The workplace drama of a former cancer patient: "When the topic comes up, the interview ends."

This Tuesday, the Antena 3 program "Y ahora Sonsoles" shared a very difficult story about a young woman diagnosed with cancer, the treatment of which has kept her away from a more or less conventional life for six years. However, the difficulties didn't end with her recovery.

Yaiza Cumelles is the protagonist of this story that begins when, at age 21, she is diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic tissue. This tissue is found in the lymph nodes, spleen, liver, bone marrow, and other sites.

This is how he began his explanation: "I was diagnosed with a very aggressive lymphoma. The treatment became a bit complicated, and then it took three years until I was finally able to get a bone marrow transplant, which is what ended the disease."

Yaiza continued her story: "It dragged on for five years. I went from 21 to 26, and at 27 I started looking for work. I thought it would be easier, because everyone really goes all out when you have cancer. 'You're a warrior, a fighter. Congratulations on being cured.' The best. But the first barrier I encountered was that I couldn't do the same job."

The world of work was completely shut down for her, as she explained: "I was disabled due to physical work. At 20, I was working multiple jobs. I worked as a waitress, in shops, I was training as a makeup artist... Everything physical. And suddenly, the only thing I could aspire to was an office job. So I started looking, and in the first interview, the first question was what I had done in the last 5 years."

In those job interviews, she encountered some very unpleasant responses. "Congratulations on getting better. Here's the door. How quickly the interview ended when the subject came up, the fear they openly expressed..." she complained.

Things seemed to be looking up, but they didn't: "I got a job and, little by little, thanks to a friend who recommended me despite the reluctance of the person who was going to be my boss, I got in. But it was horrible. Because I really wasn't ready to return to the workforce."

A difficult process in which she has had to make an enormous sacrifice: "On the one hand, I didn't want to hide the fact that I had cancer. At first, I began to mask my symptoms a little and say that I knew more things than I actually did. English? Very high. Excel? Very high. Everything. I disguised my qualities a little. It was a necessity, because I have the same expenses as anyone else, plus the medicines and all the treatments derived from the illness that I need to pay for."

Finally, Yaiza has confessed the effort it takes for her to perform at work: "It was hard for me to get hired. But, once I was at work, the pressure of having to perform as well as my colleagues when my abilities weren't the same... I was more tired, because of the condition I have in my eyes I couldn't look at the screen for so long, I have osteoarthritis in my hands, it hurts to type... But I couldn't tell my boss that. That makes me force myself to work harder than the rest so it wouldn't be noticeable."