Survival is a Sport

I just got back from a Kings game, and even though the team was beaten (badly) by a very skilled Detroit Red Wings team, the game got me thinking.

My love of sports and the lessons I've learned from them were essential to my survival.

From the first moment I learned about my diagnosis, I treated my battle with cancer like a competition. The ultimate competition really. It was WunderGlo vs. Stage IV Colon Cancer, and I wasn't about to lose.

I treated every part of my treatment as a physical challenge -- a sport, if you will. Chemo, for example, required lots of preparation - mentally (meditating and envisioning the cancer-killing medicine doing its job), physically (loading up on healthy food before chemo days just in case my appetite waned, hitting the weights before, during and after treatment days), and spiritually (truly believing that I had the power to achieve my chosen destiny).

Surgery was even more of a sport. Like Rocky, I trained like a beast for surgery. Lifting weights, jogging, meditating, praying -- all "practice" for the big day.

And now, post-op, I see the recovery process and the preparation for my next three months of chemo through a sporty lens, as well. I'm like Duke's brilliant point guard, Kyrie Irving, who is undergoing physical therapy for his injured big toe that has kept him on the sidelines for most of the season. Like this sensational athlete, I, too, am rehabbing. Slowly but surely, without pushing myself too hard, I'm making my comeback and getting stronger every day.

Some people say that basketball or baseball or hockey is "just a game." But sports aren't just a game. Sports can teach you important, life-saving lessons, instilling in you the correct mental mindset that will propel you forward physically. I credit my years as an athlete (your pal WunderGlo was quite the basketball and volleyball player) and my love of sports for fostering in me the competitive spirit, physical toughness, discipline, and determination that led to my decisive victory over cancer.

So no matter what you're facing -- a disease or a rough patch in your life or just a "blah" period -- get your head in the game and get going. We all have the potential to be a champion within us.