Abidal's remarkable story began in March 2011. He was 31 and in his fourth season as a powerful defender for Pep Guardiola's Barcelona when he went to hospital for routine medical tests.
'I felt in good health.' said Abidal. 'My fitness scores were high. I'd always looked after my body. When they told me I had a tumour in my liver, I got a huge shock.
'But this can happen to anyone, whatever your age, whatever your job. You can have all the money in the world but nothing prepares you for cancer.'
Abidal had an operation and, incredibly, returned to the first-team fold within six weeks. Only 71 days had passed since the operation when 'Abi' played his first 90 minutes — in the 3-1 victory over Manchester United in the Champions League final at Wembley.
'That game was an obsession for me. I was determined to get myself right. Pep was amazing, sending me messages saying, "Keep going, we are all counting on you to be there".'
After the final, Abidal hoped he had seen off his tumour. Then a check-up. The cancer had returned with a vengeance and he would now require a liver transplant.
'My Barcelona team-mate Dani Alves offered me his liver. He was serious but I could never have accepted it. He also has a family and a career. It is a massive operation and it was too much.'
Abidal's cousin Gerard was a match. 'The risk for Gerard was huge. He saved my life. It is as simple as that.'
It would be 13 months before Abidal was seen on a football pitch again.
'It was far worse this time. I did not have chemo but the transplant had its own complications. My immune system had to accept the new liver. I was in hospital for 42 days. I was in awful pain. I would return for admissions that would last between a week and 10 days.'
Abidal's life changed radically. There was no more training, no more laughing and joking with his team-mates; only drawn-out, solitary days lying in a hospital bed.
'You cannot switch off. You do not forget that you have cancer. It is always there, in your mind, and physically I felt so weak.'
'For seven months, I didn't do anything. I couldn't. I had no strength. It was draining. No sport, no training. There were dark days where I was terrified that I would never be able to play again. I would wake up and barely have the strength to move a muscle.
'I didn't let the Barca players come to the hospital. I didn't want people to see me like that.'
Support flooded in. Signed shirts arrived from Europe's leading clubs. Real Madrid wore T-shirts during their warm-up that read 'Animo Abidal', (get well, Abidal).
He was sitting at home when a package arrived from the Far East. 'I opened it up and thousands of butterflies flew out around my living room. It was different and beautiful. It was so humbling to think that these people cared so much. I owed it to them to come back.'
Abidal kept his promise. On April 6, 2013, he returned to a thunderous ovation at the Nou Camp.
That summer he was released by Barcelona at 34 and broke down in tears at an emotional farewell press conference.
Short spells followed at Monaco and Olympiacos but he retired in December 2014.
'There will not be another comeback,' he says, bursting into laughter.
'For me, the important thing was that I was able to go on my terms — I made the decision, the cancer did not make it for me. Cancer has changed my life. I am a better person. I prioritise what is important: my wife, my little girls, my friends, travelling with the family. I just want to enjoy every second.'
