Former professional basketball player Jason Collins, the first active male athlete in a major American professional team sport to come out as gay, announced that he has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer.
Collins has been diagnosed with stage four glioblastoma, he wrote in an ESPN op-ed on Thursday, and is undergoing treatment to stop the inoperable disease from spreading.
The brain tumor, he said, is like “a monster with tentacles that stretch across the bottom of my brain the width of a baseball.”
Without treatment, he would die within three months, doctors told Collins.
Collins, who played 13 seasons in the NBA, wrote that the treatment problems were somewhat similar to those he faced on the court.
“As an athlete, you learn not to panic in those moments,” he said, comparing the treatment to coming out against basketball star Shaquille O'Neal or his decision to come out as gay.
“To me it's like, 'Shut up and go play against Shaq.' Do you want a challenge? This is a challenge,” he wrote.
“And there is no greater challenge in basketball than taking on the best Shaquille O'Neal, and I did it.”
Collins' family released a short statement in September saying he had a brain tumor, but in his op-ed he says it was “time for people to hear my voice directly.”
The 47-year-old sports veteran writes that the cancer was discovered after he struggled to concentrate.
He describes how, shortly after marrying his husband in May, he missed his flight because he couldn't pack his luggage.
Brain scans later revealed the source of his concentration and memory problems.
“My mental clarity, short-term memory and comprehension disappeared, becoming the NBA player's version of Dory from Finding Nemo,” he jokes about the forgetful fish from the Disney film.
He says revealing his diagnosis to the world reminds him of his decision to come out. The years after coming out “were the best of my life.”
“Your life is so much better when you simply show up as your true self, without being afraid to be yourself, publicly or privately. It's me. This is what I deal with.”
Collins is currently being treated with a drug called Avastin to slow the tumor's growth and is traveling to Singapore to undergo targeted chemotherapy.
He writes that he hopes his treatment will help develop better treatments for the disease and that he can forge a path similar to the one he made as the NBA's first openly gay player.
“After I came out, someone I really respect told me that my choice to live openly could help someone I might never meet,” he says.
“I kept it for years. And if I can do it again now, then that's what matters.”
The California native played for six teams in 13 seasons in the NBA. He was previously named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People. He retired in 2014.
