Offside News

Sports

Abidal gifts sick kid £20,000 watch

Comment: 0 January 25th, 2012 by: admin

Barcelona’s Eric Abidal paid a visit to a local hospital to spend time with a young cancer patient and made an extraordinary gesture that touched the hearts of all those who witnessed it.

Also a cancer survivor, the Catalan defender gave 15-year-old Juan Garcia, suffering from brain cancer, the Rolex right off his wrist.

Having first-hand experience with cancer in March 2011, Abidal was able to talk about his experiences in length with the boy, as well as other patients in the hospital. According to Serra, Juan Garcia was in tears the moment that he saw his idol. The scene prompted the defender to give him the present.

The watch, a Rolex Daytona, is worth around £20,000 ($30,000).

According to Serra, they tried to decline the gift, but Abidal was insistent in the boy keeping it. “It doesn’t matter what this is worth. I want your son to be happy,” the skipper told the humbled father.

The touching story came from Juan’s father J. Garcia Serra, who shared it to a local Catalan newspaper. The father explained that the French national’s own battle against cancer has helped his son.

“You have in your head the same thing Abidal had in his liver, and tomorrow they will take it out,” Serra recalled telling his son.

In reply, Juan replied, “Dad get me the shirt of Abidal; I will fight like him and will win my own Champions League.”

“He didn’t cry; he was the only one not to. He went to the operating theater with the shirt of Abidal, and he had it in his bedstead at the hospital. After five months of operations, radiation and chemotherapy on Jan. 5 some Barca players visited the kids at the hospital,” Serra explained.

“The visit of the players improved the spirit of the children more than any medicine. For my family the great idol will always be Eric Abidal; he is more than a player for us,” Serra expressed.

“Abidal told my son: ‘Come, come, brother, I am here to give you courage. I am also fighting against this disease and will set up a foundation that gives joy and helps all the sick children.’”

“He was affectionate, tender and friendly, and for 10 minutes he never let my son out of his arms. We were all so emotional and grateful.”

“He embraced all of us and continued his visit to other sick children,” Serra continued. “I looked at my son, and I will never forget the look of happiness in his face. I’d forgotten what he looked like when he was happy. At night he kept switching on the light to look at the watch’s inscription.”

Abidal was diagnosed of liver cancer in March 2011. Two days after being diagnosed, he underwent surgery to have the tumor removed. Though he chose to be private throughout the whole ordeal, fan support was overwhelming, prompting shirts with his name, and standing ovations during matches.

More