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After the Diagnosis



After the Diagnosis. My continued cancer fight.


Since I was diagnosed with cancer last June, it has not only been an emotional rollercoaster but also a constant reminder of doctor appointments, scans, tests, and the support that is needed from my family, friends, and, believe it or not, writing and baseball.


I am reminded that prevention from the cancer returning and continued treatment needed for the next five years are important in the detection and recovery process. For five years at six-month intervals, I will have tumor tracing, CAT scans performed, and doctor visits. I look at it as another chapter in life, just like a writer keeps adding chapters to an unpublished book or a pitcher dueling batters inning after inning.


It is true that I tried to forget about everything in life, especially baseball. The only thing on my mind was cancer, doctors, tests, and the list goes on and on. My mind would wander into the unknown, and I would just not want to think about anything, especially baseball. As weird as life is, baseball was still there. I would be reminded of the game by the littlest things in life, from a person wearing a Yankees baseball cap in the doctor's office to a used, waterlogged, dirty baseball sitting in the grass by my house.


Since I was 17, I've been writing and having articles published in newspapers, magazines and books. My writing has mostly focused on baseball, and it was when I was a young teenager that my late grandmother put together a scrapbook of baseball articles and told me that "you can do this." I read the articles with great interest, and the idea came into my mind of writing my own story. Well, cancer is my story now.


When I hear people complain about some of the mundane things in life, I think of how appreciative I am for everything I achieved and the support my family gives me. I will admit, there are times that I think about cancer and question, "Why do I have it?" I wish it would go away and be as easy as kneeling down, saying a prayer, and it's gone. But in reality, that doesn't happen. In reality, it's an everyday fight. It's like playing in a game to win and giving 100% effort.


I also don't want people to feel bad for me and ask, "What can they do?" In reality, nothing can be done. In reality, this is my fight and journey of staying healthy keeping a smile on my face. Don't get me wrong; I appreciate that people do ask, and it is comforting to hear words of support.


In a letter that sports columnist Ira Berkow wrote to me, his words of support on writing were, "Anyway, keep at it. Keep trying. Try not to get discouraged. Like most other things, the harder one works at writing, the better one gets."


Just like writing, it's the same in my fight against cancer, and I won't get discouraged. I will work hard at fighting it and get better at it.

Until then, see you at the fight.



— Joe Boesch 

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