CoachUp Celebration: Coach David Beats Cancer!
You might remember the stirring blog post about Coach David we wrote back in December — in it, we detailed his attempts to beat cancer, coaching on CoachUp, and staying strong. Today, we’re proud to announce that our friend is officially cancer-free and ready to go at life with a renewed sense of direction. If you haven’t read our first entry in this story, we would suggest checking it out — it’s a truly remarkable story. After Coach David offered the good news, CoachUp needed to get the full scoop so we chatted with him once again — read on if you feel like being inspired!
CU: First and foremost, congratulations! Holy cow, we are all so beyond happy to hear the news at CoachUp! Did you always think you’d beat cancer?
DK: Thank you, Ben! As you already know, I almost didn’t make it a few times this year. Up until a month and a half ago, I actually thought I wasn’t going to. So much blood — I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. At one point, my hands and feet lost feeling. To answer your first question, I really wasn’t sure. I had a lot of support from my family, they helped make sure I kept eating and walking.
CU: How did baseball and sports help you stay strong?
DK: Chemo takes your breath away and exercise is limited to just very minimal stuff, but my family was with me every walk I took. So what saved me was getting out of bed, at first with help, but the more you walk the stronger you get — and I slowly got stronger. Honestly, being in shape before I knew I had cancer probably saved my life. If I didn’t go play baseball that day with Josue, I wouldn’t be alive. So staying baseball allowed me to beat a 17% chance of survival.
CU: Have you learned anything? How do you grow from an experience like this?
DK: You learn things about yourself that you would’ve never known otherwise. You learn that when you lay in a hospital bed and they have you sign your last will and testament, you realize that all your material possessions mean nothing — all you have are your memories and a blanket. Our time here is so short, so there’s no time to waste it on things you don’t love.
CU: How do you plan on celebrating?
I plan on celebrating when I play my first game of baseball with Josue. Right now, I’m committed to working hard to get my body back by means of exercising and, in particular, baseball. I will play another game — that’s a wonderful feeling. It’s most likely I will have another surgery soon to fix what problems have been created by chemotherapy, but I’m alive. And I’m going to play baseball again — sometimes I can hardly believe that.
Getting to coach really keeps me as close to the game as I can get for now. But that’s worth it because I love helping all my students — they really keep me going and learning. You would be surprised how much you learn about your own game by helping others figure their game out.
At CoachUp, we want to give Coach David another warm congratulations for beating cancer, but celebrate his renewed life as well!
