Once, he felt that everything he had was taken for granted.
Once, he thought that if he wanted something, he had to get it.
However, when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in late 2018, a malignant lymphoma that mutated but can be cured by white blood cells, Canadian snowboard star Max Parroteh reacquainted himself and everything he had.
Medical treatment, MRI, chemotherapy every two weeks, 12 times a total of 6 months, medication, and even the resulting pain, hair loss, but this is only the easiest part of the battle with cancer, the real difficulty is that when you are alone, quiet, or close your eyes and try to go to sleep, that moment in front of your heart. That fear of death, that loss of being far away from skiing, that regret that there are still many unfinished things, feelings and anxieties about the gains and losses of past lives.
After all this, in mid-2019, Parrott announced that he had successfully defeated cancer. People are impressed by his courage to beat cancer and his efforts to return to the field, but they don't know what is the impetus for this change? "It made me realize how grateful I was that I was still alive, really, very grateful. I'm going to exhaust all my passions and put into the sport I love, and I have so much work to do in this world. In his second year of cancer, Parrott won three gold medals at the World Extreme Sports Congress, the first time in his entire career, "Now I don't take everything for granted, now I start to enjoy life 100%. From the little things in the morning to my love of snowboarding. I now try to smile all day and the results come with it. It's amazing. ”
Since his first podium on the World Cup steeplechase in 2012, Parot has gradually created a whirlwind in the snowboard world, becoming one of the most creative mainstays in the world's snowboarding world. He won the World Cup in the big jump and slope obstacle courses 8 times. At the age of 27, he has won 13 medals at the World Extreme Sports Congress. Of the 8 gold medals, 6 came from the big jump and 2 from the slope obstacle course. But at the Olympics, his results were not so good. At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, he eventually finished fifth in slope obstacle course skills, when he was better at big jumping before he made it to the Winter Olympics. At the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, he won the silver medal in the slope obstacle course, but in the big jump competition, he only finished ninth. "At that time, I had no gratitude for the life I had." He said, "I was too nervous and too anxious to put too much pressure on myself. ”
But after experiencing the test of life and death and re-examining life, Parrot who came to the Beijing Winter Olympics has been completely different. He gave himself a good start. In the first slope obstacle course final, he slipped flawlessly in the second, scoring 90.96 points to seal the championship in one fell swoop. Mark McMorris, another Canadian snowboarding motif who eventually won the bronze medal, praised Parot and said: "He's unbelievable. He solved his own thorny problems. He was an amazing skier. I'm very proud to be on the podium with him. He deserved it. ”
The so-called "hero cherishes hero". Like-minded people with similar levels will also have the same pursuits and common attributes. On the snowboard on which Mark McMurris competed for the Beijing Winter Olympics, the pattern of a panda was printed. "To be honest, this idea came out before the 'ice pier' became the mascot of the Beijing Winter Olympics." McMorris explains, "I felt that the panda's personality was very similar to mine, I liked pandas, and I was going to compete in China, the panda's hometown, so I consulted with the team and printed the panda on the snowboard." "The painting on the snowboard is usually a label given to one by the player, or an oath of attitude towards life. So, what is printed on the bottom of the snowboard that Parot used? "NOBODY" means "little people" and "insignificant people" in English. But if you believe it, then you are really "Too young, too simple", there is a saying in the movie circle, "there are no small roles, only big actors", and this is exactly what Parot wants to convey to the world of himself - starting from small things, inconspicuous things can change the whole world, and small people will eventually become big heroes.
Parot's father, Alain, is an alpine skier and winner of the Canadian Water Ski Championships, and their home is near a ski resort in Mont Brown, Quebec. The influence of his father and the convenience of the water tower made him take to ski at the age of 2, and Parot, who began to play on the snowboard at the age of 9, determined to become a snowboarder. However, his parents did not support him, because the extreme sport nature of snowboarding put athletes at great risk of injury. "We're not going to pay you for skis. If you want to buy it, you earn your own money. Parot didn't give up, he mowed the lawn for a whole year, finally saved enough money to buy his first ski, and then began to realize his dream. His entire athletic career has been doing things like "mowing lawns to save money for snowboards." His pursuit of the ultimate technical movements, one by one, and then combined to make the set of actions gorgeous.
Parot is still like this, exhausting everything in his pursuits, doing everything he can, and the fight against cancer has not changed him at this point. His real change is that while he does so, there is a fundamental change in his perception of the relationship between the outcome and the process. "Now I appreciate everything, all the new ways in my life journey, which has brought me better results." "I think my experience can be a reminder to everyone to pursue anything they feel they want to pursue but are challenging," he said. I've been working hard. Because if it doesn't turn out well, I can also tell myself that I've done everything I can. I can't change anything in the past, so I don't want to regret it, and I know I don't regret it. I'm really ready, I'm going to play at my best, that's the only thing that matters to me. ”
Source Beijing Daily Client | Reporters Li Yuanfei, Chen Jiakun, Deng Fangjia, and Pan Zhiwang
Intern Editor Zhao Siyao
Process Editor Wu Yue