife and my mother were there, so I could eat well too.” So far he hasn’t lost any weight: “I’m even at the same level as a few months ago. That’s a good sign and I hope it stays that way. I feel very good.”
Haller is aware that it will take him a few more months to return to football. He is currently making sure not to lose too much muscle mass. Then he hopes for a good start to training before he can think about a game again. But he is looking forward to the moment of his comeback. Or rather his arrival in Dortmund: “My first goal is to be back on the pitch. To play in front of the ‘Yellow Wall’ and score my first goal. That will be a nice and emotional moment.”
According to his own diagnosis, it is also important for him to warn others about the disease. He recommends regular check-ups for all men: “You don’t have any symptoms. Nothing. You don’t feel it and all the players will tell you the same thing. They didn’t feel anything and after a blood test they knew it was cancer.” In addition to Haller, Timo Baumgartl from 1. FC Union is currently absent from the Bundesliga due to a diagnosis of testicular cancer. The 26-year-old is now working on his comeback. Marco Richter from Hertha BSC was also confronted with the diagnosis. It was easier for him, only 47 days after the cancer was diagnosed, he made his comeback in the Olympic Stadium on Saturday. Ironically, against Haller’s BVB.
