Cyclist beat all opponents, can he triumph over illness?
Earlier this week we brought viewers a preview of Saturday’s Cross Country Cycling Classic. Today we’re going to focus on a well known cyclist who will not be riding. Patrick Jones reports.
On Holy Saturday 1995, he narrowly sprinted his way into the history books. Orlando Chavarria was on top of the world… and loving it.
Orlando Chavarria, 1995
“Well, those guys were very lazy, so I decide that I had to go left them.”
And for the next year and a half, he proved himself a force to reckon with, not only on the local circuit, but regionally as well. Then came October 1997 and Orlando Chavarria’s luck suddenly changed. He was sidelined by a mysterious illness that has left those closest to him puzzled. According to his sister Therese, who now cares for him, it was around October twenty first of 1997, just before the Central American Games in Honduras when there was a noticeable change in Orlando’s behavior.
Therese Chavarria, Orlando’s Sister
“He was just a different person. We saw a different person in Orlando. He was normally a very quite person, seldom talks and he was more, he was getting kind of loud, that was the difference we saw in him.”
Orlando’s outbursts became violent and more frequent. While medication has calmed him down considerably, the burden of caring for her younger brother is weighing on Therese Chavarria.
Therese Chavarria
“It’s very, very difficult. It is a lot of stress and financially it is taking a toll on us. We know he has been sick and he is getting medical attention. We are still running some tests of which we are waiting from the doctors. The doctors still has an answer for us. They are still not too sure what is happening.”
While the family anxiously waits for doctors here to pin down what’s wrong with Chavarria, friends are mobilizing resources to raise funds for him to travel abroad, possibly to the United States, for further medical attention.
Dennis Vanzie, The Shop Cycling Team
“The main goal is to try to get him some kind of help. To get him into the States to seek the professional help he needs because here in Belize the technology just isn’t here. Also the financial backing is a little tough for one group, specifically speaking the sponsorer on a whole because it’s a great deal of money we’re talking about to get the kind of help that he needs.”
And that assistance Vanzie says is the number one goal of “The Shop” cycling team. Even though their number one rider may be down right now, it doesn’t mean that cycling has seen the last of Orlando Chavarria. His spirit never followed him to the sick bed and Chavarria says he can feel his strength coming back slowly.
Orlando Chavarria
(very garbled, due to illness)“I was riding my bike once in the yard, in the backyard, then one day I ride it out on the street, and I feel very strong. When I ride my bike I feel more stronger and more stronger… I’m a little bit better than them I guess. I hope so and I guess so and I think so and I wish so.”
And our prayers are with you Orlando for a fast sprint to recovery … and hopefully another trip to the top of the cycling world. Patrick Jones, for News Five.
On Sunday, April nineteenth, the Cycling Association will be holding a series of track races to raise funds for Orlando Chavarria. The competition at the National Stadium begins at one in the afternoon. Entrance fee for this worthy cause is two dollars.
