Former basketball player Jason Collins has spoken publicly for the first time about the extent of his brain tumor diagnosis. The former NBA pro told ESPN that he is battling a glioblastoma in its fourth stage, one of the deadliest brain diseases and among the most aggressive cancers out there. “Imagine a monster with tentacles spreading across the underside of my brain, reaching the width of a baseball,” the 47-year-old said. The average life expectancy in this situation is about 11 to 14 months.
A complete surgical removal is impossible, without him emerging from the operation altered in some way, Collins explained. The tumor sits in a critical region near the frontal lobe, the part of the brain that shapes personality. He underwent treatment that included medications, radiation, chemotherapy, as well as an experimental therapy conducted in Singapore.
Coming out more than 12½ years ago
Collins spent more than 13 years in North America’s premier basketball league, and in the spring of 2013 he came out as gay—the first active NBA player to do so. “The last twelve years since my coming-out have been the best of my life. Your life becomes so much better when you simply show up as your true self,” he said recently.
In his battle against cancer, he sees parallels to that decision from more than a dozen years ago. “As an athlete you learn not to panic in moments like these. These are the cards you’ve been dealt. For me it’s like: ‘Shut up and play against Shaq,'” he said, recalling earlier duels with basketball giants such as Shaquille O’Neal (53).
