- December 23, 2024
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"Don't give up. Don't ever give up."
Those words were spoken by the late Jim Valvano, a college basketball coach and broadcaster, in his now-famous ESPYs speech in March of 1993.
Valvano had been diagnosed with metastatic adenocarcinoma in 1992 and was not doing well, yet he kept fighting. The words would become the motto of the V Foundation for Cancer Research and resonate far beyond the world of sports. Valvano would die less than two months after giving the speech, at age 47.
Since his death, fellow college basketball broadcaster and friend Dick Vitale has taken Valvano's words to heart. Vitale, now an 84-year-old Lakewood Ranch resident and a 2008 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, started by raising money for The V Foundation, particularly for pediatric cancer research, through his annual gala. Vitale is still doing that, and he has repeatedly pledged to keep doing it as long as he's still breathing.
In recent years, however, Vitale has had to face challenges of his own. In August 2021, Vitale announced he had undergone treatment for melanoma. Two months later, Vitale said doctors had diagnosed him with lymphoma, and he again underwent treatment. And in December 2021, Vitale announced that doctors had found a precancerous dysplasia and ulcerated lesions on his vocal cords, which required surgery to remove. In the aftermath, he couldn't speak for four months.
Things got better for a while. Vitale's voice eventually returned, and in August 2022, Vitale announced that he was cancer-free. But in July, Vitale announced he had been diagnosed with vocal cord cancer. The treatment would involve six weeks of radiation therapy, 35 therapy sessions in total.
Vitale's final session was Sept. 1 at the Sarasota Memorial Radiation Oncology Center, which is part of the Brian D. Jellison Cancer Institute. He walked into the center accompanied by his wife, Lorraine, and his daughters, Sherri Vitale Krug and Terri Vitale. Vitale has not been able to speak above a faint whisper throughout the treatment, and he has orders to stay on vocal rest for an additional six weeks. That has been the hardest part for him, Lorraine Vitale said. He's not used to staying quiet.
In other ways, he's acting the same as ever.
"He loves to eat," Lorraine Vitale said with a laugh. "I bought him all these smoothie drinks with protein, Ensure and things. He would actually eat a full meal and then have one of those (smoothies). I said, 'You're going to gain weight.'"
The final treatment was an emotional one for Dick Vitale. He became emotional while being checked in, holding a whiteboard note apologizing for not being able to talk. And after the radiation treatment, which lasted approximately five minutes, he entered an exam room, sat in a chair and hung his head, his hands covering his face and tears. The process was tiring, and now it was over.
What happens next is still to be determined. Matthew Biagioli, Vitale's radiation oncologist, said Vitale handled the treatments as well as anyone could. The radiation treatment causes inflammation of the vocal cords, so doctors have to wait for that inflammation to subside and to perform a scope before they know how successful the treatment was — which is part of the reason for the six weeks of vocal rest.
Biagioli was optimistic and said the likelihood Vitale is cured is "at least 90%, maybe a little bit higher," as this is Vitale's first time having the treatment.
"Our goal here is to try to get him back to the functional state he was in before any of this started," Biagioli said.
Does that mean Vitale will have a strong enough voice this winter to call college basketball games for ESPN? Biagioli said he simply doesn't know at this point. It depends on how well Vitale's vocal cords heal now that treatment is over. If anyone can do it, Biagioli said, it's Vitale.
He hardly ever thinks about himself, either. In the exam room, after hanging his head, Vitale wrote another whiteboard message thanking the medical staff at the facility. He then tried to whisper a few words. About his treatment? No.
About The V Foundation, and how it hurts him to not be at full strength and calling people to raise funds. A lot of people like to talk about charity, and a lot of people donate money to those charities, but not many people, perhaps no one, is as dogged in their pursuit of making the world a better place for young people with cancer than Vitale.
After his treatment and a chat with Biagioli, Vitale headed to the center's outdoor fountain, where the staff held a "rock ceremony" for him. The staff presented Vitale with a box of rocks, each with a different word painted on it, and asked Vitale pick out a rock carrying a word that connected with him. He selected a rock that said "family," held it for a second, then tossed it into the fountain. Again, tears came as Lorraine hugged him. But these were happy tears.
After the ceremony, the staff presented him with a different rock — a commemorative one to keep, not toss in the fountain. "You're awesome, baby!" it read.
It would be foolish to bet against Vitale in any of his endeavors. He's beaten cancer twice before. His gala tops itself in funds raised every year, and 2023 was no exception, raising an astounding $12.4 million for The V Foundation. When healthy, he's still calling games on ESPN with the same enthusiasm he had decades ago.
Every day, he posts motivational tips on his social media accounts telling people how to win the game of life. That hasn't stopped since his vocal cord cancer diagnosis. He pre-taped messages to ensure they continued through his treatment.
So I agree with Biagioli that if there's any chance for Vitale to return to announcer's table this season, I know he's going to fight for it with all he's got.
He's following his friend Jimmy V's advice to the letter. He doesn't give up. He never gives up.
