My father, Julio Sr., was a prominent gynecologist in Madrid and the most disciplined man I have ever known. To stay trim and healthy, he exercised two hours a day by walking, swimming, and playing tennis. His work ethic and high standards extended to his dreams for my brother, Carlos, and me. By the time I was a teenager, I thought I'd be either an athlete or a lawyer. I loved soccer and became a junior goalie for Spain's top professional team, Real Madrid. I was on a great team and was also in law school—just one class away from finishing my degree and going on to practice law.
Then everything changed. It was September 1963, the day before I turned 20. I was driving with some friends on a small service road outside Madrid when I was in a terrible accident. My car rolled over, and my spinal cord was damaged. My nerves were compressed, affecting my lower body. I couldn't walk and had trouble with my hands.
My father quit his profession for a year—quit everything—to take care of me. He conferred constantly with the doctors about my back surgery, a difficult 12-hour operation to relieve pressure on my spinal cord, and about my medications and physical therapy. He overruled the doctors on some things, and he was right. For example, he insisted I be taken off radium, which they were giving me when they thought I had developed a malignancy. In those days, they didn't have the diagnostic tools or medications we have now. It turned out I did not have a malignancy, and the radium could have severely burned my spinal cord.
When I got out of the hospital after three months, my father and my mother, Rosario, set up a little hospital room in our home. My father filled it with all the equipment I needed.
It took a long, long time for me to fully recover. I was in a great deal of pain. Four months after my accident, I could finally move my toes. I had to learn how to walk again, with everyone supporting me. With each step I took, I was sweating profusely. My soccer-playing days were over for sure. But without my father's devoted care, I would be in a wheelchair today.