Curt Schilling discusses his cancer on Dennis & Callahan

welcome it's great to see you thank you does the view look different in the front lines than it does in the war room a little bit yeah yeah yeah this the first time you've really talked about your story why don't you tell us what you're comfortable telling us yeah and then we'll go from there all right um well this all came about from a dog bite I I got bitten by a dog and I went to and I had some damage to my finger and I went to see a doctor and the day that I went to see the doctor I was driving and I went to rub my neck and I felt a lump on the left side of my neck mm-hmm and I knew immediately was it and it wasn't normal so there happened to be an ENT right next door to the hand doctor and I thought you know what the heck let me just stop in and see so I waited the office went in there and he did a biopsy and two days later he diagnosed me with ask we saw a card squamous cell carcinoma what did you think um oh no more style no no you know what the amazing thing was and I was just just dumbfounded by it you've just been told you have cancer and you walk out into the public and the world still going on and and it was really a challenge to wrap my head around that but um I you know my my second thought was wow really you you think I can handle this too huh so um and then after a couple tests I got sent over to bring up a women's and dana-farber and that's where I met dr. Haddad and the amazing team of people that got me through my treatment dr. Dodd just by way of clarification four people don't know one understand exactly what Curt has can you give us the layman's terms of what's going on here so commonly this is known as a mouth cancer and this is the type of the cancer we call the squamous cell carcinoma so it's the cancer of the lining of the mouth and the lump in the neck is what how most patients why most patients go to the doctor first because I feel lump in the neck so that's the lymph node that's enlarged and that's me the most common presentation for these cancers it's often presents as a lump in the neck that drives the patient to go and see the doctor and then a biopsy is done and then that shows squamous cell carcinoma and that's the type of the cancer well I don't say this one of the amazing things was early on when I was talking to him about this I went to see a doctor like five days after I felt the lump he said the average time for a patient is ten months ten months from the time they noticed something at the time they say something well and so you know I'd move yeah I mean but I can't believe people need to be more self-aware and say I don't even know how to put this Kurt but this is good news to me because I feared the worst for you because we didn't know yeah and when people don't know when you don't tell when I'm thinking it's bad it's real bad and this could be worse oh yeah absolutely there's that I didn't talk about it for two reasons number one I didn't want to get into the chewing tobacco debate which I knew was going to come about and which to me I'll go to my grave believing that was why I got what I got you believe that is why lutely no no question in my mind about that and this the the second thing was what why you didn't come Beliveau you kept quiet which was amazing by the way your life yeah yeah I didn't want any of that stuff because early on when I because I end up spending about six months in a hospital because I had a bad reaction I had a staph infection I had what's called seat if I had a couple different problems and there's a there was a week there where I was I don't there's a week of my life I don't remember while I was in the hospital going through going through this but the second or third day that I was that was I was getting so I got chemo and radiation for was it five weeks seven weeks seven weeks and I came back to the room and my family was sitting there and I thought you know what this this could be so much worse it could be one of my kids it's not I I'm the one guy in this family that can handle this yeah that's why and so you know that from that perspective it never ever I've never said why me and I never will you know I do believe without a doubt unquestionably that that chewing is what what gave me cancer and excuse me I don't have any saliva that's okay and I'm not gonna sit up here from the pedis preach about chewing I will say this I did for about 30 years and it was an addictive habit that I can think of so many times in my life when it was so relaxing you know to just sit back and have a dip and do whatever and I lost my sense of smell my taste buds for the most part I'd gum issues they bled all this other stuff none of it was enough to ever make me quit the pain that I was in going through this treatment the second or third day it was the first thing any only thing in my life that I've ever had that wish I could go back and never have dip not once you say there's your the the is there really the bait though he mentioned debate it seems to me that it's pretty cut-and-dried am I am I wrong doctor that this leads to this or is direct the one of the well described and defined risks for oral cancer is smokeless tobacco which is what we're talking about here so it is it is not a question mark this has been shown repeatedly and the National Cancer Institute clearly makes the case that any form of tobacco is harmful and should not be used so I completely agree with what you're saying what the day you found out about Tony Gwynn no I you know what I I I knew a while ago that things were going well just because it went he went radio silent hmm after everything had happened and I from the people I talk to he was in very very bad shape at the end and again I got lucky I could I could there's so many other places this could have come up and you know they could have had to take half my job I met a guy so I was at bringable women's on the palliative care floor fifth floor which is kind of a new thing and an amazing thing who had a smoker who had cancer in the mouth and they had to cut off half of his tongue too and they went down and grafted from his forearm and rebuilt it back and it would every just the stuff was just mind-boggling but um I had a team I I've seen Dana Farber from the other side as someone who's been around you know spring training with the kids I've been over there and visited a couple times but being on this side of it was was mind boggling perfect segue when you said bring training with the kids I don't know whether you heard this yesterday but our all-star Hall of Fame guest yesterday it's a 28 year old young man named Kirov and Alva door and in the middle of our conversation with Corden a Kirov and he told a story about spring training and somebody that we know and love name came up in in a very high profile take a listen from yesterday Curt Schilling is going to go down as my favorite player of all time because um so we went one year and Holly young she's no longer with us but she was by far his number one fan so when you go to the spring training it's not like okay let me show up you know sign some autographs for two minutes and then go back to what I was doing like they engage with us and like they really built a relationship like she told him why he's great and she's and he told her why she's great and they just they really hit it off so the next year we go back and Schillings not here this time I think he was injured and so we're outside Holly's obviously disappointed Peter Schilling is not there so someone goes in the back and says tell Schilling that um the Jimmy Fund kids are here and he just hops off the table and as he's coming out the tunnel he just bellows and like the loudest voice I've ever heard where's my Holly and then Holly realizes that she's the Holly he's referencing and she just broke down like because not only did he remember her he remembered her name you know he's written about her on his blog when she passed away he did a touching tribute to her so it's like it's not just a contractual obligation for the Red Sox players especially for Schilling that's gotta make you feel good it does yeah again that's another reason why I never sat there and asked why me I know why but when you walk around that facility and you see these amazing doctors doing amazing things and then you turn the corner and see a give I have six seven-year-old kid I can't fathom going I I don't know if this happened again I'm not sure if I would go through the treatment again it was that painful I can't imagine a five six year old kid yeah haven't I just it's just mind-boggling cuz what's wait let me tell you early on you when you when you when they diagnosed you and they tell you're gonna have radiation then one of the first things they do is they they create a mask for you what that is is they lay you down at a table and they put it's very pliable material over you and they vacuform it to your face and and basically what it is it's the it's the straitjacket for when they're given irradiation and first day I went in they they pipe it down and they they do the radiation into the into the tumors second day did it and about the third day I started developing almost a phobia and I literally had to be medicated for the seven weeks to go and do that I could I couldn't I couldn't control myself under the mask how long how I do with the mask I it's still at home mines hanging on the wall of my home office they say some people destroy them they take him home and burn them and throw them away but I look at that thing every day I mean therefore when you have the mask how long is that so yeah 15 minutes yeah feels like forever though right buckled mine wrong one day and it was real tight and I think yeah yeah he screwed up oh you're right we did and it was the scariest things I had and I stay like this for 15 minutes there were a couple times where I had to stop in the middle and then restart because I just couldn't die and so that was and it was amazing because it was five days a week for seven weeks every morning I I couldn't wait for Friday yeah Friday was like the greatest day and that you could see mostly with me I was down down down down and then Friday I'd be all excited because I didn't have to do radiation if we can turn back the clock twenty or twenty five years and you talked about these symptoms that you had as you were doing smokeless tobacco while you were playing you're a smart guy you access information you knew what you were doing had the potential for this and yet the addiction was so strong that you said even though my gums are bleeding even though I'm having these symptoms that I don't think it even though I've seen and talked to people who had half a face who lost their bottom jaw who lost all their teeth it I know I don't know that I ever said at some point you stop thinking about it because I never said and I won't be right it's everybody we do it it's just it it's a byproduct of chewing tobacco if you chew tobacco you kind of find yourself with some sort of cancer if you don't die another way right you're gonna become the you realize that like today you're gonna become the preeminent spokesman for this cause I am again that's another reason why I did it for thirty years and so I didn't wanna you're hypocritical people it's it's it's a dangerously addictive habit then I wish I you know bionda I don't know that I'd never done the application is do as I say not as I do it design yeah absolutely what's the future hold are you gonna gonna be okay yeah well I'm in remission and I I'm doc and I are gonna be meeting each other hauling off for the next five years and this recovery is Ted's challenge because there are so many things that that they that are damaged during the process I don't have any salivary glands so I have no test I can't taste anything and I can't smell anything right now so and there's no guarantee they'll come back but it's yeah I got used to dr. Dodd tell me well after this you he'd be anywhere from two to twelve months and I was like okay let's see you need to narrow something doctor what is the specific prognosis and I know nothing is specific every case is individual but what's in store for mr. Schilling going again without discussing the specific case of shorty but in head and neck cancers or cancers of the mouth these are treatable cancers they are curable cancers and a large percentage of patients but the treatment is very tough is very grueling a lot of side effects those side effects are acute meaning they happen the first year of treatment like we're seeing now with GERD the dry mouth and the trouble swallowing and eating the infections and then the long-term side effects so that is the recovery process that can take up to five years but but these cancers are treatable or are curable they do require a lot of specialties coming together so treating head and neck cancer is not possible in every institution really these types of cancers have to be treated in specialized centers because of the number of treatments and the specialties needed to treat her the neck can will his sense of taste and smell come back yes to eat to swallow a saliva should get better over time and so the things should get better but the process is slow and can be frustrating for patients you can't even look at a piece of fruit right now but you know what killed me was water I was had a feeding tube for six months I just couldn't wait to be able to guzzle chucko glass of water because I couldn't just swallow it was such a challenge you uh lost a few pounds I lost think the lengths people go to lose a few pounds 75 pounds and that's the the the challenge right now is trying i only remember when I wait I wait 205 pounds and I was I was 215 when I graduated high school so I don't know and I'm but that's that's why I'm still shaky yeah week I get a little light-headed every now and then but because I can't continually I can't put enough calories in my body you had a real appreciation for for life or family because of what Shonda went through because of you know your kids have gone through we asked everyone this when they sit down and that's eat how did it change you is this gonna change you and do you feel like you already had your bearings in the right play already had your priorities straight I I'm not gonna chew anymore sir I would like to think that Shonda and I were pretty level-headed before this you know I didn't I don't I never felt like I needed to be humbled but you know there's a there's a reason this all happened and instead of trying to guess it you just kind of navigate take a day today I admire you for saying that you didn't have any more few wimey moments but you've also famously said god never gives us more than we can handle aren't you just about at the damn limit here I don't I he's got a lot more confidence in me than I had but but I you know there there's a reason there's so many things that I've seen during this treatment and so many things that I've you just get you meet people and the amazing to their I had a team of people on the fifth floor over there all the nurses I mean this was family that I mean I what a unbelievable strain is puts on my family because now my wife's at home alone and there's no help and I live in midfield and I'm gonna tell you one of the most amazing things there's a program in Medfield that when someone's family when somebody gets struck by cancer there's a town the town cooks that for them every night so for six months every night there was a full meal delivered to my wife on the porch well for our family I mean that that's which is why we still live in met future you know but those are the things that that I'll take away from this how did you feel how are you feeling at night when you came back to Fenway it was kind of a surprise about 60s about six weeks ago is that right that was surprised out we you was it was a touch and go and it was Bertie it was pretty upset when they didn't ask you to throw it the pitch they gave them all to man you know it was it was weird I because I was in the hospital at the time and they wouldn't let me come over here and go back so I had to determine if I was okay and ready to to be discharged and I said yeah yeah okay yeah yeah and two days later I was backing off well I I was so that's why Gehrig walked out with me I was afraid I was gonna fall on the way in because I was just so discombobulated and then but it was it was it was nice it was it was good to see the guys I'm some of my haven't seen and it's amazing to when when things happen you like this you find out who your true friends are right and and I got contacted by people that I didn't expect and consistently which was which was pretty cool like who now I'm not gonna name names but there were just a couple people that reached out to me that I didn't expect and and it was nice beyond the practical application of meals and transportation and Seana deal with the kids and you being out of the loop because you're in the hospital are there emotional or psychological or relationship changes in the shilling family based on the fact that the old man I mean that the the the patriarch the guy that the kids look up to the the rock if you will is now in the situation Shaunda that yeah you know you and and I'm sure they dealt with this I mean cancer killed my father uh he was a smoker lung cancer so you know I've been on I went through that and under understand that but you know it was just I I can't imagine what because I you know she's gonna drive 45 minutes in to see me she's gonna raise four kids and they're still in school and all this other stuff going on and it was just I I got to take Luke and there was it was an incredible challenge to kind of get back in well that you said when you were diagnosed you walked outside and life was still going on even within your own environment in Medfield that life still never start thinking as a husband and a father you start thinking about your family without you yeah what does it look like how does it function how does it operate because it's it's it I mean that stuff doesn't make me go oh my god yeah because that's that's one of the outcomes mhm people die from this stuff so you you do have those very mortal moments when you lay there and think you know did I or that they set up to be okay if I'm not here you know and dr. Haddad what's the next line steps for protocol going forward what is what is Curt facing now you know next month a month after that the month after that so the protocols will follow office visits with us in the clinic on a regular basis on average every one to two months and then we also would be doing scans imaging studies also every few months just to confirm that his status it's actually fairly as simple a follow-up process but it does involve us keeping an eye on our patients for five years was this is the time when things can happen so we have to keep it close eye on Curt and every patient we see with had net cancer for the first five years after treatment to use the baseball analogy shell I guess the night before you're pitching the big game there's a little butterfly of the day of the game the night before the scan it's gonna probably feel the same way no night the night of because you're waiting to hear the results yeah that's the oh yeah after when part day no and I want to just say real quick dr. Dodd makes it sound like he's stitching up a finger I can't believe I can't believe the amount of work the amount of intelligence the dedication the commitment from him I mean this was I walked in the first day that I met him and I sat down in a chair and there were eight people in the room and I was like okay who the hell are these people and it was my team yeah these are all these were cardiologists everybody at dr. Norris who did this initial surgery was a phenomenal guy and then dr. Dodd was kind of the quarterback mm-hm and it was just amazing to me how coordinated everything was and how genuine everybody is and was over there that's the thing I love is these are people that genuinely to their core care about other people it's frightening when you see that whole team though isn't it yeah I'm in trouble yes I need all these beeper doesn't want to name names and that's fine but I will when I was going through that not nearly as bad as you were when I was going through that I heard from one athlete one right there you know I mean I didn't expect to hear from too many athletes you know being Who I am but hurt from all you guys obviously people I worked with friends and a-callin checking in one athlete called yeah check in about me and you only remember it oh I do but I do must be cool for you to some exceed the first guy that I remembered talking about ALS first athlete he must be kind of fun to watch this whole thing of me is absolutely exploding I was late weeks see the amount 23 semilla 23 million is on this morning and this is this is the most awareness generating thing I've ever seen why didn't you think of this and I know a year ago for God's I know I've been you know and I met a 28 1992 was when Sean and I got involved with ALS and and that was the charity of choice for my career Philadelphia had a huge ALS chapter and everything was big and done right and then Arizona we got to go to and kind of pick that chapter up and get it going and then Boston has an amazing thing as well but I actually faced Pete really yeah he wouldn't play for bosses they came down to spring training ah and he told me the first time I met him that he had faced me and I said and I said yeah no not better pitcher oh yeah why did you it was a kit guys like that Court was the guy's name in Philadelphia men who had dick Bergeron Bergeron yeah and you you weren't related to him you know wasn't even a close friend most you met him and he touched you I I had I was at a point in time in my life where the career was starting to take off I want to be involved and committed to something other than myself and Sean and I talked about it just seemed like the right thing to do and you know here we are the amazing thing is you know 22 years later and nothing's changed well it's you know as people are being get you I best description I ever heard of it is being given the death sentence without committing a crime

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Length: 22min 11sec (1331 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 20 2014