(NOAH) Misawa had been feeling discomfort in his neck since December last year
NikkanSports
Mitsuharu Misawa (46) of Noah, who passed away suddenly, had been complaining of poor health for three years. Hideo Sato (46), who has been Misawa's best friend since High School, and currently serves as director of the Chiba Prefecture Wrestling Association, revealed to Nikkan Sports on the 15th, that since Misawa was in his mid-40s, he has said "I'm just tired", but he also expressed his struggles as a star wrestler saying, "If I don't appear in matches, it will affect the ability to attract customers." From the end of last year, he started to notice signs of discomfort in his neck, and when they met in Tokyo in February of this year, Sato recommended that he have a thorough examination.
Misawa, who continued to shoulder the responsibility of being Noah's president and star wrestler, did not reveal his true feelings to his best friend, but Sato, who said they ate together once every three months, began to notice that something was wrong. About three years ago he began to worry about him, as he noticed he was rubbing his neck frequently. He said, "It takes three days for the fatigue to go away. I guess my blood circulation is bad. Even sparring for 10 or 20 minutes is exhausting".
After drinking at a sunken kotatsu table, he couldn't stand alone because of the pain in his knees, so he had to have the support of his attendant. In December of the same year, he repeatedly complained, "my neck and knees hurt". An hour after he started drinking, Sato noticed that he had large dark circles under his eyes. Sato speculated that something strange had happened in his body saying, "The area under his dark circles was completely white and strange, as if he had been drained of blood".
The two first met in the summer of Misawa's third year of the wrestling club at the Ashikaga Institute of Technology (a private university in Tochigi), where they both competed in the under-19s world tournament. Misawa became close friends with Sato, a student at Yachiyo Shoin High School (Chiba), after staying in the same house during a trip to Colorado. The last time the two met was in February of this year (2009), when Sato developed thyroid cancer, and Misawa visited him in hospital in Tokyo. Sato, who had developed a tumor in his throat, recommended that Misawa "should also have x-rays taken, and a thorough examination of his throat done". Misawa responded, "Certainly."
It seems that he had to continue competing in matches, despite his body. About two years ago, Sato noticed that Misawa's movements in the ring had deteriorated, and asked him, "Are you going to continue your active career?". Misawa responded, "If I don't show up, customers won't come, and the company will go bankrupt".
Perhaps Misawa himself, more than anyone else, was aware of the changes in his body.
Notes
*Misawa had been complaining of his neck a lot earlier than December 2008, he had been complaining of worsening problems since February 2007 (see "Donmai, Donmai")
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