Published: Saturday, January 14, 2012
Stealth coach's game plan: Attack cancer head on
EVERETT -- Anyone who has spent any time at all around Washington Stealth head coach Chris Hall knows the man's competitive fires burn deep.
Hall needs that competitive nature now more than ever as he battles something far more dangerous than anything he faced on the lacrosse floor -- throat cancer.
Hall said his first instinct when he learned the diagnosis was: How do I win this fight?
"How bad is it, what's the prognosis and how do we start attacking it?" Hall recalled thinking. "Which is pretty much how I approach most things in life. That's how I have been about life since I was a small kid, 'How am I going to beat this?'"
Hall said he believes his competitiveness is helping him win the battle.
"No question about it," he said. "The way I conduct my life and my passion for competition and my passion to try to be the best at what I do is absolutely a huge benefactor in the fight I am going through now."
Hall first recognized a problem in July after returning from the World Lacrosse Championships. He felt more tired than usual. It was also around that time that he was due for his yearly physical.
Hall informed his doctor at the physical that he had a small irritation in his throat. The doctor first prescribed an antibiotic to fight what he thought were infected tonsils. When that didn't work, Hall was sent to a throat specialist, who after analyzing the irritation, determined that it was a tumor and that it was cancerous.
"It wasn't as though I had been hit by a train or like it was a total shock to me," Hall said. "You read about these things every day in the paper or in the media. It's everywhere around."
Hall said he didn't spend much time pondering why this happened to him.
"There is no sense trying to figure out, how did you get it, where did you get it from?" he said. "That's like looking for a needle in a haystack. It was like, what's the prognosis? What's the treatment? And where do we go from there?"
Hall said that initially doctors gave him a 75 to 90 percent survival rate -- 75 if he underwent radiation alone and 90 percent if he did both radiation and chemotherapy.
"That was a bit of a no-brainer too," Hall said laughing. "I did OK in elementary math."
Hall began treatments in November. He won't be coaching the Stealth tonight when the team opens the 2012 season at home against the Calgary Roughnecks. He'll be replaced for the duration by his good friend and assistant coach Art Webster. Hall remains actively involved in what the Stealth are doing, but said he will not return to the team until he feels he is 100 percent.
Hall participated in the team's first two weekends of training camp in December and, as usual, played a huge role in shaping the team's roster. Hall said that being able to be around the players and coaches helped him.
"I think that was huge for me," Hall said. "The doctors, of course, say everybody is different and some people don't do well and others do OK. The one thing they did tell me is that you want to try and maintain your normal lifestyle as long as you possibly can, because not only does that help fight the disease, but it is also huge in the recovery process."
Hall said that the treatment process is very aggressive. He receives radiation treatments Monday through Friday, with a double dose on Thursdays. He also received three days of chemotherapy treatment the first week.
"They just pumped a bag of poison in me," Hall said. "There isn't much more to say about that except it makes you nauseous and it's not fun stuff. You know, it's in there killing stuff."
In the fifth week of treatment, which was the first week of the new year, Hall received another three days of chemotherapy.
His final radiation treatment is scheduled for Jan. 17.
"I'm just playing things now day by day," he said. "They say obviously I will wear down -- my physical strength and condition -- during that period. My mouth will feel like it's on fire. I have to try and maintain my weight so I have to try to eat 2,000 calories daily come hell or high water and let me tell you, sometimes it's hell."
But the good news is, the treatment appears to be working -- so much so that Hall even got out to play five holes of golf a few weeks ago. The doctors have told Hall that a few weeks after the radiation treatment is over, things should start to get back to normal.
"They (the doctors) have said a few weeks after the last radiation treatment I should start feeling like a human being again," Hall said.
If everything goes well, Hall would like to return to the sidelines by the National Lacrosse League All-Star game, scheduled for Feb. 25.
"I would like to be able to say that I'm recovered and I can be there and I think that's reasonable given what I've heard from my doctors. I intend to be there," he said. "That's my goal. Certainly if I can be there before, I'm going to do everything that I possibly can to do that. But realistically this is going to kick the crap out of me and it would be foolish for me to come back when I wasn't strong enough.
"There is lots more lacrosse for me if I recover well and I'm strong."
Aaron Lommers covers the Washington Stealth for The Herald. Read his live blogs at www.heraldnet.com/blog34, follow him on twitter @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
Hall needs that competitive nature now more than ever as he battles something far more dangerous than anything he faced on the lacrosse floor -- throat cancer.
Hall said his first instinct when he learned the diagnosis was: How do I win this fight?
"How bad is it, what's the prognosis and how do we start attacking it?" Hall recalled thinking. "Which is pretty much how I approach most things in life. That's how I have been about life since I was a small kid, 'How am I going to beat this?'"
Hall said he believes his competitiveness is helping him win the battle.
"No question about it," he said. "The way I conduct my life and my passion for competition and my passion to try to be the best at what I do is absolutely a huge benefactor in the fight I am going through now."
Hall first recognized a problem in July after returning from the World Lacrosse Championships. He felt more tired than usual. It was also around that time that he was due for his yearly physical.
Hall informed his doctor at the physical that he had a small irritation in his throat. The doctor first prescribed an antibiotic to fight what he thought were infected tonsils. When that didn't work, Hall was sent to a throat specialist, who after analyzing the irritation, determined that it was a tumor and that it was cancerous.
"It wasn't as though I had been hit by a train or like it was a total shock to me," Hall said. "You read about these things every day in the paper or in the media. It's everywhere around."
Hall said he didn't spend much time pondering why this happened to him.
"There is no sense trying to figure out, how did you get it, where did you get it from?" he said. "That's like looking for a needle in a haystack. It was like, what's the prognosis? What's the treatment? And where do we go from there?"
Hall said that initially doctors gave him a 75 to 90 percent survival rate -- 75 if he underwent radiation alone and 90 percent if he did both radiation and chemotherapy.
"That was a bit of a no-brainer too," Hall said laughing. "I did OK in elementary math."
Hall began treatments in November. He won't be coaching the Stealth tonight when the team opens the 2012 season at home against the Calgary Roughnecks. He'll be replaced for the duration by his good friend and assistant coach Art Webster. Hall remains actively involved in what the Stealth are doing, but said he will not return to the team until he feels he is 100 percent.
Hall participated in the team's first two weekends of training camp in December and, as usual, played a huge role in shaping the team's roster. Hall said that being able to be around the players and coaches helped him.
"I think that was huge for me," Hall said. "The doctors, of course, say everybody is different and some people don't do well and others do OK. The one thing they did tell me is that you want to try and maintain your normal lifestyle as long as you possibly can, because not only does that help fight the disease, but it is also huge in the recovery process."
Hall said that the treatment process is very aggressive. He receives radiation treatments Monday through Friday, with a double dose on Thursdays. He also received three days of chemotherapy treatment the first week.
"They just pumped a bag of poison in me," Hall said. "There isn't much more to say about that except it makes you nauseous and it's not fun stuff. You know, it's in there killing stuff."
In the fifth week of treatment, which was the first week of the new year, Hall received another three days of chemotherapy.
His final radiation treatment is scheduled for Jan. 17.
"I'm just playing things now day by day," he said. "They say obviously I will wear down -- my physical strength and condition -- during that period. My mouth will feel like it's on fire. I have to try and maintain my weight so I have to try to eat 2,000 calories daily come hell or high water and let me tell you, sometimes it's hell."
But the good news is, the treatment appears to be working -- so much so that Hall even got out to play five holes of golf a few weeks ago. The doctors have told Hall that a few weeks after the radiation treatment is over, things should start to get back to normal.
"They (the doctors) have said a few weeks after the last radiation treatment I should start feeling like a human being again," Hall said.
If everything goes well, Hall would like to return to the sidelines by the National Lacrosse League All-Star game, scheduled for Feb. 25.
"I would like to be able to say that I'm recovered and I can be there and I think that's reasonable given what I've heard from my doctors. I intend to be there," he said. "That's my goal. Certainly if I can be there before, I'm going to do everything that I possibly can to do that. But realistically this is going to kick the crap out of me and it would be foolish for me to come back when I wasn't strong enough.
"There is lots more lacrosse for me if I recover well and I'm strong."
Aaron Lommers covers the Washington Stealth for The Herald. Read his live blogs at www.heraldnet.com/blog34, follow him on twitter @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
Comments
(
