VISIT THE REST OF OUR SITE BY CLICKING THESE LINKS
SUBSCRIBE FCF SHOP HOME PICTURES VIDEOS FCF TV SHOW
SUBMITTING THE CANCER
Photos and report by Marcelo Alonso
Translation by Luiz Eduardo Vianna
Originally printed in the July 2001 issue of FCF

Magno Penha Everybody knows that there are professional athletes who are attracted to the use of steroids with the intention of improving their performances at any cost. Be it on the courts, fields, swimming pools or rings of combat, the doping cases in sports grow at a frightening rate. In Brazil, Magno Penha's case brought up, once again, the possibility that has been studied by doctors around the world. Can the Growth Hormone (GH) cause cancer?

If to get in a Vale-Tudo ring being 100% physically is already very hard, what about going there having Leukemia, in an advanced stage? "I didn't even have the strength to warm up," remembers the author of the exploit, the Brazilian Magno Penha who obviously didn't know about his illness when he was invited by Sérgio Batarelli to fight in the Ultimate Combat, held in July of last year, in Salt Lake City, USA. "I thought that the tiredness that I had been feeling in the previous weeks was a result from the steroids that I had been using since 1995," said the runner-up of IVC 13. Penha winning in IVC 13 Even in his fatigued condition, Penha entered the ring to face American fighter John Mokiao. "Right after the fight started, I saw that I didn't have the physical condition to fight. In a few seconds the guy took me down, passed my guard and got a leg lock, I was able defend it, but then he got my arm. The crowd was yelling, 'break it!' and I got power from I don't know where and defended. Then I passed his guard and got the mount. I was totally exhausted so I faked a punch, he raised his arm to defend and I submitted him with an arm-bar. It was a God thing," remembers the athlete that passed out and left the ring with an oxygen mask.

A week later, already in Maranhão, Magno woke up with a block of blood inside his mouth and was taken to a public hospital, where he found out that he had Leukemia in an advanced stage. "My blood had 90% of cancerous cells," recalls the fighter, who, without having health insurance and knowing that the treatment could cost 80,000 dollars, got in a plane to Rio de Janeiro where he was barely able to get a vacancy at the Instituto do Cancer (INCA). "When I got there, the hospital was full and my condition was so bad that nobody wanted to see me, they said I was dying and that I shouldn't have come to Rio. I was lucky that Dr. Arthur was touched when I asked him to not let me die, because I was too young. Thanks to him, I stayed in the hospital," remembers the warrior from Maranhão. Since then, Penha had the worst moments of his life in the chemotherapy sessions. "Each chemotherapy session takes 3 days and 3 nights. To each medicine drop that enters in your blood, you feel all your body burning, you hair falls out and you throw up all the time. After that, you have fever for a week. It's terrible".

Even his relatives couldn't handle Magno's situation. His girlfriend, Denise Freitas, was his biggest supporter. "She was the only one who stayed with me for the whole time. Without her, and God, I couldn't have gone through all that," admits the fighter.

Magno Penha surrounded by friends Arthur Mariano and Amaury Bitetti After going through the first two sessions pretty well, Magno went through the worst moment of his life the week after the third chemotherapy session. Almost without any defense cells in his blood, Magno was infected by a bacteria that caused a general infection in his body. After going through for days of high fever (42ºC/107.6ºF) and the possibility of having both arms amputated, Penha stopped breathing and went into a coma. At that time his training partner Arthur Mariano went to visit him and heard from the doctor that Magno had little chance to survive, but if he was able to make it through that, he would have won the battle against the cancer. "I left the hospital very depressed and started to pray a lot for him. A week later I was at the academy and Magno showed up. It was a miracle," remembers Mariano. After days of receiving huge amounts of antibiotics that finally killed that super resistant bacteria, Magno got better and the disease regressed; the doctors let him leave the hospital by the fourth chemo session.

Penha in victory After the fourth session, Magno was set free to have a normal life again. "There is a 70% chance of the disease not coming back, but there can still be some cancerous cells in my blood, in that case I'll have to go to a fifth chemotherapy session and then possibly to a marrow transplant, hoping that one of my brothers is compatible with me", says the warrior.

After all he had been through on the last 8 months, Magno is only sure about one thing: "I want to get back to training as soon as possible. Soon I'll be back in the ring. After all the problems I had, I would even accept to fight Mark Kerr, Igor Vovchanchyn and Mark Coleman all on the same night".

Scar from the infection that almost killed him CAN GH ACCELERATE THE LEUKEMIA?
According to Dr. Arthur Moellmann, who attended to Magno, the possibility that the disease had evolved due to the use of steroids can't be denied. "There are reports published in scientific magazines relating several cases of Leukemia in kids and adults that used the Growth Hormone (GH) - recommended by doctors. Actually, we can't establish a cause-effect relationship yet, but this possibility is been studied," said the INCA specialist, who has worked with this disease since 1989. Magno's case has to be used as an example. After all, it's better to prevent than to cure.
© All materials contained in the Full Contact Fighter web site are protected by copyright and to be used only for personal and noncommercial uses. Public display or copying for sale or public distribution of any of these materials is strictly prohibited.