When Charlotte Rohlin fell ill, she was given a bottle of champagne with a strict restriction: it only opens when she is cancer-free.
Two months later, a relaxed national team icon appeared on the phone.
– It cracked!
Sound bubbles at the other end. Charlotte Rohlin He catches your breath, laughs, and gets his speed up again.
– It’s wonderful. Very pleasant.
During his 13 years in the global elite, journalists asked hundreds of times how she felt, but then the goal of a late victory, a deceptive cross, was a final approach to the series. When I asked one of the great defenders of Swedish football about the same thing today, the background was even darker. But the tone of the answer was as effervescent as it was after the two goals that took Sweden to the World Cup finals in Germany in 2011.
How do you feel about it?
– It couldn’t feel better than this.
Silence. Then an unmistakable sound, one that shouldn’t be intercepted on the phone but still is. smile sound.
– That was really the best.
Tried to keep the chaos away
In December 2021, Charlotte Rohlin was diagnosed with breast cancer. As the breadth of the first letter sank, more and equally frightening words came out.
– violent. Genetic mutation. negative triple. Everything went quickly. It was very difficult to absorb everything.
The 41-year-old had taken sick leave and was preparing for an extensive surgery. The breasts need to be operated on. Three lymph nodes. Ovary for preventive purposes.
The predictions were uncertain and one scenario was more frightening than the other, so in the end Rohlin stopped it. Try to keep the clutter at bay by finding a solid and understandable everyday life.
– I was shocked. Try not to have too many thoughts and feelings. I created little things just to avoid coming home and thinking. I wanted to train, but after the operation on my breasts I couldn’t run either. Sometimes the fear hit hard. I didn’t know what the surveys would show.
Purely practical tasks were added to the concern. In the long run, it would be annoying to tell the same story to everyone you met, so Charlotte decided to keep the closest circle informed through her Instagram account.
“In my naivety I came out”
On December 14, I posted a black box with white text: Damn Cancer. Then regular updates followed, like January 7th, when, photographed in front of the bathroom mirror, she pulled her hand through her fringe and showed off her falling tuft of hair.
“I know! It’s just poetry! But there is just something about this particular poetry! It has become somewhat more apparent that I am ill, that I am struggling to survive,” she wrote.
Jobs were not received as they had intended. They reached more people, evoked more emotions, and led to stronger reactions.
– In my naivety, I went out on social media to tell my loved ones that they would still meet me soon. I was shocked by the message and mostly wanted to say I wouldn’t look like I wouldn’t work or keep in touch. But I didn’t think about spreading. She said she appeared in the news a few minutes later.
What do you think about when your own trauma became big news?
– Right! Oh! But it was only good that it was widely disseminated, because it facilitated all the meetings afterwards. And I can’t even describe all the comments, greetings, and cheers I’ve met.
Yes, your posts are full of encouraging comments from stars and individuals.
– yes. So many people have written to me, moved by my story, supported me and gave me love and strength. I am so grateful to everyone who hears from me and sends flowers.
‘They bombed the tumors’
Two old colleagues came with a bottle of champagne. But Josephine Oqvist and Maria Carlson did not let Charlotte Rohlin cheat right away, not even this weekend, without waiting for the right opportunity.
“Blow up when you’re cancer-free,” Jossan and Maria greeted. Charlotte obeyed the Pope, hid him, and no longer thought about him. He did not dare to hope for a date when the danger of disappointment would be too great.
A new post on Instagram on May 4, with a photo taken in the car. Slanting smile and a little smile for the hairstyle: Today was a return visit after the operation. Everything seemed fine. Now I hope it stays that way
Today’s update May 30th with pictures of the kids and husband: Done. I did this!
The answer after the last operation is that the smallest tumor is completely gone, leaving only a millimeter of the largest. There was no spread to the lymph nodes.
Now there’s surgery on her ovaries, something she hopes will happen soon, and then a slow return to her previous life.
They say you should start with caution, because you often catch up with what you have gone through. The danger is that you will have a relapse, not like in cancer but mentally, because you understand what you’ve been through. I will go back step by step. I will see and learn. Try to do everything at my own pace.
How did you get the message that you’re finished?
– He told the surgeon how she looked after the operation and the results were very impressive. Cytotoxic drugs bombarded those tumors. I am very grateful.
Did you run out on the sidewalk and cheered up?
– Haha, I’m so exhausted, but so happy. The first thing I did was find champagne and open it. To celebrate that I have come to the end of it all.