the essential
In an interview with our colleagues from Ouest France, former striker Pascal Nouma revealed that he played a season at OM while undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy sessions.
It’s a revelation that says a lot about his strength of character. Well known in the French championship in the 90s and 2000s for having played in the ranks of PSG, OM but also Lens, Lille and Strasbourg, Pascal Nouma recently told Ouest France that he had played in the Marseille city with “muscle cancer”.
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“I didn't take it seriously. For eight months, I was at the Nice clinic. Chemotherapy, radiotherapy… I played 11 matches at OM with cancer!”, admits the one who had just done his return to France in 2001 after a successful stint in Turkey, with Besiktas.
A diagnosis which followed the removal behind the neck of a cyst “as big as a golf ball”. The Marseille club's doctor at the time, Doctor Gaillaud, then kept the information to himself and covered his player. “The club was not aware, medical confidentiality. The doc said I had a problem with my ankle,” says Nouma who “always felt tired”.
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However, the news ended up getting out and Bernard Tapie, its president, was not careful when announcing it to his group by arriving in the locker room. “Pascal Nouma has cancer of the skull, he is going to die!”, he said, causing shocks even in Türkiye.
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Going so far as to set fire in front of the club, Besiktas supporters “screamed our name at every match,” reveals Nouma. They went to the club headquarters, protested. “We want Pascal Nouma to come back, s “he must die, he must die in Turkey!” Fortunately, 23 years later and despite the seriousness of his illness, of which he only very recently learned “that 98% of those affected succumbed”, the former attacker is well is always good alive.
France
