A little over a year after his amputation, former football player Bruno Rodriguez, 50, talks about his reconstruction. Amputated from part of his right leg because of too many infiltrations to play, the former player of Bastia, Metz or PSG, is now recognized as 80% disabled and lives on an annuity of 900 euros. He explains in an interview with Le Parisien going “much better since his definitive prosthesis” which allows him to walk “without crutches and without too much pain”, and to drive, after many difficult moments.
Bruno Rodriguez admits it himself, he had “depressive moments with desires to die”, just after the amputation and the death of his mother. “Without my wife, who is my rock and my hero, and my loved ones, I would not have recovered,” he confides.
Excruciating pain and serial operations
How did it come to this? Because of the infiltrations to which he submitted himself to play matches despite the severe pain. “I had severe pain in my ankle and I multiplied the infiltrations. I gritted my teeth. At the end of my career, after a bad tackle at Clermont-Ferrand, I never stopped hurting. And I’m talking about excruciating pain. I underwent a dozen operations. And one day, I was told: “we can’t do anything anymore”, recounts the former attacker.
And if he takes the floor, it is to warn athletes of the risk incurred with such practices. “I don’t hold a grudge, but I regret that it was not explained to me at the time what this meant and the possible damage. I was a competitor and always wanted to play. But I would have liked someone to tell me the risks I was taking. I played Russian roulette without knowing it,” he continues. To the point of considering the infiltrations as “doping”, and of regretting the silence of the world of football and “its selfish side” on its personal case and infiltrations in general.