After mid-August, the Finnish Wrestling Federation announced in a laconic announcement that there would be a change in the team named for the World Championships in Belgrade. 67-kilogram ones Elmer Mattila would leave after falling ill, and his teammate from KooVee in Tampere, the 82-kilogram Artem Shapovalov.
The truth behind the announcement is harsh and dramatic. Mattila’s condition collapsed at the WC team’s training camp in Hennef, Germany on August 16. Suffering from huge stomach pains, the athlete started vomiting blood and got a ride to the hospital from the coaches. That same evening, there was a situation where the surgical team at Siegburg Hospital saved the life of Mattila, 24, with an emergency operation, in which a 6.5 centimeter long tumor was removed from his abdominal cavity.
The father of a one-year-old son, who is recovering at home in Tampere, told Urheilu about his trials on Monday. At the end of the summer, he had suffered from intermittent stomach pains, but they became completely unbearable only in Germany.
– The doctors initially made a peephole, from which they concluded that there is a large blood clot in the area of the small intestine. The intestine was wrapped around itself, which blocked blood circulation and caused acute death and thereby the risk of death. The intestine could not return to its normal position because a tumor was attached to its surface.
The young man thought about the ultimate things.
“Will I wake up again?”
– When I signed the papers just before falling asleep, I wasn’t at all sure if I would ever wake up again. And it probably wasn’t the doctors either, said Mattila, who assures that, given the situation, she is doing very well now.
He was accompanied to the hospital by one of the coaches of the Finnish national team Brother Karri Suominen.
The tumor left the operating room to be examined by a specialist, an oncologist. The statement was hard to listen to for a young, family man.
– It was found to be a GIST cancer tumor. Yes, it pretty much stung, says Mattila.
The information came as a complete surprise; at the same time, it provided an explanation for periodic stomach problems. Earlier in the summer, at the camp in Hungary, Mattila had missed two training days due to stomach pains. Previously, he was suspected of suffering from reflux disease, which causes stomach contents to rise up into the esophagus.
GIST is a very rare, gastrointestinal stromal tumor, classified as a soft tissue sarcoma. The small intestine is its most typical location. Most commonly, a person around the age of 60 gets sick with GIST. In Scandinavian studies, the frequency of its occurrence has been found to be about 15 people out of a million over the course of a year.
Mattila, who received treatment quickly, has received encouraging predictions about her situation.
– In Germany, the surgeons were able to completely remove the tumor, nothing was left in the body. There is also effective specific medication for the disease.
Mattila’s treatment is now being continued by a private cancer clinic in Helsinki and the university hospital in her hometown.
A 20-centimeter wound
– There is now a 20 centimeter long wound in the stomach. Apparently, it’s a bit difficult for the boy to understand that his father won’t be able to lift him normally for a while. There is a ban on exercise for three months, but it does not apply to walking and taking care of normal everyday life. After three months, you should be able to run and do other side training, but not sports training until six months later. I’m definitely going to get back on the wrestling mat.
In Germany, Mattila was training for her fourth adult competition. It doesn’t hurt to miss them right now.
– Yes, the main thing in my mind is great gratitude that I stayed alive. Only now there is a new opponent in the other corner of the carpet.
Mattila from Germany was able to go home a week after her surgery. The parents came to pick up their son, and the trip home was by car and boat. The rest of the national team returned from Germany to Finland already on August 20, but before that all the athletes and coaches went to greet their teammates who had a hard time.
How possible?
– And at the end of Tampere, the local wrestlers had organized their own homecoming ceremonies for me. I am really grateful to the species family.
It’s downright amazing how Mattila, in her own state of health, has been able to train herself to the condition required for a prestigious competition venue. In addition to abdominal pain, GIST causes anemia.
– Of course, now with this information, I have thought about how the tumor has affected, for example, the quality of sleep, exercise performance and responses, and recovery. Nice to be able to aim for the top of the sport without it.
From the 16th to the 24th of this month Mattila had to witness the World Cup in the next few days, but now the man is left in Tampere to rely on TV and online TV.
– Still very interested. I watch everything I can.