MARÍA ELENA JIMÉNEZ DE LA CRUZ, EMBAJADORA DE LA CAMPAÑA ROSA DE CANCÚN FC

MARÍA ELENA JIMÉNEZ DE LA CRUZ, AMBASSADOR OF THE PINK CAMPAIGN OF CANCUN FC

MARÍA ELENA JIMÉNEZ DE LA CRUZ, AMBASSADOR OF THE PINK CAMPAIGN OF CANCUN FC

Cancer survivor, the 57-year-old former referee and current coach of Club Linces FC, shared her life story with Iguanas fans

Cancún, Quintana Roo October 19, 2023.- Woman of determination, attitude, but mainly of great faith.

María Elena Jiménez de la Cruz, 57-year-old cancer survivor, former referee and current coach of Club Linces FC, proudly carries the flag as an ambassador of Cancún FC's pink campaign for the prevention and detection of breast cancer, promoted by Mexican soccer.

His story is worth telling. Sitting at field level next to one of the goals of the 'Andrés Quintana Roo' stadium, the brave warrior shares each experience, a memory that invades her and shakes her soul, to the point of breaking down in tears.

“Don't give up, breast cancer is curable, if it is detected in time. The help, more than anything, is with the family.

When I had cervical cancer I hid it from my family, I only told my sister and husband. I was afraid that my parents and children would find out, that they would know what I was suffering, how painful the chemo was. Later, I got breast cancer,” confesses Jiménez de la Cruz.

He adds that 'many may question why one cries with a story like this?; The answer is because people reject you when they see you with a crooked mouth, they make fun of you because that is precisely what causes you to die.'

“All of this makes you strong because you come to the conclusion that 'I can, I want to and I am going to do it', as we apply at Club Linces, with all the children. Never think that you can't. If I could, you can.

My advice is not to isolate yourself, don't lock yourself up, enjoy the beauties we have, go to the beach for a walk and forget that you are going through a cancer process," he says.

As the talk goes on, it becomes more heartbreaking in the face of the passages in life that, yes, have strengthened her.

“In 1995 I had a stroke, and for a year and a half they evicted me. I couldn't see or walk, but thanks to refereeing I returned, even participating in tournaments, such as the Coca Cola Cup and Telmex, among others," says the spouse of another figure in the union, also retired, Pedro Ramírez Cauich.

Immersed in refereeing since 1992, she is one of the first women referees in Cancun, in soccer and soccer sevens.

“I started at the 'Fair Play' School, in the Amateur Sector. For me, it is a privilege to be one of the first women, very flattered because when I started in this, I had an international match (Mexico-Brazil) in Cancún 86,” she remembers with nostalgia.

That time, the referee's shortlist was made up of her husband, Pedro Ramírez Cauich, as center back, in addition to Rosario Jiménez, the other standard bearer.

Once the talk was over, the interviewee greeted the vice president, Giovanni Solazzi, and the director of sports operations, Alejandro Vela, whom she thanked for inviting her to be their ambassador in such an important campaign. Later, they both gave him a white team jersey.

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TEXTUAL QUOTES

“My advice is not to isolate yourself, don't lock yourself up, enjoy the beauties we have, go to the beach for a walk and forget that you are going through a cancer process”

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“You, here in Cancún FC, with that attitude and the fortitude to understand, to take care not to worry, transmit this message, it is very important because people can be saved”

María Elena Jiménez de la Cruz
Ambassador of the pink campaign of Cancún FC
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