Sinisa Mihajlovic has spoken about his fight against leukaemia revealing he was given a false identity by the hospital where he was cured.
"Getting sick is not a fault. It just happens. The world falls on you and you must try to react. Everyone does it in their own way. The truth is, I’m not a hero,” he told Il Corriere della Sera in an interview where he also spoke about a quarrel with Patrick Vieira back in 2000.
Sinisa Mihajlovic has spoken about his fight against leukaemia revealing he was given a false identity by the hospital where he was cured.
"Getting sick is not a fault. It just happens. The world falls on you and you must try to react. Everyone does it in their own way. The truth is, I’m not a hero,” he told Il Corriere della Sera in an interview where he also spoke about a quarrel with Patrick Vieira back in 2000.
“I’m the kind of guy who used to talk about winning a war with courage. But I was afraid, I cried, and wondered why. I begged for help from God, like everyone else,” he continued.
“Those who do not make it are not losers. It is not a defeat, it is a damn disease. There is no prescription to recover, or at least I don’t have it.
“You may feel like a warrior, but without doctors you’re not going anywhere. The only thing you can do is not to lose the will to live. The rest does not depend on us.
"I enjoy every moment. I didn’t do it before, I took everything for granted.
“Health counts, affections count. Nothing else. The disease has made me a better man who always tries to see the glass half full. Three days ago I did the tests, blood, lung CT, aspirated marrow. Every time I get anxiety. The next check is in June, then, twice a year.
“The Hospital Sant’Orsola they gave me a false identity. I was Cgikjltfr Drnovsk, an homeless 69-year-old. They did it not to attract curious people who would disturb other patients. After the first two rounds of chemo, I looked as a 69-year-old man.”
Mihajlovic went on Bologna’s bench in the Rossoblu’s season debut in 2019-20 against Verona. He had started treatments and the first rounds of chemotherapy only a few weeks earlier.
“I weighed 75 kilos, I have only 300 white blood cells in my body. I implored the doctors to let me go. I almost fell on the floor in front of everyone and a couple of times I was going to.
“I felt the looks of compassion on me in the tunnel. When I saw myself on television, I did not recognize me.
“I wanted to give a message. You shouldn’t be ashamed of illness. You have to show yourself for what you are.”