A Couple of Updates

Well, Peter's basketball team has finally lost a game. They were 30 and 1 this year, and made it to the semi-finals of the state tournament, but lost yesterday by 3 points. It was a great game, and they lost to an excellent team. They have one more game this season -- the finals of their league tournament on Thursday night. Let's hope they finish on a positive note.


Peter was unhappy about the loss, of course, but Catherine was a pool of tears at the end of the game and half the ride home. We were really touched that she was sharing her brother's sadness (unlike John, who read a book during the whole game). But then we finally got out of Catherine that the real reason she was so sad was because if Peter's team had won the state tournament, we'd all get to travel to the New England championship tournament, and she realized that now she wouldn't get a chance to stay in a hotel with a pool.


Still, it was nice that she was sad about the loss....sorta.


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The lead article in today's Parade Magazine is about Jon Lester, the Red Sox pitcher who was diagnosed with an aggressive NHL at age 22, was treated with chemo, and came back to win a World Series game in 2007 and pitch a no-hitter in 2008. Very inspirational. If your Sunday newspaper doesn't carry parade, you can read the article online here. There's a link of page 2 of the online version called "The Facts about Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma," that talks about symptoms, diagnosis processes, and treatments. It's a short article, but it's great that NHL is getting some exposure, especially if it can help people know what the symptoms are.


Lester hasn't publicly talked about his NHL too much; he says he doesn't want to be defined as a cancer survivor. Totally understandable. So it's nice that he's willing to talk about it here and help increase awareness.


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Speaking of the Red Sox and cancer:


There's a small controversy about Sox pitcher Jonathan Paplebon. In an interview from Esquire magazine, he said he was glad that Manny Ramirez is no longer with the Sox, since he had quit on the team before he was traded, and was becoming "a cancer." (Maybe not so samll a controversy; try Googling "Papelbon and cancer" and you a few hundred hits. Lots of news outlets carried that story.)

Now some people are upset with Papelbon for using the word "cancer" so loosely to describe his former teammate. As a cancer patient, I feel entitled to an opinion on the topic:

I don't see why people are getting on Papelbon. The term "clubhouse cancer" has been around for a long time as a way to describe a teammate who brings everyone else down with his bad attitude. Try Googling "clubhouse cancer." The first ten hits have stories about Stephan Marbury, Coco Crisp, Lane Kiffin, Jim Edmunds, and others being called "clubhouse cancers." Where's the outrage?

I guess part of the problem is a seeming insensitivity to teamamtes Jon Lester and Mike Lowell, who are both cancer survivors. Still, I think the whole thing echoes the attitude that cancer isn't a word we're supposed to say out loud, only in whispers, if we say it at all. As you know from reading the blog, I refuse to take that attitude. I certainly don't flaunt my cancer, but I think if it doen't get talked about, it remains something too scary to be dealt with. It's too old fashioned an attitude for me. Talking leads to awareness. Talking leads to emotional relief.

So Papelbon is insensitive, maybe. But I can't make cancer jokes here and then criticize Papelbon for using the term too informally. It was an extreme comment, maybe. But it's not a word that should go unsaid.

(Ooooo -- now I'm all fired up for baseball. Bring on opening day, baby.)