It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over

When 75-year-old Don Wright crossed the finish line in Philadelphia on November 20th to complete his 100th marathon as a cancer survivor, it wasn't just an incredible athletic feat. It inspired a whole Field of Dreams for people like me, a fellow survivor of the incurable disease that was supposed to have claimed my life and Don's by now. That baseball reference is no accident. Long before I was stricken with cancer, I was fortunate enough to pitch for the San Francisco Giants and the Kansas City Royals from 1981 to 1983. Like everyone who makes it to the Major Leagues, I thought I'd last for a long time, but arm trouble brought my career to an abrupt end when I was just 27. That's life. Things happen. In a way, it prepared me for an even bigger jolt at age 54, when I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, which affects cells in the bone marrow and is currently an incurable disease. I was numb when I was told the horrible words "you have cancer". I was scared when I was told that the average myeloma patient at the time lived one to three years after diagnosis. I was terrified when told that in my case I was deemed a high risk patient due to the severity of the progression and the fact that I only had one kidney. . Three years. That was my tenure in the big leagues, and that's also how long Don Wright was expected to survive when he got his bad news, right after he'd run his first marathon at age 62. Strange, isn't it? The same prognosis for a six-foot-five southpaw and ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news