Juan Carlos Unzué was one of the protagonists of the delivery of Viajando con Chester emitted on Tuesday, February 21. The former soccer player and former coach visited the Cuatro space to give an emotional interview, in which he spoke about his experience after being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2019.
He explained that it is a neurodegenerative disease that currently has no cure. In addition, he pointed out that the average life expectancy after diagnosis is between three and five years. “In my case, arms, hands and legs are affected, above all, curiously, that which has fed me,” he said.
The guest explained that he has needed help to clean himself and get dressed for a few months: “ALS forces you to learn to ask for help. Sometimes it is very difficult.” His optimism and his integrity impressed Risto Mejide.
The Catalan asked him: “How do you live with a countdown?” The Navarrese explained that he usually says that life has given him “an extension”: “I live with the disease. I think it’s stupid to fight or face something that no one has been able to beat at the moment. I’m trying to make that extension as long as possible possible and, above all, that this time makes sense”.
“The meaning of my life is given by my objective, which is to make ALS visible and generate events that can raise money. It is a disease with very little aid for research and for the day-to-day life of those affected,” he declared.
Unzué spoke about faith and said that he does not believe that there is anything after death: “I have to put all my soul and my attitude into enjoying this life that I am having.” Mejide noted: “In other words, your lack of faith makes you cling to life.” The interviewee confirmed it: “It helps me.”
The former soccer player highlighted at another time the importance of assuming what we cannot control: “I accepted that ALS was going to be part of my life… What I have learned is that in the end the only thing we have under our control is our attitude. The only thing that was clear to me from minute one is that I don’t want to convey grief. Since I felt good and strong, and I still feel that way, I’m still active.”
Risto Mejide interviewed María, daughter of Juan Carlos Unzué, in Everything is a lie on Tuesday, February 21. She stressed that her father was a very positive person before he was diagnosed with ALS and that he still is: “He has always accepted everything that has come to him in life in a natural way.”
He also recalled the moment in which the former athlete shared the news with his family: “That day was when my bubble burst. I lived in a bubble, with an idyllic family, the love of my parents… That suddenly your father tell you that life expectancy is three to five years… The world is falling apart”.
The presenter asked him how he was living the stage after his father’s diagnosis. She noted that she was not taking it as a farewell: “I try not to think about that moment. I know it will come sooner rather than later, but I try to enjoy the moment, my father, spend time with him, go see him at talks, listening to him, nourishing myself with all the things he says… Being able to go home and have my father give me those messages he gives me, I can’t ask for more”.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
