Who knew that a simple ‘i’, minuscule in many ways, would mean so much to a child. Interestingly, the best words to define the little ones begin with this vowel: ‘i’ for illusion, ‘i’ for childhood, ‘i’ for innocence, ‘i’ for impetus, ‘i’ for intelligence, ‘i’ for imagination… This letter is also the initial of the name of the protagonist of this story: Ignacio, who brings together all those qualities that begin with the ‘i’ -and many others-. An ‘i’ is the most special dedication that Ignacio has had and was made by Rodrygo Goes, his favorite player.

Crónica went to the Juegaterapia Foundation to meet Ignacio -the star of the week- and his mother Isabel. “The one you have messed us up,” they say jokingly in Juegaterapia when mother and son enter, still excited by what they are living and by how recognized the little one has become.

Ignacio is eight years old and in November of last year he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. But that’s not what characterizes it. Undoubtedly, the fact that defines him is his passion for football, especially for Real Madrid. Like Rodrygo at a press conference, Ignacio sits patiently with his mother in the Juegaterapia garden to answer the questions we ask him. His favorite food is spaghetti, he hates hospital food, his best memory is having met Rodrygo in person and now he wants to meet all the Real Madrid players. You don’t miss any of your team’s games, whether in the stadium or from your TV.

Isabel tells Crónica how it was that month of November in which an unexpected diagnosis changed the life of her family. Ignacio did not have any symptoms, they simply went to the pediatrician because his aunt found him a little pale and he had a few tenths of a fever. The doctor believed that it was most likely that he had a virus and requested to do a test. The results showed that “he was a little decompensated” and the pediatrician recommended that they be checked by a hematologist at the Niño Jesús hospital. There, after a chest X-ray, they realized what was happening: stage four cancer, the most advanced, which had already affected several parts of his body such as the pelvic area.

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According to the Spanish Federation of Parents of Children with Cancer, 1,500 cases of child and adolescent cancer are registered in Spain each year. Approximately 400 in those over 14 years of age, and 1,100 among those under 0 to 14 years of age. Ignacio and his family never thought that the 8-year-old could be counted in that figure.

“Why doesn’t it happen to me? If Ignatius had not taken antibiotics in his life. I had never been sick before,” Isabel wondered. At the hospital they set off to seek appropriate treatment. “It was absolute speed. Those are the worst moments because you don’t know exactly what he has. Suddenly they tell us that my son has cancer and our life stopped. Then they told us it was Hodgkin’s lymphoma.” Isabel’s voice breaks a little and Ignatius instantly stares at her and warns: “I’m going to leave.” “I’m not crying,” his mother replies. “He just doesn’t like to see me cry,” she explains with a smile, and recovers immediately from the sweet threat of her son.

“The good thing is that it had a good prognosis,” Isabel continues, “within all the cancers there are, it is one of the most studied. The thing is, I had it so advanced that it went into a clinical trial.” The parents were told how the treatment was to follow. “It all depended on how he reacted after two cycles of chemotherapy.” Two things could happen: in the first scenario -the best-, the disease disappeared and Ignacio had to receive four more cycles of chemo to finish the treatment; The second assumption was that, if the disease did not disappear, apart from the remaining four cycles, he should receive immunotherapy and, possibly, radiotherapy.

But the best-case scenario had occurred and the disease had vanished. Thus, Ignacio received the remaining four cycles of chemotherapy –six in total-, which ended three weeks ago. Last Monday the tests went well and confirmed that, for the moment, it is clean. “With cancer you never know, but we’ve been lucky. We are very happy,” says Isabel. Although he confesses that there is a latent fear of a relapse.

Throughout the treatment, Ignacio was an exemplary patient. His mother proudly shares, “He’s been very well ill. Even when he was very unwell, he was always cheerful. He has a lot of strength and energy. The doctors had a hard time thinking that, with the super low hemoglobin, I wasn’t lying down.” But one episode was the most complicated. The doctors realized that Ignacio did not associate lymphoma with cancer and that he thought he had a more benevolent disease. So they saw it necessary to tell him frontally what was happening to him, together with his parents. “Am I going to go bald?” he asked. When I said yes, she started crying and screaming desperately.

Just that day they received a package of Juegaterapia: a Baby Pelón from the Spanish team and a console. “All the bad time he forgot. He stopped crying, started playing and never cried again,” his mother recalls. Precisely the motto of the foundation is “chemo playing flies by” and, through encouraging play so that children do not stop being children, they make the disease more bearable, providing joy. A joy that they have received back in Juegaterapia thanks to Ignacio: “He is a wonderful child, funny, playful and very footballer. His energy floods the office from the moment he walks through the door,” shares Silvia Jiménez, volunteer and press officer of the Foundation.

When the foundation discovered that they had the most faithful admirer of the Madrid striker, they wanted to surprise him. On February 15, International Childhood Cancer Day, they played a video that Rodrygo recorded for him. “You are an inspiration to me,” the footballer told his faithful follower, sealing with that phrase a reciprocal admiration. In that video Rodrygo lamented not being able to meet him personally on that occasion, but promised to visit him later to play FIFA together.

Moment in which Ignacio and Rodrygo agreed to celebrate a goal forming an ‘i’. Juegaterapia Foundation

Fulfilling the promise took more weeks than expected, but on Thursday, May 4, two days before the Copa del Rey final, Rodrygo went to the Juegaterapia Foundation to meet Ignacio and have a fun time with him. That day Ignacio asked the player if he could dedicate a goal to him, in case he scored it in the final. “Sure! How do you want me to celebrate it?”, Rodrygo asked, and Ignacio made the famous letter ‘i’ with his hands.

The passion for Real Madrid is something that comes from family, except for a grandfather, an uncle and an aunt who are the ‘traitors’ who go to Atleti. His father, Nacho, is another loyal supporter of the team and, in fact, is a member of the club. For that reason, he was able to access a raffle of tickets to see the final. He won them and took Ignacio with him to the stadium of La Cartuja. “They say Real Madrid gave us the tickets, but it’s not true. We had the tickets because my husband won them,” Isabel shares with a laugh.

There are many emotions that come from scoring a goal, especially if it is a competition as important as the final of the Copa del Rey. It is normal that, in the midst of the fury of the moment, the moment of celebration with the teammates and the adrenaline to promote a possible victory, even the way in which it was intended to celebrate that goal is forgotten. Maybe that’s just what happened to Rodrygo when he scored the first goal in the second minute of the match.

However, he did not miss the next opportunity to fulfill his promise and, after scoring the second goal, he formed with his hands the long-awaited ‘i’ that Ignacio was waiting for, sitting in the stands of the stadium. From his place, Ignatius could not see Rodrygo in detail, but he never doubted that he had made the agreed ‘i’ as a dedication. “Ignacio was sure he was going to dedicate the goal to him. Look, children are more confident than adults. I thought: ‘a 22-year-old kid, at that moment, with a thousand heart rates, it is normal for him to forget.’” Ignatius’ illusion was right.

Ignatius (of course!) He wants to be a footballer. He is very good at scoring goals: in goal, playing play, in table football… But his best win has not been against Osasuna or Manchester City, but against lymphoma. Hislatest tests showed that, at this time, he is free of cancer. He will continue to play more matches in the next medical check-ups. Meanwhile, his mother prefers to be more cautious and not decree that he has been completely cured.

“What makes you fight the disease, Ignacio?” we asked.

– “Nothing, because I don’t have anything anymore.”

As his mother said, children are more confident than adults. While his parents hesitated, Ignacio was certain that Rodrygo would draw his ‘i’, which he did. Now Ignacio has the conviction of having overcome cancer, and it is hoped that this will be confirmed by the revisions (the matches) that are to come. In the meantime, he will continue to enjoy football and life.