Rafael Ollaquindia has faced life with different eyes since he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. A born athlete, he runs and walks from Pamplona to Monteagudo to thank the Recollect saint for his intercession.
“An example of overcoming in the fight against cancer” is how Cadena COPE, a national radio station in Spain, titles and summarises the life and testimony of Rafael Ollaquindia, a lover of sport and an animator of the lives of those who suffer, like him, from cancer.
On the occasion of his pilgrimages to the Exhibition Centre and House of Spirituality of the Augustinian Recollects dedicated to Saint Ezekiel Moreno in Monteagudo (Navarra, Spain), this station interviewed Rafael to learn about his activities, his fervour and his way of encouraging and mobilising other patients to give them company and hope.
Rafael Ollaquindia is 59 years old and has already travelled the roads that separate him from Monteagudo several times, on foot or by car, with one objective: to thank Saint Ezekiel Moreno, the saintly bishop and Recollect missionary, patron saint of cancer patients.
Rafa is a patient with this same disease. Three years ago his wife saw a lump in his neck by chance and, after several tests and analyses, they confirmed the worst possible news: thyroid cancer:
“It all happened very quickly, within two weeks every time I went to a doctor’s appointment I received the results and they were bad news. In the end, the only consolation is that it is not hereditary and neither do my sisters have it nor have I passed it on to my children.”
Once the diagnosis was known, the oncologists got to work to treat his cancer but, after two emergency operations, they realised that his disease was chronic and had no cure. Rafa continues to receive palliative treatment, thanks to which, as he always says, he lives an “almost normal” life:
“The side effects of chemo are bearable and that allows me to live a practically normal life, what has changed are my priorities; that is, before I gave importance to material things and now for me the most important thing is the spiritual dimension and being able to help others.”
Life is a race
Rafa defines himself as a simple guy: he continues to work as an accountant, he looks after his family and, as always, he continues with sport, after discovering a few years ago that he really enjoyed running:
“For me, going out for a run is celebrating life in capital letters. When I go out for a run I give the best of myself and I offer it to God, for me it is like a prayer in which I say: ‘My God, I am sick and you allow me to continue running, thank you very much.’
Tomorrow I may not be able to continue running, so I hope to be able to walk, because I love it; And when I can’t walk, I’ll ask for help and I hope they take me in a wheelchair.”
Rafa trains intensely every day, runs marathons and has even given one of his doctors one of his trophies.
And St. Ezekiel appeared
His Catholic faith has grown and has been consolidated. With the arrival of the disease, it is this faith that sustains him every day to fight against such a complex situation. On the Internet, by chance, a window appeared that spoke of St. Ezekiel Moreno, the patron saint of cancer patients.
Cancer, in fact, has changed all his life plans: now he looks at things from another point of view.
“In this life we are taught that to be happy we have to win the lottery and, if not, be healthy. When the moment comes when you are neither healthy nor have won the lottery, you wonder if you can be happy then.
I believe that God has given us the gift of life to be happy in this world, to make others happy. I look death in the face and I know that it is not the end, I trust in the message of Jesus.”
He decided to make his first pilgrimage, running and at night, to the very tomb of Saint Ezekiel in the Recollect convent of Monteagudo:
“The initial idea was to do 55 kilometers alone and at night; alone, because I can’t find anyone to accompany me on these adventures; and at night, because my skin is photosensitive due to chemotherapy. It gave me time to reflect more and also to arrive at Monteagudo already at dawn, with the light.”
That first pilgrimage was from Marcilla to Monteagudo, to thank the saint for his help. On the day of Saint Ezekiel Moreno, August 19, this year, he went with his wife by car to celebrate the saint.
Almost two months later, on October 8, he returned to Monteagudo, this time walking from Pamplona and in two stages: Pamplona-Marcilla (65 km.) and Marcilla-Monteagudo (55 km.). He thus fulfilled a promise and a commitment to another cancer patient admitted to the University of Navarra Clinic in Pamplona, to whom he said:
— “I will make the pilgrimage for you and you will accompany me praying from the hospital.”
He stayed at the Recollect convent and the next day, after participating in the prayer and the Mass, he returned to Pamplona, ready to repeat the experience if he finds other patients who want to accompany him.
Rafa does not think—like almost everyone at his age—of retiring and having all the time for himself and his family; he tries to live today, the only day that we are all guaranteed. Among the things that come to mind is organizing pilgrimages to Monteagudo with prisoners or people who have already served their sentences.