Twitter influencer with cancer talks about suffering: His faith will inspire you!

Javier Díaz Vega is a 35-year-old psychologist, husband, father, and messenger of hope.

We contacted him through Twitter, where he’s making an impact. We wanted a face-to-face chat because his eyes and his smile transmit a lot, but he’s weak from chemotherapy and isn’t up to receiving visitors. Even so, he made time to answer our questions. He opened his heart. He is clear about his mission:

When Javier was 22 years old, his mother died by suicide. She had been suffering from depression for a long time. For him it was an earthquake in his life -- a very difficult experience that left him with a feeling of guilt that was difficult to bear. It was like a shadow, an emotional threat ... until he learned to forgive.

He says that learning to forgive granted him liberation and helped him to be at peace with himself, with his mother, and with God.

He tells this story in a book he published in Spanish, "Between the Bridge and the River" (“Entre el Puente y el Río. Una mirada de misericordia ante el suicidio”). He decided to write it to break taboos surrounding this topic and to help thousands of people going through a similar situation. He also did it to send a message about the need to take political measures for prevention.

Javier’s son had just turned 8 months old and he was enjoying fatherhood immensely when he got some very bad news: a diagnosis of lymphoma.

For the moment, Javier is experiencing an unpleasant non-medical side effect: he cannot hold his son in his arms. Being away from him, in the hospital, experiencing uncertainty ... He relies on his loved ones, on the people around him, and on his Twitter community. He’s totally honest; he tells them about his suffering, that there are good days when he has the strength to face whatever comes and other much more complicated days.

"For me it has turned out to be a precious ‘cushion’ where I can feel accompanied in the good and bad things I experience,” says Javier about his followers. He knows about Twitter's defects, about the dangers of that space where many people hide behind anonymity. He understands that some people are very negative, but he has found that it’s a platform where he can talk about things naturally as he lives them—and that his message is needed. What he receives in return enriches him.

Impressed by his answers and by his naturalness in talking about such difficult episodes in his life, we asked him how he is able to recognize God in pain. His answer, like his tweets, hit the bullseye:

He’s always accompanied by hope, which he sees in the Virgin Mary and finds every day when he prays the Rosary. "Living in hope means a way of going through life accepting the small and great sources of help that you have, which also give you reasons for not lowering your guard, for maintaining joy and not letting yourself be dragged down." 

Society, advertising, television, and social networks end up selling us how important it is to be successful in life, to feel good and happy, to have 'good feelings.' But reality always prevails. That's why Javier’s message goes so deep: it refutes that idea and presents life as it is. Suffering always appears in life. What we can change is the way we face it.

For Javier, the world’s message is dangerous. 

Javier politely bids us farewell with the same naturalness with which he began to converse with us. He spoke to us about his life, his story, with such authenticity that we felt like he was our friend after just a short chat. The same as his followers on Twitter experience. We’re already part of his community.