Champions, Always…
Cancer has hit the sports world hard this week.
Seve Ballesteros, the flashy, brilliant golfer who learned to hit the ball a mile, as a little kid, with a three-iron off the beaches near his home in Spain, died at the age of 54. He had brain cancer.
Seve was only 19 when he woke-up golf. He had a flair and a joy for the game few had ever seen on the pro tour. I remember seeing him on the golf course and couldn’t believe his style. He used to walk the fairways like they were red carpets. His post tournament interviews were always filled with great stories and great lines. He took “stuffy” out of the pro game and made it fun to watch.
I can’t remember anyone ever saying anything negative about the man. And by all accounts he battled his cancer until there was nothing more to be done.
Those were Harmon Killebrew’s thoughts today as he released a prepared statement from the Baseball Hall of Fame, saying his cancer, that began in his throat, has reached a point where his doctors say they can do nothing more.
Killebrew will live out the remainder of his days under hospice care.
“With the continued love and support of my wife, Nita, I have exhausted all options with respect to controlling this awful disease. My illness has progressed beyond my doctors’ expectation of cure.”
Harmon Killebrew was an 11-time All-Star in the major leagues. He was a brawny, scrappy player in the days when baseball players were baseball players. He played the game for 22-years. with stats that put him into the Hall in 1984.
Seve Ballesteros and Harmon Killebrew..strong, successful and invincible…until cancer knocked.
May 16, 2011 @ 10:36 am
I’ve been away for a couple of weeks, but am so glad to see that such relevant posts continue and the responses are always great. Much to ponder these days in a high tech world where cancer continues to level everything.
May 14, 2011 @ 4:53 pm
Cancer comes calling for the great as well as those of us who are just ordinary folks, not famous nor infamous either. Seve and Harmon serve to remind us that everyday, yes, everyday, 1000s across our world are dying from one form of cancer or another…an epidemic!! But unless you or a loved one has been touched by cancer, it seems as though nothing is going on. I see the ads. I hear the rhetoric but where are the results that research is making a dent. Leukemia, once thought to be curable, has killed a young girl I know. Lung cancer has another lady I know in hospice. Melanoma is taking its toll another person with little hope of survival. And I could go on with my list…….Where is there a person who can get outraged at the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on research with such poor results. If there is collaboration amongst the researchers and scientists, and I certainly hope so, it is cleverly hidden and not apparent to the patients…looks like silos everywhere so discoveries can be kept secret from other researchers. At the pace research is going, our choices as patients are to fight as hard as we can for as long as we can and then die quietly and with some dignity surrounded by our families. A sad commentary but very close to the truth.
May 14, 2011 @ 10:04 am
I saw both of these articles this week Laurie, and felt the pain. I knew you would be writing about these brave men. It used to be that people, especially the “stars”, would hide the fact that they had cancer let alone the details of their struggle. In fact, when I was a child I felt that people considered it as something almost “shameful” and certainly embarrassing..
While it still pains me whenever I hear of a new diagnosis, I am very thankful that people are talking about it so it can get the attention (and hopefully research assistance) that it needs to find a cure.
Thank you Laurie, for being our faithful and vigilant reporter; you do a wonderful job of keeping us informed.