For Pau Salvá, being a Spaniard professional cyclist with hemophilia, limits do not exist. He recognizes that what he has done “is not normal.” But that he has taken considerable risks demonstrating that a person with this condition can lead a regular life without any major setbacks. Let’s talk to him.
Pau has been linked to the sporting world all of his life. Following doctors’ recommendations, he initiated some of the most recommended disciplines for hemophilic patients: swimming and table tennis. To avoid contact sports or others who could put his health at risk. His dedication was so grand that he even came to belong to the Spanish team of these sports. However, he wanted more, and he went on to follow more of his dreams.
Pau has moderate hemophilia A due to his genetic heritage. “I have lived through the consequences of the disease a bit,” he says. And it isn’t for less because three of his uncles with hemophilia were from the generation that lived through the HIV epidemic. (<< At the beginning of the 1980s, around 8,000 people with hemophilia contracted HIV after being exposed to contaminated coagulation factor produced with blood donations infected with HIV >>).
He remembers with nostalgia that one of them died from AIDS during the epidemic when there was no treatment. While the other two were “lucky enough to endure” until the treatments began.
“I have seen them with prostheses for both knees, with very little joint mobility. But of course, they did not have treatment,” he references to the fact that prophylaxis did not exist and explained that the first treatment they received was cryoprecipitate.
Unlike his uncles, Salvá began prophylaxis at the age of 9. He says that he presented bleeding in his elbows as a child, which does not limit him today. At a medical level, he could present as an early degeneration.
And cycling?
When Salvá started college, he began to leave aside swimming and table tennis. Today he has a license and doctorate in sport science, the trade that he was combining with the practice of cycling. “Every time my level went up, and I started leaving aside teaching until today, my dedication is 100% to the bike.”
He is a mountain bike specialist. He says that he has been in the world championships with the Spanish team, in 4 European championships, and the highlights of the Titan Desert 2019 as one of his most important races. There he was for three days with the leader jersey.
Although he recognizes that cycling can be recommended for people with hemophilia. he points out that “at the end, any competitive sport implies much more risk because the level training becomes much higher.”
Pau Salvá is a benchmark
Since 2016 Salvá is an ambassador of the “Pedaling project for Hemophilia” of the Bayer pharmaceutical. This initiative seeks to show that even if you live with this condition, you can lead an ordinary life where limits do not exist. The athlete also has a sports school for children with hemophilia in his birthplace in Spain and has collaborated in countless congresses and conferences through the law of advocacy.
With our project, we do not seek to have world champions in cycling. What we seek is that people with hemophilia understand that it is not a limiting factor. Want what you want to do. You do not have to think about that you have hemophilia, “says the elite cyclist.
The competitions and the factor
Salvá feels fortunate to count on prophylaxis from an early age. Although it recognizes that it is complex to access medicines in certain countries and regions of the world, as in Latin America, he says, “most people today do not know what a bleed in a joint is, because they have had prophylaxis from the first year of life.”
He says that with prevention in training and competitions, he tries to have the highest possible factor levels, “in case something happens, like a fall, your answer is like that of a normal person,” he emphasizes.
When we asked him if in some competition have, they seen the infusions that are done as a form of “ doping?” He said that he has never had any inconveniences and that only his teammates were surprised a little. “They asked me if I feel stronger. No, I don’t feel absolutely anything.”
He explains that after a six-day competition, the following week is recovery. Still, because he has taken his body to the top, nothing is related to hemophilia.
To become a part of his team, his condition has never been seen as an impediment. It assures that it tries to give him the greatest possibility of normality. He adds that “they see it as something much more meritorious. They are surprised that he is even there, having hemophilia”.
The mountain biking specialist ratifies that those limits do not exist. In general, the sport is excellent and healthy for people with hemophilia. Today, there is an infinite amount of options, not like before the list of disciplines recommended to patients with hemophilia was remarkably shorter.
See this video interview on our YouTube channel. Interview with Pau Salvá Cyclist of Elite Spanish and hemophilic patient:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiupJPorOes
