Jhosmar Rodriguez is a young man from Trujillo, 22 years old, recently graduated and an amateur soccer player in the Peruvian Cup. But what he never imagined was that a routine outing with his girlfriend would end up marking his life forever. On the night of February 21, at 8:40 p.m., the roof of the food court of the Real Plaza de Trujillo, in the city of Trujillo, was destroyed. collapsed suddenly. Six people died. He survived, but lost a leg... and also his partner, who died in the accident.
The collapse caught him on his feet, and within seconds a beam fell on his right leg. "I stayed in a kneeling position...I couldn't move, I couldn't turn, I couldn't do anything."
He was trapped for more than five hours, bleeding to death, but always conscious. "I never fainted or passed out... At first I resisted with my knees, but when I couldn't take it anymore, I supported myself with my arms on a chair that I managed to reach. That's how I held on for the last few hours. He was the last to be rescued. "They sedated me while I was still on my knees".
"My mother never let me fall."
During that time between rafters and darkness, Jhosmar kept thinking about his family. "I thought about what all this was going to be like for them... it kept me strong to think about my mother and my siblings." He is the youngest of five boys in a simple, believing, close-knit family. His father, a retired teacher; two brothers, policemen; another, an accountant, like himself. They were all waiting for him with their souls in suspense.
But if anyone was key in his emotional reconstruction, it was his mother. A woman of unwavering faith, she went to church every day, and never tired of supporting her son when he faltered. "At first he was very angry...even resentful of God," she admits. "But my mother was always there, yelling at me, correcting me, so I wouldn't stray. I thank her so much...God was working through her."
His mother taught him to love God from an early age. "She used to take me to church, to the little school where they taught catechesis for children". That seed has borne fruit: Jhosmar has been a catechist, has received all his sacraments and today, even from a clinic bed, he continues to pray daily with more confidence. "I thank God because he has protected me. I ask him to accompany me on this long road to recovery."
"I want to be a saint."
Despite the pain and the physical consequences, Jhosmar does not give up. He dreams, fights, prays. "I always wanted to be a saint," he confesses without affectation. "I lived my life without hurting anyone, praying, supporting in church, accompanying my mother...".
Although he knows that the moment he is in is hard, he doesn't let it defeat him: "When you wake up, the shock of what happened mixes with the new reality. You wonder what will become of your career, of soccer, of everything. But with time, you get stronger".
Before the accident, he had just finished his degree in Accounting and Finance. He played in the Copa Peru, "macho soccer", as he calls it, traveling around the districts and fields of Trujillo. Today, his new championship is rehabilitation. "The future is uncertain, but I have faith".
"What's valuable is inside, not outside."
The message he wants to leave to young people from his situation is simple and profound: "This is going to be with me all my life, yes. But I don't have to feel less. The fear of rejection has to be taken out of my head. What is important about us is what is internal, not what is external.
Jhosmar has found in the midst of pain not only his strength, but also his purpose. He prays for the Pope, for the other wounded, for his doctors, for those who have lost the most. He has received the support of an entire medical team that has encouraged him from day one: "In Trujillo I met incredible technicians and nurses, al top. They encouraged me both inside and out.
Today, as he continues his rehabilitation at the San Pablo clinic in Lima, Jhosmar does not define himself by what he has lost, but by what he has gained: a new way of looking at life, with his feet - now only one - firmly on the ground and his soul set on God. "As we have been loved, so we can love. I just want my life to continue to have meaning. And I know it will.
Peruvian priest
