Athletes Who Won Battle Against Cancer
The athletes are believed to have more strength than ordinary people, but the truth is that many of them are not as healthy as they seem to be. They have to deal with numerous injuries, traumas, and professional diseases. And they definitely have no immunity to cancer. Still, they fight against it and show other people that you should never give up. SportDailyTimes will tell you about the athletes who managed to beat cancer and found the strength to move on.Shannon Miller
The 7-time Olympic medalist, a mother, a wife—it is just a few things you can say about Shannon Miller. But the most important thing is that she is a brave woman who survived one of the rarest and most dangerous types of cancer.
About six years ago, Ms. Miller was diagnosed with germ cell ovarian cancer. For some time, the athlete kept this news in secret, until February 2011, when Shannon revealed her diagnosis and told the media about a surgery that took place a month before the event. She had a baseball-sized cyst in one of her ovaries. After the surgery, Ms. Miller had three full cycles of chemotherapy. Only in September 2011, the doctors confirmed that she has a steady remission, and her bill of health was completely clean.
In one of her interviews, Shannon Miller said that at the time when she was fighting against the disease, she tried to act in the same way she acted when she was preparing for the next tournament. Today, she continues to fight against cancer, helping those people who want to survive and live a healthy life again.
On her website, Ms. Miller tells about all the upcoming events and most interesting news. She also gives tips to women on how to prevent or to beat ovarian cancer and live a better, healthier life.
Two years ago, Shannon Miller even joined the Cycle for Survival event, organized by the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She inspired people not to stop in their battle and keep moving both in their lives and the unusual marathon started by the MSKCC. For more details, watch the video below.
Mario Lemieux
Mario Lemieux is a world famous ice hockey player who once won the Olympic Games. In 1993, Mr. Lemieux was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease—a rare type of lymphoma. After almost a month of radiation therapy, the disease has receded, so today, the hockey player is cancer-free.
Just like many of his colleagues, Mario Lemieux tries to help other people win their battles against the dangerous disease. The same year he found out he had cancer, Lemieux founded the Mario Lemieux Foundation to raise money for new cancer research.
Last year, the organization also helped Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation.
Edna Campbell
Edna Campbell is one of the most famous women in American basketball. Her team won two gold medals and one silver medal in the biggest women’s basketball competitions. In 2002, she was diagnosed with breast cancer—the most common yet still intractable disease that is also one of the two most common causes of death among the patients with cancer. According to theofficial statistics, the disease took away lives of more than 41,000 women and 405 men only in 2012.
Edna Campbell was lucky enough to survive breast cancer. She retired fromthe WNBA and became the cancer patients’ advocate. She also launched a health restoration program Breathe and Stretch, called to help women with breast cancer live a healthier life.
Scott Hamilton
Just like Shannon Miller, Scott Hamilton is an Olympic champion and a cancer survivor. In 1997, the world famous figure skater was diagnosed with testicular cancer. This kind of cancer is not very common—according to the Cancer.org statistics, only 1 of every 263 males in the U.S. has a risk of developing testicular cancer.
When his diagnosis was confirmed, Mr. Hamilton had to go trough a surgery and a few courses of the chemotherapy. In contrast to the celebrities who do not talk about their disease and try to hide it as long as they can, the Olympian medalist talks about the problem of cancer very often.
Scott Hamilton did not just won the battle against the dangerous disease. A year after his cancer surgery, he came back on the ice and continued to skate professionally. Moreover, trying to support those who are fighting their battle against cancer, Mr. Hamilton founded the Scott Hamilton CARES Initiative. This organization raises money for new cancer research, supports patients with cancer and their families, tells people how to help those who need that help the most.
The history of Scott Hamilton looks even more incredible considering the fact that the Olympic figure skater lost his mother to cancer when he was 18. This man knows exactly how to keep fighting even when you feel like you have no strength left. He shared some of his secrets with people last year at the TEDxKC event.
Peter Kostis
Peter Kostis is not exactly an athlete. He does not play professional sports, he is not the main player of any on the national teams, he never was a part of the Olympics as well. Still, he is a huge part of the world of professional golf, because he is one of the brightest and the most famous golf analysts and instructors. He instructed some very talented and famous golfers, including Paul Casey and Bernhard Langer.
In 2013, Mr. Kostis was diagnosed with colon cancer. He and his wife Sandy used to have colonoscopies every five years since each of them turned 50. It was a very wise move, by the way, that has actually saved the man. Because when it comes to cancer, the earlier you are diagnosed, the higher chances you have to survive.
Today, Mr. Kostis remains cancer-free and does all in his power to help other people beat cancer.
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