Sportspeople-Heroes Who Overcame Illness, Part II.

By:

Posted: June 23, 2015

Updated: October 6, 2017

Draw inspiration from the next five competitors who have come back from the brink and excelled ever since.

Many of these sportsmen and women have nearly lost their lives to their conditions. Fortunately, however, they were cured


• Olympic medal with cancer
• Returning to sports very soon
• Winning the Super Bowl after cancer

and managed to lead fulfilling lives even after such shocking discoveries. What is more, most of them returned to professional sports and won many competitions, despite what they have experienced. They came back from it. From now on, I think I will shut up about having a runny nose and a sore throat, because these people set an example for everyone to follow.

Pat Summitt

Mobile betting fans, if you favor betting on basketball over everything else, you have a lot to thank this lady, who is among the best basketball coaches of all time. She is in the NCAA-Division one, and holds the most wins for any coach in this section. According to Healthline, she announced that she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2011. She decided to fight the disease with all her might, and that is what she’s doing. Due to her excellent track record, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Arthur Ashe Courage Award, too. She has kept busy since her diagnosis: she added another book to her collection of books she authored, called Sum It Up, in which she talks about her life and her disease.

Eric Shanteau

Eric Shanteau college race

Shanteau learned he had testicular cancer when he was 24, but it didn’t stop him from winning Olympic gold

Well, this is a cautionary tale for every young person out there… when it comes to cancer, age doesn’t matter a bit. According to Bleacherreport, Eric Shanteau, 24 year-old gold medalist of the U.S. Olympic swimming team, was diagnosed with testicular cancer just before the 2012 London Summer Olympics. He competed nonetheless, winning a gold medal. Right after the competition, he underwent surgery. He has received treatment and once he was deemed cancer-free, he established Swim Your Life to raise cancer awareness and is an active member of Lance Armstrong’s charity, Livestrong.

Saku Koivu

He has had a very successful career in NHL; an All-Star and team captain of the Montreal Canadiens, the Finnish player has now crossed the 1,000 career game magical number. According to Bleacherreport, the center player was diagnosed with a rare type of cancer, Brukitt’s lymphoma in 2001. He had to miss a total of 79 games before he was cleared to play again. The following year he made up for time lost: he brought his A-Game all season and scored 21 goals, did 51 assists and got 71 points. He remained in the game, and reached his 1,000th match in 2011.

Mark Herzlich

Anyone who loves internet betting in the US has heard of the young NFL star, Mr. Herzlich, the New York Giant who vectored in the Super Bowl in 2012. Bleacherreport states that he has been diagnosed in 2009 with an extremely unusual form of bone cancer, Ewing’s sarcoma. He received chemotherapy and radiation and had to drop out of the 2009 season. He was declared cancer-free later in the same year. His chances were bleak, and yet he became a Super Bowl champ. Before the 2012, he tweeted: “2 years ago I was told I might never walk again. Just WALKED off plane in Indy to play in the SuperBowl. #TakeThatSh*tCancer” Hells yeah!

Jon Lester

Jon Lester pitching

Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester defeated his illness returning to the top of the league

Mobile casino gambling fans who love baseball will definitely know this Red Sox starting pitcher. According to Bleacherreport, he has been an All-Star two times already, and was named World Series Champion in 2007. Just a year before his Champion award, the young player was diagnosed with Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma. He immediately got treatment and returned incredibly soon, in June 2007. Upon his return, his talent got the Red Sox a Game 4 victory against the Rockies. Since then, he remained one of the best pitchers in baseball history. He is also a member of Livestrong and emphasizes the importance of raising cancer awareness.

Edna Campbell

Her story can provide everyone with true inspiration, that’s for sure. She used to be a WNBA player, who, according to Bleacerreport, was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 33, just before the fourth year of her professional career. This happened in 2002. By the next year, she was back on the court, ever though she was not declared cancer-free. Fortunately, she eventually beat cancer and by 2005, she was cancer-free. She retired the same year. But, even before that, she became the WNBA’s national spokesperson and collaborated with the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments