Filenews 26 March 2021 - by Pavlos Neophytou
Thursday 18 March. The time is six in the morning and so far everything is running smoothly for the distance cyclist Petros Stylianou. Behind him, as always, continues to follow him patiently and at low speed, the "machine" of the team, Glafkos Glafkos, along with the necessary supplies for Petros and his bike. When the storm finds them, despite Glafkos' pleas to stop and get in the car, Peter continues.
"When I travel distances by bike, I feel like I carry with me all those voices of the tortured cancer patients I met, those who have left life unjustly, but also those who continue to fight, which push me to continue," Peter will tell Associated News three days later, when we met the two in Paphos, for an account of that mission.
"Because as a former cancer patient I lived the Calvary of these people, I wanted to go to Parliament and tell them that this unjust suffering of moving from Paphos to the other provinces for a few minutes of treatment must finally stop," he added. For his part, Glafkos Glafkos made reference to second-class citizens. "We are citizens of a European country and there is no way that a province can be so badly wronged," he stressed, hoping that the director-general of the OKYP, who was present at the meeting of the Health Committee, would examine, as promised to them and representatives of charities, the request technocratically and see how they could respond. He also promised that by the end of the month, the C.I.A. will hire a doctor oncologist to examine cancer patients in Paphos on a few days a week.
Back in Thursday's storm, in Petra tou Romiou, while the police were making an announcement calling on drivers to be particularly careful and to drive at low speeds due to severe weather events, Petros was forced by the gusty wind gusts to stop and continue for a few minutes the journey inside Glafkos' car. After all, he had to attend the meeting of the Health Committee in Parliament before noon. Fortunately after the ancient Kourion, in Limassol, the winds weakened and could continue unabated. The rain, which he has endured on his back many times in the past, was not an obstacle to his cause.
How he beat cancer
Peter Stylianou's relationship with bike and road marathons began in 2011, when he was diagnosed with stomach cancer. At the age of 41, when they were expecting the third child in his family. The disease was at a very advanced stage and doctors, in Cyprus and abroad, gave him little hope of living. According to him, his psychology then fell into the nadir and he did not even go into the process of starting treatment to delay the inevitable. He only decided to find a way out of cycling, attempting timidly to travel routes from Paphos to Akamas.
He assures us that cycling was not a random choice of sport, it was an unfulfilled desire of his childhood, since in poverty and deprivation, his parents were unable to respond. So, at the thought of the end he was convinced was approaching, he turned to the realization of his childhood dream. Then Peter realized that his cycling performances were very good. He made long trips, many times with other distance cyclists. In fact, without mentioning that he is a cancer patient, he participated in an international competition in Akamas, where he took first place on the difficult route. The highlight was the announcement by doctors that his stomach cancer could be cured, as it did, after a tough ordeal, which included major surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. He and Glafkos attribute it to the positive energy he was drawing from cycling at the time.
Martyrdom the transition to Nicosia
"Our motto, which we transferred with Glafkos to the House Health Committee, is that together we can defeat cancer," Peter stresses. "And indeed, we can defeat him, especially if in the case of the cancer patients of Paphos, the State rises to the occasion, and does what really needs to be done." Peter remembers and characterizes tragic that part of the treatment that followed the great surgery, and this he tried to convey to those present in the Parliament on Thursday: how tortured he was, when for five to six months he had to go from Paphos to Oncology in Nicosia for chemotherapies and radiotherapy. Once with pasykaf's minibus and once with the help of his own people. "I was seeing others who were going through cancer in that bus. And you know how bad it is to be put on a bus that says "CANCERPATIENTS"? Which stigmatizes you. And from where we were passing, they'd see us and say, "Let the cancer patients... It is a big mistake, and the inconvenience of the transition, but also the inscription 'CANCERPATIENTS' which unfortunately remains to this day".
He stresses that "with chemotherapy and radiotherapy you feel very awful, but the most awful is this route from Paphos to Nicosia. To have three kids waiting for you back home, as well as your job, to make a living raising these kids. Cancer patients and those who experience diseases need support for all this. For all this I wanted to go to the House and try to shake them up."
When the policeman cried
Peter will also never forget the following incident, with a police officer on the motorway: "I went through it and saw what it means to suffer unjustly. For example, someone with bowel cancer must get off the bus three and four times during such a journey to go to the toilet. Personally, I happened to leave Nicosia Oncology and have to stop by car on the side of the motorway. Then a policeman came and stopped to fine me for parking on the edge of the motorway. When I explained to him what happened to me and what I was going through, the man started crying and apologized to me. These are times I've lived and they have to stop. It is not possible for the people of Paphos to be so wronged!"
"Ploughs" Cyprus with marathons
After his treatment, Petros Stylianou supports with bicycle and road marathons, which he organizes throughout Cyprus, the various relief bodies of cancer patients, while taking care to raise public awareness of the need to create an oncology centre in Paphos. With Glafkos they have travelled all over free Cyprus several times. In competitions he has distinguished himself first, so through his example he sends the message every time: "Yes, you are going through cancer. yes, you're going through some kind of illness. But you can get better! And you can be a normal person again and offer!"
Next objective: The Tour of Europe with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The next goal for Petros Stylianou and Glafkos Glafkos, is to travel Europe in order to send the message of the creation of a support unit of Oncology in Paphos. This goal would be achieved with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but , they say, they were "caught up" by the coronavirus pandemic, transferring the project later.
"I sometimes think about how much it honours a state when a citizen – a former cancer patient - comes forward to cycle all over Europe, because we are not worthy to create a supportive oncology centre, which with little money is made, to ease the pain of these people," says Peter. "We will go out and make this effort, because we have to, because a lot of people believe in Peter," Glafkos adds. "We owe it to all those who have been unjustly lost to cancer."
