On Losing and Winning

Today, the Duke Blue Devils lost. Their season is over, the joyride has ended, and Coach K and I won't be having that date in Houston for the Final Four after all.

It's upsetting, of course. When you love your team, you want nothing but the best for them. Seeing Nolan walk off the court in tears broke my heart tonight.

But I'm also so incredibly grateful to the Duke Basketball program. Coach K, his family, and Gerry Brown have been nothing but wonderful to me ever since they learned of my diagnosis. To be coached and cheered on -- on a weekly basis -- by one of your heroes is a true gift. And the team had a brilliant year, too. Their inspired play gave me so much joy and happiness. There were so many moments that took my breath away this season -- from Coach K giving me the thumbs up before the BC game in Cameron, to Nolan commenting on my blog post (saying "ahhhh see ya!" to my cancer), to the team coming back to beat Carolina as I rested in my hospital bed last month. Duke Basketball helped inspire me to beat cancer and helped to make these past several months as joyful as they have been. I cried after we lost tonight, but they were tears of gratitude.

Duke may not be the National Champions this year, but there's still one big reason to celebrate. I received the results to my PET/CT scan (I didn't tell you about it, but I had it done on Monday). My scans are clean. I am cancer-free. I'm the National Champion this year. But you'd better believe that next year, Duke will be right back on top with me.