Daniel was born with cancer and is now a Paralympic medalist: "I was given chemo at 8 weeks old."

"Your son was born with cancer ." That's what Daniel Stix 's parents had to hear 28 years ago. During the pregnancy, doctors saw nothing unusual on ultrasounds, but after delivery, they noticed a large lump on his back that prevented him from moving his legs.

"We don't even know what this is," said the medical team. It was at Madrid's Gregorio Marañón Hospital that they received the final diagnosis: Daniel had congenital neuroblastoma. It is one of the most common solid embryonal extracranial tumors in childhood, with an annual incidence of around 1 in every 70,000 children under 15 years of age.

Finding a therapeutic option for Daniel was urgent, as 60% of children over one year old with neuroblastoma develop metastasis with a grave prognosis, even with intensive treatment. "When he was about eight weeks old, I had already undergone surgery to reduce the size of the tumor and was already receiving chemotherapy," the young man told this newspaper .

Most localized tumors have an excellent prognosis after surgery. Children under one year old have a more favorable prognosis than older children, according to Orphanet , the European database on rare diseases. A year and a half and many cycles of chemotherapy later , Daniel went back into surgery. "I was clean," he says. However, the consequences were multiple , including a kidney that didn't work. He also had to undergo about 15 surgeries over the next 10 years.

Currently, he dedicates his life to wheelchair basketball , even winning a silver medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympic Games . "My mother would say that this is a lifestyle. Since I was little, I have done a lot of swimming, mobility and exercises to strengthen my leg muscles," he recalls.

His passion for sport began at the age of seven: "It was about mental and physical health . Adaptive sport didn't have the recognition it has now 20 years ago; there were few tools and resources, but foundations promoted it." Specifically, he began training at one in Alcobendas when he was about eight .

A few years later, at 14, he was signed to Club Deportivo Ilunion, a team he continues to play for . He gets up around 7:15 and, without breakfast, heads to the gym. When he returns, he showers, studies (currently a cybersecurity course), and goes to train at the Canal de Isabel II sports facilities. He doesn't break his fast until he finishes his training, but he's used to it by now. He spends the afternoons doing other things, such as playing the saxophone or reading.

Regarding how Paralympic sport has evolved in recent years, he admits that it has evolved positively: "Firstly, because of the social barrier , because we are all equal athletes and the demands are the same. We must continue along these lines through education and awareness . For example, in the last two years, quite a few national league matches have been broadcast on television, and it's important to give Paralympic sport a chance so that people can see it."

Adela Cañete is well acquainted with this "peculiar" cancer, which the athlete was born with, because she coordinates the neuroblastoma working group of the Spanish Society of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (SEHOP). "It can disappear spontaneously in some children and, in others, lead to death," she explains.

"It's a malignant tumor of the neural crest, embryonic cells of an organ we have during the embryonic stage that gives rise to the adrenal glands and other nerve ganglia we have in our body. In some children, for some reason that we don't fully understand, it gives rise to a benign or highly malignant tumor; it has a very different range of behavior. Cells have the capacity to differentiate from bad to good, but not the other way around," he states.

The vice president of SEHOP also reveals that, for this reason, it's a tumor that has generated "a lot" of interest in science. Oncologist Audrey Evans is considered the "mother of neuroblastoma." She organized and chaired the inaugural meeting on advances in neuroblastoma research in 1975, and it has been held approximately every two years since then.

Although Daniel's tumor wasn't seen in any tests, Cañete explains that imaging tests for pregnant women have improved over time, and intrauterine neuroblastomas can be detected. In the basketball player's case, it's likely that the tumor grew in the nerve ganglia around the spine , causing spinal cord compression. "It's very important to detect it early. Since it usually occurs in babies who don't walk, the symptoms can go unnoticed," he says.

Regarding treatment, the oncologist clarifies that it depends on the patient's age , the biology of the tumor, and the stage or degree of involvement. " Grade I can be operated on, while Grade IV already has distant metastases , mainly in the bone marrow and bone. Surgery, a bone marrow transplant, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or immunotherapy can be performed," she concludes.