Guest guest Posted October 20, 2000 Report Share Posted October 20, 2000 I apologize for the duplicates - after the fact, I know what happened. A lot of good advice has been posted lately. I'm glad there is so much knowledge in this group. Do any of our Ohio members recall this event from last year? -------------------------------------------------------------- THREE OHIO BASKETBALL COACHES SHOOT HOOPS FOR LIVER DISEASE AWARENESS Hal , Steve Loy and Bruce Brown have a lot in common. They all live in Ohio, coach basketball and have (PSC) Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis. The three coaches have turned the coincidence of their common diagnosis into a three-man team for liver disease and fund raising. " The three of us have gotten more publicity than we really deserve, but we can use it to draw attention to PSC and liver disease in general-to raise funds for research and awareness. " Hall of Malone College, added, " I'm on the waiting list but the other two guys aren't. In my heart, my prayer is that there'll be a cure before they're on the list too. " The coaches have organized a basketball tournament for the ALF (American Liver Foundation) Northern Ohio Chapter called HOOPS FOR HEALING which Walsh University Coach, Steve Loy describes as, " .......a smorgasbord of basketball action that will delight any avid basketball fan. " The tournament will be held December 3 through December 5, 1999 and features highly-ranked college teams (Walsh, Malone, and Tri-State University) and hight school teams (Stowe, Canton Central Catholic, Lake and ) from the Ohio/Indiana area. The event will draw regional basketball fans and both local and national media. The coaches hope that HOOPS FOR HEALING will garner news coverage that will increase awareness of liver disease and the importance of organ donation. Information on liver disease will be available at the tournament. For information about HOOPS FOR HEALING call Kathleen at . __________________________________________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 21, 2000 Report Share Posted October 21, 2000 > Do any of our Ohio members recall this event from last year? > > THREE OHIO BASKETBALL COACHES SHOOT HOOPS FOR LIVER DISEASE > AWARENESS > Tim, the following article ran a year ago last spring (I grew up in the same area of Ohio): By Rick sey Chicago Tribune Staff Writer April 25, 1999 CANTON, Ohio -- The odds say no way. No way can three men who live within a 7-mile radius have the same rare disease. No way can three men, all successful basketball coaches, have their livers betray them like this. And no way can it be the same liver disease that Walter Payton has. The same Walter Payton who is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which happens to be located in the same 7-mile radius. But there it is, the odds be damned. And what are the odds that a former basketball coach 30 miles away from Canton would have the same liver disease? A million to one? Two million to one? What is it they say, that you have a better chance of getting struck by lightning or being attacked by a shark? Well, this is like a shark getting struck by lightning. Hal is sitting in his office at Malone College in Canton, and he is scratching his arms. His sleeves are rolled up, and the scabs on his forearms look like an archipelago on a map. He works his way up to his biceps, and as he talks it's clear he is not aware of what his fingers are doing. Itching is one of the symptoms of primary sclerosing cholangitis-- hence the scabs--as are jaundice, extreme fatigue, nausea and weight loss. The disease has progressed more in than it has in Walsh University's Steve Loy and Lake High School's Bruce Brown, who work in the Canton area. is on a waiting list for a liver transplant, as is Payton, the former Bears running back. The other two are showing no symptoms. They are linked together, and to Payton, by clogged bile ducts. PSC is a disease in which the ducts are narrowed from scarring and inflammation. If bile pools, it can result in damage to liver cells and, ultimately, liver failure. There is no known cause or cure for the disease, which is more common in men. When Payton shocked Chicago on Feb. 2 with the news of his diagnosis, nodded. He saw himself in Payton's sunken cheeks, in the way Payton's fingernails and eyes had turned the color of a newspaper left too long in the sun. has been waiting 21 months for a transplant. " I could really empathize with him, " he said. " I knew exactly what he was going through, what his thought process was: I'm in a situation where I'm going to take someone else's body part and put it in my body so that I can live. It's just an awesome thought. " It's all very humbling. Bruce said it in an interview: `You come face to face for the first time with your own mortality.' We all know we're going to die someday. We're all relatively young men, and we're all physically involved. All of a sudden, it's like I'm losing weight and getting weak and it's, `You might die.' That kind of stops you. " They haven't met Payton, who entered the Hall of Fame in 1993, but they feel a bond. Only three in every 100,000 people get PSC, according to the American Liver Foundation. The coaches have received phone calls and letters from people with theories as to why there is a cluster of men in the same profession with the disease. One doctor in the West Indies wrote to Brown telling him that the material in whistles was the culprit and to stop using them during practice. Others have questioned whether Canton's air or water quality could have played a role, but there is no known link between the disease and environmental factors. The coaches all have lived in Canton for extended periods, but only Loy grew up in the area. Loy believes all of it happens to be bizarre circumstance, as do the others, but he has wondered whether the stresses of coaching might be part of the equation. " There have probably been times in our lives that we've been run down physically, " he said. " During the basketball season, it just goes on and on and on. That could be the common link. Then again, what's the difference between that and a football coach or any kind of coach? " " It creates an interesting question, " said Brems, a liver specialist at Loyola University Medical Center. " I suppose you have to wonder if it is just a strange coincidence. But it would be an interesting thing to study: Is there maybe some association between stress and diseases like this? Nobody's been able to prove it, but stress definitely affects your immune system. " What I find interesting is that these people are in stressful jobs. Walter Payton's a very competitive athlete, and I'm sure he had some stress in his job. " Chuck knows the feeling. He is the athletic director at Wooster High School, about 30 miles west of Canton, and like , he has PSC and is on the waiting list for a liver transplant. He believes there has to be some common thread that ties him with the Canton-area coaches. " The doctors swear up and down that there's no connection, but in my mind there has to be something, " said. " It's just too coincidental. But no one can put their finger on why. " , 47, was a college and high school coach for 13 years until the pain from ulcerative colitis made him quit in 1985. Doctors believe there is a link between long-term ulcerative colitis and PSC, but wasn't diagnosed with the liver disease until 15 months ago. Stress was part of 's life when he coached. " It's almost the fear-of-failure type of thing that really eats at you, " said. " That was one of the big reasons I got out, because it was affecting my health. " The Canton-area coaches are men who know success. , 54, has a 514-329 record as a college coach. Loy, 47, took Walsh to the NAIA Final Four in 1996. Brown, 48, has made a career out of rebuilding high school programs in Ohio. has had the disease for about 10 years, and for much of that time he felt like an island. But that changed two years ago, just before he went on the waiting list for a liver transplant. In the spring of 1997, Brown was diagnosed with PSC after doctors had noticed irregularities in his liver enzyme count several years before. For a while he thought he was an island, too, but in July 1997, he read in the local newspaper that was waiting for a liver transplant. Brown was surprised to learn that somebody else in the Canton area had his extremely rare liver disease, and that the someone else was a basketball coach too. Strange, Brown thought. In October 1997, Loy couldn't shake a flu, and his wife thought his skin looked yellow. After tests for hepatitis and liver cancer, Loy learned he had an obscure liver disease called primary sclerosing cholangitis. Loy knew that Hal , his good friend and conference rival, had the same obscure liver disease. Strange, Loy thought. When first heard of Loy's illness, he thought someone had made a mistake. " My wife went to a church service one night, " said. " During a prayer request, a woman had mentioned that the basketball coach at Walsh University had a liver problem, and that he needed prayers. My wife's thought was, `Well, they mixed up the schools again.' This happens all the time because the schools are close to each other. But they hadn't. " and Loy finally connected a few days later. Loy was in for another shock. " Hal said, `Well, you know Bruce Brown, right?' " Loy said. " I said, `Yeah, I've known him for 20 years.' He said, `Well, he's got the same disease.' " You could have shoveled Loy's jaw from the floor. Three of us? Afterward, when they all had talked and realized there were few clues and fewer answers, they decided the best thing they could do for one another was simply offer support. , who is much farther along a bumpy road, needs the most support. Brown and 's disease, he said, is like a mole on their backs. They really wouldn't know they had it unless someone pointed it out. has to battle his disease and his frustrations head-on everyday. " Hal knows if he has a problem he needs to talk over, he's got two guys who are also basketball coaches, " Loy said. " He can talk X's and O's. Or he can also talk about the liver disease. We spend more time giving each other positive feedback, rather than the what-if or the negative. That's probably a coaching philosophy. " Even when they squint, Loy and Brown don't yet recognize themselves in and Payton. They feel fine. They take medication that helps slow the progress of the disease. " I feel a little awkward because I've been linked with this thing, and people expect you to be in poor health, " Brown said. " It's PSC, and no one knows what causes it. You've got Walter Payton and the liver transplants. People assume it's a horrible thing. People expect me to be hunched over. " On the other hand, there is still no indicator as to how long I've had this and how quickly it could turn. If there's a scary part for me, it's that aspect of it. " When Payton threw out the first ball in the Cubs' home opener April 12 and then canceled an appearance the next day because of fatigue, understood. He has had to make concessions to the disease as a coach. He needs a nap each afternoon, and if not for his wife waking him, he doesn't know how long he'd sleep. He sleeps on bus rides to games. At times, he has locked himself in his office and slept on the floor. " You just can't keep your head up sometimes, " he said. " Talk about a complete lack of strength. " The basic rule for receiving a transplant in the United States is fairly straightforward but sometimes agonizingly contradictory: The sickest go to the front of the line. But doctors have told he needs to be as healthy as possible to survive the procedure. The sicker he gets, the faster he gets a transplant. The sicker he gets, the weaker his body becomes. In the meantime, he waits, just as Payton does. " Maybe all coaches are like this. We do so much that we control, " said. " I make decisions all the time. I'm the athletic director too. We have 18 sports. In basketball I make decisions on everything. What we wear, where we go, when we leave, when we come back, what we eat. " Now I'm totally helpless. I'm totally, totally, totally helpless. I'm dependent totally on God. The Lord's got the timetable on it, and there's nothing I can do but wait and wait patiently. . . . And that's almost impossible. " He wears a beeper on his belt, and so far it has gone off six times. All were inadvertent whistles. But someday, might have to call the most important timeout of his life, walk out of a gym and head for the Cleveland Clinic for a liver transplant. That will be independence day, said, the moment he'll finally get his life back. The chances of his body accepting a new liver are 88 percent, according to the American Liver Foundation. Until then, he'll live the life he has been given. He'll coach. He'll sleep more than he wants. He'll commiserate with his friends. One day last year, , the Wooster athletic director, was attending the boys state basketball tournament in St. 's Arena at Ohio State. There were 13,000 people in the stands. " Here comes a guy walking up the steps, and he's jaundiced, " said. " He's got the look of a college basketball coach who's there to watch the game. At halftime I went up and introduced myself, and sure enough, it was Hal . I had never met him before. We spent the next 30 minutes talking about our livers as we watched the game. " Brown and Loy hope there's enough progress in PSC research that they won't need a transplant. The research has not been especially deep yet, though that likely will change, perhaps with the help of the coaches. " Nobody's really looked (for a link), " said Vierling, a doctor who is chairman of the board of the American Liver Foundation. " Is it there? Is it not? I don't know. It's really unusual when you see in a small area four men in the prime of their life with the disease. It's intriguing. " wants a new liver soon, and he figures Payton is having the same thoughts. Payton has been inundated by. I would just love to talk with him. " In the meantime, the Canton-area coaches are trying to help educate the public. In the fall, they and a high school get-well missives, so he probably didn't notice a fax from . It said, in effect, If you need to talk with someone who understands, call me. " I realize that someone will die in order for me to live, " said. " I just can't help but imagine that Walter Payton is going through that same thought process coach from , Ind.--who had PSC and received a new liver--will put on a charity tournament to help raise money and awareness for organ donor programs. Now they're almost beyond asking why. They're beyond asking why three basketball coaches from the same area, and a former coach nearby, have the same disease. " I honestly believe there's a reason that all this happened, " Brown said. " Hal, Steve and I are supposed to be doing this, spreading the word--along with coaching and trying to win as many games as possible. " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 21, 2000 Report Share Posted October 21, 2000 > Do any of our Ohio members recall this event from last year? > > THREE OHIO BASKETBALL COACHES SHOOT HOOPS FOR LIVER DISEASE > AWARENESS > Tim, the following article ran a year ago last spring (I grew up in the same area of Ohio): By Rick sey Chicago Tribune Staff Writer April 25, 1999 CANTON, Ohio -- The odds say no way. No way can three men who live within a 7-mile radius have the same rare disease. No way can three men, all successful basketball coaches, have their livers betray them like this. And no way can it be the same liver disease that Walter Payton has. The same Walter Payton who is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which happens to be located in the same 7-mile radius. But there it is, the odds be damned. And what are the odds that a former basketball coach 30 miles away from Canton would have the same liver disease? A million to one? Two million to one? What is it they say, that you have a better chance of getting struck by lightning or being attacked by a shark? Well, this is like a shark getting struck by lightning. Hal is sitting in his office at Malone College in Canton, and he is scratching his arms. His sleeves are rolled up, and the scabs on his forearms look like an archipelago on a map. He works his way up to his biceps, and as he talks it's clear he is not aware of what his fingers are doing. Itching is one of the symptoms of primary sclerosing cholangitis-- hence the scabs--as are jaundice, extreme fatigue, nausea and weight loss. The disease has progressed more in than it has in Walsh University's Steve Loy and Lake High School's Bruce Brown, who work in the Canton area. is on a waiting list for a liver transplant, as is Payton, the former Bears running back. The other two are showing no symptoms. They are linked together, and to Payton, by clogged bile ducts. PSC is a disease in which the ducts are narrowed from scarring and inflammation. If bile pools, it can result in damage to liver cells and, ultimately, liver failure. There is no known cause or cure for the disease, which is more common in men. When Payton shocked Chicago on Feb. 2 with the news of his diagnosis, nodded. He saw himself in Payton's sunken cheeks, in the way Payton's fingernails and eyes had turned the color of a newspaper left too long in the sun. has been waiting 21 months for a transplant. " I could really empathize with him, " he said. " I knew exactly what he was going through, what his thought process was: I'm in a situation where I'm going to take someone else's body part and put it in my body so that I can live. It's just an awesome thought. " It's all very humbling. Bruce said it in an interview: `You come face to face for the first time with your own mortality.' We all know we're going to die someday. We're all relatively young men, and we're all physically involved. All of a sudden, it's like I'm losing weight and getting weak and it's, `You might die.' That kind of stops you. " They haven't met Payton, who entered the Hall of Fame in 1993, but they feel a bond. Only three in every 100,000 people get PSC, according to the American Liver Foundation. The coaches have received phone calls and letters from people with theories as to why there is a cluster of men in the same profession with the disease. One doctor in the West Indies wrote to Brown telling him that the material in whistles was the culprit and to stop using them during practice. Others have questioned whether Canton's air or water quality could have played a role, but there is no known link between the disease and environmental factors. The coaches all have lived in Canton for extended periods, but only Loy grew up in the area. Loy believes all of it happens to be bizarre circumstance, as do the others, but he has wondered whether the stresses of coaching might be part of the equation. " There have probably been times in our lives that we've been run down physically, " he said. " During the basketball season, it just goes on and on and on. That could be the common link. Then again, what's the difference between that and a football coach or any kind of coach? " " It creates an interesting question, " said Brems, a liver specialist at Loyola University Medical Center. " I suppose you have to wonder if it is just a strange coincidence. But it would be an interesting thing to study: Is there maybe some association between stress and diseases like this? Nobody's been able to prove it, but stress definitely affects your immune system. " What I find interesting is that these people are in stressful jobs. Walter Payton's a very competitive athlete, and I'm sure he had some stress in his job. " Chuck knows the feeling. He is the athletic director at Wooster High School, about 30 miles west of Canton, and like , he has PSC and is on the waiting list for a liver transplant. He believes there has to be some common thread that ties him with the Canton-area coaches. " The doctors swear up and down that there's no connection, but in my mind there has to be something, " said. " It's just too coincidental. But no one can put their finger on why. " , 47, was a college and high school coach for 13 years until the pain from ulcerative colitis made him quit in 1985. Doctors believe there is a link between long-term ulcerative colitis and PSC, but wasn't diagnosed with the liver disease until 15 months ago. Stress was part of 's life when he coached. " It's almost the fear-of-failure type of thing that really eats at you, " said. " That was one of the big reasons I got out, because it was affecting my health. " The Canton-area coaches are men who know success. , 54, has a 514-329 record as a college coach. Loy, 47, took Walsh to the NAIA Final Four in 1996. Brown, 48, has made a career out of rebuilding high school programs in Ohio. has had the disease for about 10 years, and for much of that time he felt like an island. But that changed two years ago, just before he went on the waiting list for a liver transplant. In the spring of 1997, Brown was diagnosed with PSC after doctors had noticed irregularities in his liver enzyme count several years before. For a while he thought he was an island, too, but in July 1997, he read in the local newspaper that was waiting for a liver transplant. Brown was surprised to learn that somebody else in the Canton area had his extremely rare liver disease, and that the someone else was a basketball coach too. Strange, Brown thought. In October 1997, Loy couldn't shake a flu, and his wife thought his skin looked yellow. After tests for hepatitis and liver cancer, Loy learned he had an obscure liver disease called primary sclerosing cholangitis. Loy knew that Hal , his good friend and conference rival, had the same obscure liver disease. Strange, Loy thought. When first heard of Loy's illness, he thought someone had made a mistake. " My wife went to a church service one night, " said. " During a prayer request, a woman had mentioned that the basketball coach at Walsh University had a liver problem, and that he needed prayers. My wife's thought was, `Well, they mixed up the schools again.' This happens all the time because the schools are close to each other. But they hadn't. " and Loy finally connected a few days later. Loy was in for another shock. " Hal said, `Well, you know Bruce Brown, right?' " Loy said. " I said, `Yeah, I've known him for 20 years.' He said, `Well, he's got the same disease.' " You could have shoveled Loy's jaw from the floor. Three of us? Afterward, when they all had talked and realized there were few clues and fewer answers, they decided the best thing they could do for one another was simply offer support. , who is much farther along a bumpy road, needs the most support. Brown and 's disease, he said, is like a mole on their backs. They really wouldn't know they had it unless someone pointed it out. has to battle his disease and his frustrations head-on everyday. " Hal knows if he has a problem he needs to talk over, he's got two guys who are also basketball coaches, " Loy said. " He can talk X's and O's. Or he can also talk about the liver disease. We spend more time giving each other positive feedback, rather than the what-if or the negative. That's probably a coaching philosophy. " Even when they squint, Loy and Brown don't yet recognize themselves in and Payton. They feel fine. They take medication that helps slow the progress of the disease. " I feel a little awkward because I've been linked with this thing, and people expect you to be in poor health, " Brown said. " It's PSC, and no one knows what causes it. You've got Walter Payton and the liver transplants. People assume it's a horrible thing. People expect me to be hunched over. " On the other hand, there is still no indicator as to how long I've had this and how quickly it could turn. If there's a scary part for me, it's that aspect of it. " When Payton threw out the first ball in the Cubs' home opener April 12 and then canceled an appearance the next day because of fatigue, understood. He has had to make concessions to the disease as a coach. He needs a nap each afternoon, and if not for his wife waking him, he doesn't know how long he'd sleep. He sleeps on bus rides to games. At times, he has locked himself in his office and slept on the floor. " You just can't keep your head up sometimes, " he said. " Talk about a complete lack of strength. " The basic rule for receiving a transplant in the United States is fairly straightforward but sometimes agonizingly contradictory: The sickest go to the front of the line. But doctors have told he needs to be as healthy as possible to survive the procedure. The sicker he gets, the faster he gets a transplant. The sicker he gets, the weaker his body becomes. In the meantime, he waits, just as Payton does. " Maybe all coaches are like this. We do so much that we control, " said. " I make decisions all the time. I'm the athletic director too. We have 18 sports. In basketball I make decisions on everything. What we wear, where we go, when we leave, when we come back, what we eat. " Now I'm totally helpless. I'm totally, totally, totally helpless. I'm dependent totally on God. The Lord's got the timetable on it, and there's nothing I can do but wait and wait patiently. . . . And that's almost impossible. " He wears a beeper on his belt, and so far it has gone off six times. All were inadvertent whistles. But someday, might have to call the most important timeout of his life, walk out of a gym and head for the Cleveland Clinic for a liver transplant. That will be independence day, said, the moment he'll finally get his life back. The chances of his body accepting a new liver are 88 percent, according to the American Liver Foundation. Until then, he'll live the life he has been given. He'll coach. He'll sleep more than he wants. He'll commiserate with his friends. One day last year, , the Wooster athletic director, was attending the boys state basketball tournament in St. 's Arena at Ohio State. There were 13,000 people in the stands. " Here comes a guy walking up the steps, and he's jaundiced, " said. " He's got the look of a college basketball coach who's there to watch the game. At halftime I went up and introduced myself, and sure enough, it was Hal . I had never met him before. We spent the next 30 minutes talking about our livers as we watched the game. " Brown and Loy hope there's enough progress in PSC research that they won't need a transplant. The research has not been especially deep yet, though that likely will change, perhaps with the help of the coaches. " Nobody's really looked (for a link), " said Vierling, a doctor who is chairman of the board of the American Liver Foundation. " Is it there? Is it not? I don't know. It's really unusual when you see in a small area four men in the prime of their life with the disease. It's intriguing. " wants a new liver soon, and he figures Payton is having the same thoughts. Payton has been inundated by. I would just love to talk with him. " In the meantime, the Canton-area coaches are trying to help educate the public. In the fall, they and a high school get-well missives, so he probably didn't notice a fax from . It said, in effect, If you need to talk with someone who understands, call me. " I realize that someone will die in order for me to live, " said. " I just can't help but imagine that Walter Payton is going through that same thought process coach from , Ind.--who had PSC and received a new liver--will put on a charity tournament to help raise money and awareness for organ donor programs. Now they're almost beyond asking why. They're beyond asking why three basketball coaches from the same area, and a former coach nearby, have the same disease. " I honestly believe there's a reason that all this happened, " Brown said. " Hal, Steve and I are supposed to be doing this, spreading the word--along with coaching and trying to win as many games as possible. " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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