slimvictor
Bluelight Crew
Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling revealed Wednesday for the first time the type of cancer he was battling -- squamous cell carcinoma, a type of mouth cancer -- and detailed the painful treatment and recovery process that caused him to lose 75 pounds.
Telling his story for the WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon on Wednesday morning, Schilling said he believes that a 30-year habit of chewing tobacco is what caused the cancer.
"I do believe, without a doubt, unquestionably that chewing was what gave me cancer," he said. "I'm not going to sit up here from the pedestal and preach about chewing."
The 47-year-old Schilling said he spent six months in the hospital with a feeding tube, undergoing chemotherapy and painful radiation treatment. During that time, he said, he developed a staph infection and there was a week of his life he doesn't remember.
"I got chemo and radiation for [seven] weeks, and I came back to my room and my family was sitting there and I thought, 'You know what, this could be so much worse. This could be one of my kids,'" Schilling said. "I'm the one guy in this family that can handle this. From that perspective, I've never said 'Why me?' and I never will."
The most painful part of the treatment, he said, was the radiation, which he received five days per week for seven weeks. Schilling said doctors created a pliable mask to put on his face, an implement the former pitcher said was "the straitjacket for when they are giving you radiation."
"The first day I went in, they clamped [the mask] down, they do the radiation into the tumors," Schilling said. "The second day they did it. And about the third day I started developing almost a phobia and I literally had to be medicated for the seven weeks to go and do that. I couldn't control myself under the mask."
He added: "If this happened again, I'm not sure if I would go through the treatment again, it was that painful."
Schilling said he's lost so much weight because it is still painful to swallow -- "I can't put enough calories in my body" -- and he is still shaky and weak at times.
(...)
Red Sox manager John Farrell noted how the use of smokeless tobacco is not prohibited on the big-league level, protected by the players' collective bargaining agreement with Major League Baseball.
"MLB has taken steps to dissuade players from using it through educational programs that are administered to every team," Farrell said. "It's even got to the point [in the minor leagues] now where players can be fined if smokeless tobacco is in view of the general public. There have been some of those warnings and penalties levied on some of our players.
cont at
http://espn.go.com/boston/mlb/story...pitcher-says-chewing-tobacco-led-mouth-cancer
Telling his story for the WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon on Wednesday morning, Schilling said he believes that a 30-year habit of chewing tobacco is what caused the cancer.
"I do believe, without a doubt, unquestionably that chewing was what gave me cancer," he said. "I'm not going to sit up here from the pedestal and preach about chewing."
The 47-year-old Schilling said he spent six months in the hospital with a feeding tube, undergoing chemotherapy and painful radiation treatment. During that time, he said, he developed a staph infection and there was a week of his life he doesn't remember.
"I got chemo and radiation for [seven] weeks, and I came back to my room and my family was sitting there and I thought, 'You know what, this could be so much worse. This could be one of my kids,'" Schilling said. "I'm the one guy in this family that can handle this. From that perspective, I've never said 'Why me?' and I never will."
The most painful part of the treatment, he said, was the radiation, which he received five days per week for seven weeks. Schilling said doctors created a pliable mask to put on his face, an implement the former pitcher said was "the straitjacket for when they are giving you radiation."
"The first day I went in, they clamped [the mask] down, they do the radiation into the tumors," Schilling said. "The second day they did it. And about the third day I started developing almost a phobia and I literally had to be medicated for the seven weeks to go and do that. I couldn't control myself under the mask."
He added: "If this happened again, I'm not sure if I would go through the treatment again, it was that painful."
Schilling said he's lost so much weight because it is still painful to swallow -- "I can't put enough calories in my body" -- and he is still shaky and weak at times.
(...)
Red Sox manager John Farrell noted how the use of smokeless tobacco is not prohibited on the big-league level, protected by the players' collective bargaining agreement with Major League Baseball.
"MLB has taken steps to dissuade players from using it through educational programs that are administered to every team," Farrell said. "It's even got to the point [in the minor leagues] now where players can be fined if smokeless tobacco is in view of the general public. There have been some of those warnings and penalties levied on some of our players.
cont at
http://espn.go.com/boston/mlb/story...pitcher-says-chewing-tobacco-led-mouth-cancer
