FASHION designer and cancer sufferer David Delfín is 'in very poor health', says his mother, who reveals that his motor coordination is failing.
María González, also a designer, says her fashion guru son's cancer has come back 10 months after he was diagnosed with three massive malignant stage-three tumours on his brain, which were operated on that same month, April 2016.
“It was New Year, two years ago, when he came to spend it with us,” says David's mother.
“He had always been a very healthy young man, but when he was in the shower he started getting really severe pains in his right leg, and didn't know what they were.
“As soon as he returned to Madrid, he went to the doctor and was diagnosed with three brain tumours.”
María and her family have moved to Madrid from their home town of Marbella to look after him, since he 'has suffered a major loss of speech and memory'.
His hands are not responding, so his mother has to spoon-feed him.
“He doesn't want me to see him like this – he doesn't like me being here for that reason, and he's feeling terrible for me – and we're all very upset,” she reveals.
Delfín's decline may be largely linked to the recent death of his muse and closest friend, Bimba Bosè – niece of legendary pop icon Miguel Bosè – a designer, model, actress and singer who lost her battle with metastatic breast cancer a month ago.
David's last appearance in public was at Bimba's funeral, where he was in a wheelchair and described as 'distraught'.
Since then, David and his ex-boyfriend Gorka Postigo have started the #bimbaforever campaign, wallpapering the streets of Madrid with photos of Bosè, who was 41 when she died, and selling T-shirts with her picture through Delfín's online shop with all proceeds going to Spain's main cancer charity, the AECC.
The campaign was launched a few days ahead of the world-famous Mercedes Benz Madrid Fashion Week, in the third week in February.
David is being cared for his current boyfriend, Galicia-born photographer Pablo Sáez, along with his sister, mother and closest friends.
He was well enough to release his SS16 and AW16 menswear and womenswear ranges and accessories, but as yet no spring-summer 2017 collection has appeared.
Designers of David Delfín's calibre – he has graced most of the main international catwalks in London, Paris, Madrid, New York, Milan, Barcelona and Valencia – typically present their collections about a year in advance of their release, but it is not clear whether he will be well enough to launch an autumn-winter 2017 range.
Delfín's collections include a few bold, block-coloured feminine pieces, generally in simple cuts or with a sporty edge, although most of his ranges are androgynous in style, or unisex.
Menswear dominates, and womenswear pieces are often an adaptation of these – the autumn-winter 2016 collection is themed on football-scarf patterns with the designer's name and a coat of arms, combat-style khaki, black, and tailored trouser suits, with outsized tote bags in neutral colours, some with glitter effects, and the slogan Lieben und arbeiten ('love and work').
Bimba's charity T-shirt comes in white with a black-and-white photo of the star, short-sleeved and in sizes small to extra-large – men's sizes, although the design itself is unisex.
It can be pre-ordered from Davidelfin.com and costs €50, all of which will go towards the AECC's crucial work in research, diagnosis and care.
Among the AECC's achievements in recent years has been convincing district health authorities to provide free bowel cancer screening for all residents aged over 55, now standard practice in most of the country.
