Jason Collins, the first active NBA player to come out as gay, was diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma (the most aggressive and malignant primary brain cancer) this summer.
Former NBA player Jason Collins’ battle against aggressive brain cancer
Within hours my mental clarity, short-term memory and comprehension were gone, turning me into the NBA player version of Dory from Finding Nemo
“A few months ago, my family put out a short statement saying that I had a brain tumor. It was simple, but intentionally vague. They did it to protect my privacy while I was mentally incapacitated to speak for myself and my loved ones were trying to understand what we were facing. But now it’s time for people to hear from me directly…. I have stage 4 glioblastoma, one of the deadliest types of brain cancer. It developed incredibly quickly,” the 47-year-old former player told ESPN.
We are not going to sit idly by and let this cancer kill me without fighting with all our might
The former Nets, Grizzlies, Timberwolves, Hawks, Celtics and Wizards player traveled to Singapore, accompanied by his husband Brunson, to try an experimental treatment.
I am fortunate to have the financial means to go anywhere in the world where I need treatment
Jason Collins, who played for six teams during his 13-year NBA career, told his story to Ramona Shelburne.
This is how Jason Collins discovered he had a brain tumor: “I became the ‘Dory’ version of an NBA player”
“In May, I married the love of my life, Brunson Green, in a ceremony in Austin, Texas, that could not have been more perfect. In August, we were supposed to go to the US Open, as we do every year, but when the car came to take us to the airport, I was nowhere near ready. And for the first time in decades, we missed the flight because I couldn’t concentrate on packing.”
“I had been having weird symptoms like this for a week or two, but unless something goes really wrong, I’m going to go ahead. I’m an athlete. According to my family, within hours, my mental clarity, short-term memory and comprehension were gone, turning me into the ‘Dory’ version of an NBA player from ‘Finding Nemo’. In the following weeks we would find out how serious it was.”
Collins on the deadly aggressiveness of his cancer: “It’s a monster with tentacles that extend into the brain”
“What makes glioblastoma so dangerous is that it grows in a very limited and contained space (the skull), it is very aggressive and can expand. What makes it so difficult to treat in my case is that it is surrounded by the brain and is invading the frontal lobe, which is what defines you”
“My glioblastoma is multiforme. Imagine a monster with tentacles extending across the bottom of my brain, the width of a baseball.”
“The biopsy revealed that my glioblastoma had a 30% growth factor, which means that, in a matter of weeks, if nothing was done, the tumor would run out of space and I would probably die within six weeks to three months.”
“My glioblastoma is extraordinary for all the wrong reasons, and it’s ‘wild-type’: it has all these mutations that make it even more deadly and difficult to treat. What is that mythical creature that you cut off one head, but it learns to develop two more? The hydra. That’s the kind of glio I have.”
Jason Collins’ reaction after being diagnosed with cancer: “I got into Korean soap operas in Korean”
“People ask me what it was like to hear all this bad news. Well, the good thing is that I was completely disoriented when it was explained to my husband and family in the hospital, and I don’t remember it well. Brunson said that I lost the desire to watch tennis while I was in the hospital, unable to move, and that I became fond of quiet and silent Korean soap operas, in Korean.”
“Something I’ve always prided myself on is having the right people in my life. When I publicly came out as the first active gay basketball player in 2013, I told many of my closest people before I did so. I wasn’t worried about it leaking out before the story came out, because I trusted the people I told. And you know what? Nothing leaked out. I was able to tell my own story, the way I wanted to. And now I can honestly say that the last 12 years have been the best of my life. Life is so much better when you show up as you really are, unafraid to be who you are, in public or in private. That’s who I am. This is what I’m dealing with.”
Jason Collins and husband reveal plan to fight cancer
“While I was in hospital, friends and family came to visit me, presumably to say goodbye. At that time, no one knew if I would ever come out of the fog I was in.”
“However, my husband and family were researching and putting a plan together. They had to get me out of the hospital so I could start taking a drug called Avastin, one of the first treatments for tumours like mine. It was my best chance to stop the tumour growing and regain some quality of life, they said. Then came radiotherapy.”
“In a matter of days, I began to come out of my confusion. I had to be taken in a wheelchair to my first radiotherapy. By the third, I was able to walk. By mid-October, I was taking short walks around my neighborhood. My husband even gave me back my phone. (Apparently, I was sending very strange text messages and watching mindless TikToks for hours while I was drunk).”
“I started to research glioblastoma and all my options. I wanted to know everything about what I was facing.”
“As an athlete, you learn not to panic at times like this. These are the cards I’ve been dealt. For me it’s like, ‘Shut up and go play Shaq.’ Do you want the challenge? This is the challenge. And there’s no greater challenge in basketball than facing Shaquille O’Neal at his best, and I’ve overcome that.”
“We’re not going to sit back and let this cancer kill me without fighting with all our might.”
“We’re going to try to attack it first, in a way that’s never been attacked before: with radiotherapy, chemotherapy and immunotherapy, which is still being studied, but offers the most promising frontier in cancer treatment for this type of cancer.”
“Due to the genetic makeup of my tumor, standard chemotherapy with temozolomide (TMZ) for glioblastoma does not work. I am currently receiving treatment at a clinic in Singapore that offers targeted chemotherapy via EDV, a delivery mechanism that acts like a Trojan horse, seeking out proteins found only in glioblastomas to deliver its toxic payload across the blood-brain barrier and directly into my tumors.”
“The aim is to keep fighting the progress of the tumors long enough for a personalized immunotherapy to be designed for me and to keep me healthy enough to receive it once it is ready.”
“I am fortunate enough to have the financial ability to go anywhere in the world where I need treatment. So if what I’m doing doesn’t save me, I feel good thinking that I might help someone else who gets a diagnosis like this someday.”
“After coming out, someone I greatly respect told me that my decision to live openly might help someone I might never meet. I’ve held on to that for years. And if I can do it again now, then it matters.”
