Jason Collins, the NBA pioneer who in 2013 became the first openly gay active player in major U.S. professional sports, has disclosed a devastating diagnosis: Stage 4 glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer.
In a powerful first-person essay published by ESPN today, the 47-year-old former center described the tumor as “a monster with tentacles spreading across the underside of my brain the width of a baseball.”
TOP NEWS
Related: WATCH: Jayson Tatum plays 1-on-1 only seven months after tearing Achilles
The cancer is inoperable, given its shape. Collins stated that if surgery were done, he would come out of it “different.” The ordeal began suddenly this summer. While preparing to attend the U.S. Open, Collins noticed memory lapses and an inability to focus. Within hours, his family says, his short-term memory and comprehension “disappeared.” A CT scan delivered the diagnosis that upended his life.
Glioblastoma grows fast; Collins’ tumor showed a 30% growth factor, meaning without treatment he might have had weeks to live. Standard chemotherapy won’t work on his specific mutation, so he and his husband, producer Brunson Green, whom he married earlier this year, flew to Singapore.
There, Collins is receiving cutting-edge treatment “using EDVs, a delivery mechanism that acts as a Trojan horse, seeking out proteins only found in glioblastomas to deliver its toxic payload past the blood-brain barrier and straight into my tumors.”
Collins had kept the diagnosis private since August, releasing only a vague family statement in September. Today he chose to speak publicly, not for pity, but to raise awareness about a disease with a median survival of 12-18 months and to help the next patient who gets the same crushing news.
Known for breaking barriers, drafted in 2001, two Finals runs with the Nets, NBA ambassador for LGBTQ+ inclusion, is facing his toughest opponent yet with the same quiet strength that defined his career.
“I’m an athlete,” he wrote. “Unless something is really wrong, I’m going to push through.”
Jason Collins isn’t done fighting. Not now, not ever.
