The billiards star, who underwent cytostat treatments for four months, opened up about his health situation from his hometown of New York.
At the beginning of last December Mika Immonen got clarity on his months-long pain. A Finn selected for the billiards gallery of honor was found to have stage four colon and rectal cancer.
On December 17, Immonen celebrated his 51st birthday with cytostat treatments. Immonen lost 11 kilos from his 77-kilogram live weight in a few weeks.
Cut to today. Immonen answers a video call from one of the terminals at John F. Kennedy Airport in his hometown of New York. In the course of four months, he has received cytostat treatment a total of eight times. The latest of them is still running.
– I travel with a pump like this. It pumps like that for another 20 hours, says Immonen and lifts his shirt, under which the treatment tubes attached to the body are exposed.
When the 20 hours have passed, Immonen says he can remove the cytostat pump subtly. This is probably the last time.
– According to the doctor, all the scans have looked completely clean. He said that this eighth cytostat treatment is the last for now, says Immonen.
The doctors were surprised
The treatment period of the Finnish player has progressed better than planned. Originally, Immonen was supposed to undergo 12 cytostatic treatments, which would have been followed by targeted radiation therapy.
However, the treatments are behind this wound.
– I am really amazed at how quickly the treatments went. The same applies to doctors. They were shaking their heads as they looked at the results of the scans.
– The surgeon in charge of radiotherapy only said that he can’t give radiation if he can’t see anything to be irradiated.
However, the cancer research is not over yet. In the future, Immonen’s condition will be monitored every few months so that the cancer does not recur.
– The next scan is at the end of May. You won’t miss this, says Immonen and points to his cytostat pump.
– When I came home from the hospital yesterday, I had to stop on the steps of the New York library. There was a happy cry.
Already returned to the Games
Improvement has also been seen in Immonen’s body. For example, the weight has increased from 66 kg to 71.5 kg. This has been helped by Immonen being able to eat solid food again.
– At the beginning of the treatments, I couldn’t down anything other than liquids and soups. Now I can eat quite normally.
– I’ve been walking a lot and tried running too. The goal would be to run one more marathon for charity.
Thanks to his improved condition, Immonen has already had time to return to billiard competitions. The race that took place in Philadelphia over the weekend left more than a good feeling.
– The race started well. I won the first three rounds, but then had a couple of bad losses. It was still a good experiment after the break.
Although the last few months have been a struggle for Immonen, he says that the period has also left a mark in a good way.
– I wouldn’t have managed without the billiard commune. The support from her, her family and loved ones has been incredible.
As for the big tournaments, Immonen will be seen in the game for the first time at the beginning of June. At that time, the FIFA World Cup was held in Saudi Arabia.
– Now there is a different motivation to play and look at life from a new angle.