Last week I heard about a very emotional dinner that took place at the Vegas Summer League. The organizers of the Summer League invited all kinds of NBA front office people, coaches, and players, to eat, drink, and be merry for a good cause -- the theme of the night was the St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.
That got a lot of people talking about cancer, about disease, and about children.
The whole thing culminated in all kinds of players -- from rookies to MVPs -- donating signed jerseys that are being auctioned off online as we speak. The auctions close Thursday evening -- just a few hours after this post will be published.
I spoke to several people who were at that dinner. They all remembered it as a remarkably genuine event. And they all said I should talk to Denver Coach George Karl, who spoke passionately that night.
Cancer is no simple topic for the Karls. Of course Coach Karl famously had surgery for prostate cancer in 2005. In March 2006, his son Coby (now in training camp for the D-League) had his own surgery to remove cancer -- this time of the thyroid.
Today Coach Karl told me what he remembered about that night last summer, and how it tied into his life experience of cancer:
It was impromptu. I was at the team hotel visiting with Coby when I was invited to go to a dinner. I thought it would be a chance hang out with some NBA guys. I had no idea what this dinner was about. I think it was the first time they ever held this dinner.
We got there, and there was a cocktail hour, and there must have been 15-20 coaches there. Then we sat down to dinner, and there was a family speaking. They had a child who had been taken care of at St. Jude's. I think they were from Vegas or L.A. The child had had a rare kind of cancer, and the people at St. Jude's had treated it successfully, and they took care of every penny of the expenses.
I had known that St. Jude's was a place for premiere treatments, but I did not know the extent of their generosity.
In my life, away from basketball, there are two causes that I really focus on. If people ask me to help out or make an appearance for something involving children, I try to do that. I have always tried to say yes. I say no to the others, because there are just too many. But children are just such an important aspect of life. It gets emotional.
These days, my other passion is cancer.
So St. Jude's hits both of my passions.
"When your son calls you to say it's cancer ... He's in Boise, I'm in Denver. You feel like a piece of s---, frankly," says Coach George Karl of his son Coby. "I remember nights I spent yelling at God."
(Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images) |
Then after the family spoke, Warren [agent Warren LeGarie, organizer of the Summer League] asked me to say a few words.
People tend to think that with all these technological advances, we have a pretty good handle on a lot of diseases. But my big belief is that cancer is growing. And there are no cures for many cancers.
When you get the cancer diagnosis, it shakes you. You wake up one day worrying about death. It's very heavy.
Then a year later my son gets cancer. I'll remember that moment more clearly than any win or loss or anything that ever happened on the basketball court. Those are days when time stood still for my family.
Basically, I think we need way more St. Jude's. We need more concerted efforts to find solutions. I think the government and the private sector need to do even more than they do now to help children and conquer this dreadful disease.
I happen to believe that for every dollar raised in the private sector, the government should match it with another public dollar, at a minimum.
I speak about cancer fairly frequently. Maybe once a month during the season, and more in the summer. I had somebody approach me the other day and tell me that he had lymphoma. I talked to him about mentoring -- finding someone outside the family who you can talk to. I told him that he probably feels very powerless now, but eventually you find that there is huge support network out there for you.
The process of finding out Coby had cancer was heart-wrenching. We had a few days to digest it. We kind of knew that lump on his thigh was probably going to turn out to be cancer. There were a couple of days, though, before we found out for sure.
When your son calls you to say it's cancer ... He's in Boise, I'm in Denver. You feel like a piece of s---, frankly.
I remember nights I spent yelling at God. I'm not religious, but I'm spiritual, and I believe there is a creator, and something like karma that operates.
Take anything, was my thought. Take my leg. Give me another cancer. Just let him be.
At that time, Judge Rehnquist had just died of thyroid cancer, maybe a month before Coby's diagnosis. In my mind, I associated it with death. So I got on the internet, I was reading books, calling people.
Eventually I found out more, and that when caught early, thyroid cancer is almost as treatable as prostate cancer. Then I heard from some people who had had their thyroid removed, and they were fine.
Eventually, after this kind of diagnosis, the family grows. You hear from all kinds of people who have stories that strengthen you. There are trees of communities out there -- people who want to help you. That's the silver lining of the whole thing.
After the jump: A TrueHoop reader can relate. TrueHoop reader Kevin e-mails:
Thanks for your post on George Karl and cancer.
My brother Matt, a diehard hooper, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer a little over a year ago.
It's a real odd thing to hear that your brother has cancer.
My mom had heard that Coby Karl had thyroid cancer as well and she thought it would be cool if Matt could meet him. I got on the computer and wrote a long email to a Laker writer asking if he could help make that happen. Through his connections and willingness to help, I was able to get into contact with the Lakers (which was not easy for me as a Blazer fan).
They agreed to set up a meeting between my brother and Coby Karl when the Blazers played the Lakers in Portland last February. We secured tickets to the game, and after keeping it a big secret for a few months we surprised Matt with the news.
Lots of people might think it's no big deal to meet an NBA 12th man. But Matt was well aware that he and Coby shared not only a love for basketball, but this horrible disease. For Matt, this was as good as meeting any All-Star.
Before Coby went to warm-up before the game, he came over to meet Matt. We were told that this would be a quick meeting, but they ended up talking for quite a while. It was interesting for me to see the two of them talk about their experiences. They understood each other's medical lingo, which was well over my head. It seemed that they both had found someone for the first time that they could really connect with, someone that understood exactly what they were going through. Not only about wanting to beat cancer, but wanting so bad to get back onto the court to play their favorite game again.
I don't know about Coby, but I'm pretty sure Matt has never talked to anyone else that has dealt with thyroid cancer. Coby was a really nice guy. It couldn't have gone any better.
And I have to give the Lakers organization credit. Not only did they help set up the meeting, but this nice guy named Josh that works for them went out of his way to pull some strings and upgrade our tickets so we didn't have to sit up in the nosebleeds. And the Blazers won.
After three surgeries and countless trips to the doctor, I'm proud to say that Matt has been deemed cancer free.
