A Quick Update On My Health
I probably won’t make this a regular thing, but so many of you have been so remarkably supportive since I was diagnosed with leukemia that I didn’t want to keep you all out of the loop as we moved down the path. I’ve now been in the hospital a little over two weeks, and have completed my first round of chemotherapy.
To determine how effective the chemo was, they performed a bone marrow biopsy on me earlier in the week. The results of that test are in – I officially have no more leukemia in my body. The doctors won’t say I’m in remission until they discharge me from the hospital in a week or two, but given that I’m currently cancer-free, I’m happy to use that term, even if it is technically a little premature.
This doesn’t end my journey, as I’m still going to be in for three more rounds of “consolidation chemo” over the next few months, and will be in and out of the hospital for most of the rest of 2011. Remission isn’t the same thing as cured – the goal is to keep this thing from ever coming back. However, it’s a great first step.
And, because we’re FanGraphs (and with a huge hat tip to Mr. Cistulli), here’s the WPA chart.
1
Congratulations!
So you got a little help from the dude in the white shirt waaaay out there beyond the center field wall. Then Leukemia started complaining about it when your 3/4 hitters, Cy Terabine and Daun O. Rubicin (your Bautista/Lind, as it were), started crankin’ homers outta the park. That’s loser talk. Whatever it takes to win, you know?
This is great news. Best wishes as you continue on.
I like updates about cancer when they are like this.
Fantastic!
Best news I’ve read in a while, Dave. Keep the good news coming, man. And keep fighting the fight to stay healthy!
congrats dave…..here’s to hoping the trend continues! keep it up!
Dave, very good news. I hope your recovery continues to go this well. Good luck.
Good to see you channel your inner-Felix. Shaky first, dominant finish. Congrats on the great news.
Wow … fabulous news! Continued improvement to you …
Fantastic news and the WPA graph is icing on the cake.
Ditto that. Great to hear, Dave!
I’d say bring League in, but Hanrahan is 30/31 with a 1.06 ERA and some peripherals to back it up. You make the call ;-)
Congrats, good luckwith everything going forward.
Terrific, amazing news. I’m very happy for you Dave. I can’t wait for everything to get back to normal.
Best WPA graph ever. Congrats on the good news so far, and hope you continue to win your battle against cancer.
Best wishes!
Encouraging news. Hope recovery continues well.
Wonderful news sir! Thank you for the update.
Great news, congrats!
This is the best news of the day. Or week.
And great chart.
Very, very happy to hear this!! Congratulations!
That’s amazing Dave! Good for you for fighting this thing. And that is by far the best graph in Fangraphs’ history haha.
That is good to hear! Continue to get well.
Great news! Wishing you continued health!
Congratulations!!!
This is great news and the chart is perfect. My son was diagnosed with leukemia when he was 4. After two years of treatment (see link if you’re really bored) he was cancer-free and has been for the last two years. Clear skies are ahead.
And you can be sure that faceless people on the internet you’ve never met (like me) are pulling for you!!
Great news, and great chart! I would share it with everyone I know, except no one I know will understand it. :)
Excellent news, Dave! Love the graph, too. Best wishes on full recovery.
Best. Graph. Ever.
Awesome news!
So basically, Leukemia is the Orioles of 2011. Came on strong, took the spotlight for a brief second, then got its ass kicked and has little to no hope for the future.
Dave, may your future be as strong as the rest of the AL East.
Keep the great news coming!
Huzzah!
Great news. We will continue to support you in prayer.
Congrats, Dave. So incredibly happy to hear the good news. It is amazing how gallows type humor makes life altering situations bearable. Love the WPA graph, and your fighting spirit!
You treated that cancer like it was an AL Central team in the divisional round of the playoffs. I’m thrilled to hear that you’re doing well. Keep it up!
Right because the Sox didn’t win the World Series in ’05, the Tigers didn’t win the pennant in ’06, and the Indians didn’t get to the ALCS in ’07…just cuz the Twins suck doesn’t mean the rest of the division does in the playoffs.
In all seriousness, leukemia is the NL Central…
In all seriousness though, the graph is awesome and the news is great!
I guess the Cards didn’t win it all in ’06 the either, one year more recently than the pale hose. You’d have a much better case for the AL West being leukemia …
All trolling aside, congrats on fighting off the big C Dave. Good luck with your health in the future.
Very good news. All the best!
All the best going forward.
Wonderful news!!!
Fantastic news!
Great news, Dave.
This is great!
Excellent. Stay positive, like, all the time about beating this. I don’t believe in the “power of prayer” but I am a firm believer in mind over matter.
You got this!
Awesome news, I’m really happy to hear this!
Congratulations!
Congratulations David on the wonderful news. The WPA chart is hilarious.
Thats so great! Time to go to the bullpen and close this thing out.
that’s absolutely fantastic, dave. keep up the fight and God bless!
This lead looks like it’s even 2010 Diamondback bullpen proof! Great news!
Glad to hear this!
Awesome man! Welcome back!
Congrats! Yesterday, I got word that I’m now cancer free as well! Pancreatic cancer had me on the ropes, but I guess its closer had a meltdown because my WPA rallied pretty well too. Happy to hear you’re on the right path, too!
Congratulations Dave! This is wonderful news! I guess Joe West did his job admirably (see Notgraphs)–why is he not on the WPA chart?
BEST. GRAPH. EVER.
Holy shit, that WPA chart is awesome. Hilarious.
Congratulations. I always feel awful when someone I know gets diagnosed with Cancer. I feel so unsupportive and detached. When I was in high school, I had a friend get diagnosed with liver Cancer, and everyone told me that he would be OK, they said all the supportive things that people normally say about how they know everything is going to work out. And it didn’t. He died. So I was mad at all of them for lying to me, and it’s really screwed me up when people get Cancer. You want to be supportive and keep their hopes up, but I’m so conscious not give the “everything’s going to work out!” or “you’re going to be OK!” BS.
So when I hear that someone has made such great progress as you have, I’m so ecstatic. So happy for you and your loved ones. For the doctors. For your readers. For the person who delivers your mail. Cancer ruins everything, and this is a such a great start to my day even though I don’t even know you.
Awesome news. Keep your head up and stay strong!
It would appear that Dave has some very clutch and gritty doctors.
Seriously though, congrats. Great news.
Congrats Dave, hit that hanging curve over the left field wall!!
Great to hear, Dave. Continued good health in the future.
That is tremendous Dave, a better bounce-back than Zobrist this year. :-) Love the WPA graph too. Looks like Cyterabine was the big contributor!
That’s amazing Dave! Still praying for you, and wish you all the best.
Congrats!
Congratulations! I hope you keep getting good news on this front.
Super great to hear! Get well!
Hmm, judging by the WPA chart, kindness of strangers hardly did anything. I guess that just goes to show you intangibles are overrated after all.
Anyway, good news.
Great to hear! Hope things continue to go well!
Glad to hear. Be sure to keep checking up on it, Cancer has a nasty way of bouncing back even after it’s gone completely.
I don’t know you. We’ve never spoken, let alone met. Heck, I don’t know what you look like, where you live, or whether you have children. And yet, this news has brightened my day significantly. Congratulations, and good luck with the next stage of your treatment!
Best graph ever.
Fantastic to hear that!!!
Best graph ever2
That’s great to hear, Dave! Hope that you keep hearing good news like this!
The chart is an awesome touch!
great to hear! best of luck in your grueling journey
Very clutch!
I’ll be the 93849384th (exagerration, i know) person to say BEST. GRAPH. EVER. :D
F yeah!
Excellent news.
Awesome, keep on keepin’ on, Dave!
Great fuckin’ news, Dave! Outstanding. Ever since the first USS Mariner meetup I attended when you walked over to my girlfriend and I, introduced yourself, and welcomed us to the event I knew that you were a quality human being and a genuinely nice guy.
My girlfriend is now in pretty much the same boat as you are as she deals with thyroid cancer. The initial diagnosis was rather grim, but two weeks removed from her radiation treatment all signs are pointing to the positive.
I wish you and your family all the best.
One of the best looking WPA charts I’ve ever seen. Great news Dave!
Great news Dave. Hoping you make a full recovery.
Best news I have read all week. Time to bring in Mariano, slam the door on this thing and get back to enjoying life. For us readers this affords us some time to celebrate but it doesn’t mean we should stop donating to cancer foundations or giving blood. Get out there and do what you can to help rid this planet of cancer.
Great news! I lost my dad about a year ago to colorectcal cancer. Don’t take your time, get check out early and often. Catching these things early is a must for recovery.
Great news Dave! Keep Getting Well!
I enjoy the extremely small bump from “kindness of strangers”. I’m glad you probably won’t die soon! Would you say Daunorubicin is clutch?
Really happy to hear you’re doing well Dave. Keep up the fight. We’re all rooting for you! Even if we are strangers…
Great news Dave, and thank you for continuing your work on the site and the chats that you did during your time in the hospital. I know it probably wasn’t easy to keep up with such things and I wanted you to know that they were greatly appreciated.
Awesome Dave. I echo what Chris has said.
The WPA graph should be on the front page for the next few days.
Glad to hear it.
Great news, Dave. I know there’s no equivalent to getting the 27th out when it comes to beating cancer, but I hope you can keep its win probability at 1% or lower for the rest of the game.
David-
Thanks for the update.
Carson-
Thanks for the chart.
Amazing news, Dave. Keep going strong my man!!!
Sabermetric post of the year.
Fantastic news. I’m so happy for you and your loved ones.
That .5% drop comes from when Dave heard that Joe Morgan was going to be the new M’s announcer.
In all seriousness, congrats Dave.
So you’re saying you should be ready by the start of Spring Training next year? Great news, Dave.
Yay!
Awesome news, and nice to see you can instill a little saber-humor.
USA! USA! USA!
Congrats Dave! I told you this on twitter, but I want a Dave Cameron/Michael C. Hall cancer awareness commercial ASAP!
Awesome news. I like how that chart ends.
Keep up the good work!
Congrats!
Greetings from Nicaragua.
Fantastic news, God bless you.
Excellent news. Congratulations.
If the day 13 marrow showed no evidence of disease that’s perfect. Youn were lucky to be able to get daunorubicin, it’s been in short supply. I can only get it for patients enrolling on certain clinical trials.
Love the graph, too.
Great news and congrats.
Looking forward to more articles from you.
Great to hear Dave! You’ll continue to be in my thoughts.
I hope you read this article from Wednesday. Very exciting stuff:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44090512/ns/health-cancer/t/new-leukemia-treatment-exceeds-wildest-expectations/
Sorry, wrong disease. That’s Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. Dave ahs Acute myelogenous Leukemia.
Potentially good news for other people though.
Woops, thanks for the correction. That’s not the first time I’ve gotten myself into trouble with a quick and dirty comp.
Great news and even greater graph! It’s amazing that you are keeping your readers spirits up when you’re the one going through this ordeal!
Thanks for sharing your progress.
Congratulations Dave and best wishes going forward!
great news. congrats.
Well I guess the meth lab you built in the RV won’t need to be used. Fantastic!
Long time reader, rare commenter. Congrats to you especially, your family and friends. Gotta have more Dave Cameron! Taking this with some humor is always a good route to help ease the stress. Regardless of your future plans I wish and hope nothing but the best moving forward. It is always a pleasure to read your articles and even more of an honor for you to reach out to your online community and keep us updated on something as personal as your health. You have officially moved from a favorite writer to a great friend in my book and many of others as well.
Great news Dave, and continued wishes for a very healthy recovery!
Awesome news, literally made my day. Keep up the good fight and stay well.
Good guys, +.77 WPA.
Good on ya Dave
Dave,
I am so glad to hear the positive news. You are in my thoughts and prayers.
Best WPA chart ever. Great to read this!
Very happy to hear this. Best of luck and great chart!
Awesome news! I’m rooting for you!
Awesome! So cool.
Valverde this thing out, Dave. Perhaps with a little less drama, and even more fist-pump.
Wonderful!
The prayers will continue!
Awesome. Stay positive. You can do it!
Best news of the day, Mr. Cameron. Best news of the day.
Great news! Keep it up!
Congrats!
Good news! Prayers and positive thoughts continue for you.
Congrats Dave! Keep fighting the good fight and the rest of us will keep sending our thoughts/prayers/wishes.
Nice graph, Carson!
Dave: I like to think that we are one big family here at fangraphs – heck, look at the arguments! However, most of us do not share email addresses, and besides, even if I had your email, I’m not sure you’d want you inbox filling up with hundreds, if not thousands of “How’s it going?” emails. My point is that I think it is entirely appropriate to use this forum to update us on how you, our brother Dave, is doing.
Keep up the good fight, and we look forward to having you back at 100% full strength.
Leukemia’s success was just a small sample size fluke. Dave is much better in the long run.
Officially, I’m having a good day just looking at this chart.
Stay strong for the rest of the treatment, great news!!
Congratulations! I sincerely hope your life will be the way you want it to be, and long and happy and full of renewed focus and joy. Never stop fighting. Always remember everything you have to fight for, from the people who truly love you to the people who appreciate your work and your mind.
You will win.
Leukemia had unsustainable peripherals and was due to regress when faced with a stronger opponent. Keep fighting, keep winning, Dave. The community has your back.
Dave, you’re the best writer on this site (no small feat). Everyone jumps to read your post first, and honestly, if you wrote a primer on the accurately valuing shuffleboard players, we’d all be informed by your top-rate analysis and amused by your sense of humor.
Congrats, and keep writing!
This is great to hear. The WPA chart makes me smile.
Congrats Dave!!
I heard Leukemia went unclaimed on waivers and has been DFA’d
This makes me happy. I wish you more goodness, Mr. Cameron.
This is spectacular news, Dave. Keep on going strong. I wish you and your family all the best throughout the rest of your recovery.
Go M’s!
Congratulations! I hope it is nothing but good news from here on out
Fantastic news!
Great news, all the best.
Good luck man
Here’s hoping your lane doesn’t turn off:
http://xkcd.com/931/
Unspeakably awesome news. And, yeah, best WPA graph ever.
Fantastic news. Best of luck, David!
Great news! Good luck.
Great news. Here’s wishing you a 1990-vintage Dennis Eckersley to close that one out!
Good to hear you are doing well, hopefully things continue that way.
So happy to read this! Keep fighting and feeling well. We’re all in your corner!
Great News! All the best moving forward
Congratulations Dave! Great WPA chart!
Thrilled to hear this, Dave. All the best going forward.