He fought off the cancer twice just to have it return a third time. His family was told he had two weeks to live five separate times but Sager kept fighting his battle. One of his son’s was a perfect match and donated marrow to help him continue to fight the fight not once but twice. On the third time an anonymous donor stepped up to help him.
Patients who receive bad news about a terminal illness seem to react so differently. It often seems that when that moment happens you get a glimpse of who they really are under all of the masks we often wear to protect ourselves from the outside world. It has been said that looking into someone’s eyes allows you to see the content of their soul. I think a truer test is seeing how a person chooses to live their life when they find out there isn’t much time left.
Craig insisted he needed to continue working. He wanted to continue living his best life and most of all he absolutely refused to give up. Many of his huge, dominating and successful NBA athlete and coach friends were incredibly touched by his perseverance in the face of such incredible odds. Craig talked to his doctor and they found a treatment plan that would allow him to continue to work even covering the NBA Finals for the first time in his 34 year career. This treatment plan was virtually unheard of but he used mental toughness and the love of his career as well as support of his family to help to get him through. With the travel schedule he endured matched with the chemo treatments it is hard to imagine how it was even possible. Somehow he dug deep and continued to write his own story despite the odds.
Shaq said of him that he always asked the right question. There is power in that. He conducted himself with class and never would delve into the negative things other reporters might try to dig into. He worked with the players and built their trust by keeping it positive.
Last year he received the Jimmy V award for perseverance at the ESPY’s. I have included the link here in case you wanted to watch. It is very inspirational. It gives an excellent perspective as to the type of man he was.
In the video there is three quotes he shared that I find very enlightening so here they are:
Time is something that cannot be bought, it cannot be wagered with God and it is not in endless supply. Time is simply how you live your life.
Whatever I might have imagined a terminal diagnosis would do to my spirit it summoned quite the opposite — the greatest appreciation for life itself. So I will never give up. I will never give in. I will continue to keep fighting sucking the marrow out of life as life sucks the marrow out of me. I live my life full of love and full of fun it’s the only way I know how.
If I have learned anything through all of this it’s that each and every day is a canvas waiting to be painted. An opportunity for love, for fun, for living, for learning. To those of you out there who are suffering from cancer facing adversity I want you to know that your will to live and to fight cancer can make all the difference in the world. The way you think influences the way you feel and the way you feel determines how you act.
I think the last thing he said applies to anyone not just those who have cancer. The way you think does influence the way you feel and the way you feel really impacts how you act. In the face of terrible life circumstances Craig Sager chose to take some terrible events and use them to Rise and Shine! I think we can all find a ways to do that and that helps to carry the memory of him on. Thanks for being that amazing example Craig!
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