Jason Collins, who played thirteen seasons in the NBA and is now an ambassador for the league, He suffers from a terminal brain tumor for which he is undergoing treatment.
“The NBA ambassador and player with thirteen years of experience in the league is undergoing treatment for a brain tumor. Jason and his family appreciate your support and prayers and ask for privacy as they dedicate their attention to Jason’s health and well-being,” reads the statement collected by the NBA.
Collinsthe first NBA player to declare himself gay while active, wore the jerseys of the New Jersey Nets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Boston Celtics, Washington Wizards, Memphis Grizzlies, Atlanta Hawks and Brooklyn Nets in his thirteen years in the American basketball league.
The 2.13-meter former pivot retired from the NBA in 2014 and currently works as an ambassador for the league.
One of the deadliest
In an interview on ESPN, The player has confessed that he is facing “one of the most lethal forms of brain cancer.”
“It came on incredibly quickly,” the 47-year-old former basketball player said, describing the first symptoms, which included memory loss and difficulty concentrating, which worsened in August.
“I had been having strange symptoms like these for a week or two, but unless something is really wrong, I move on. “I’m an athlete,” Collins commented.
He explained, however, that a computed axial tomography revealed the severity of his illness, a glioblastoma multiforme that was progressing so rapidly that, according to doctors, it could have cost him his life in a matter of weeks.
Collins indicated that, with the support of her husband, Brunson Green, as well as friends and family, began treatment that included medication, followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
He added that his decision to seek innovative therapies – currently at a clinic in Singapore – reminded him of the moment he decided to go public with his sexual orientation.
“I feel like I’m back in that situation, where I might be the first person to cross this wall,” he said. “We are not going to stand by and let this cancer kill me without putting up a fierce battle.”
Collins remembers that when her grandmother was diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer, she didn’t like hearing the word “cancer.”
“I don’t care if you say it,” he said. “I have cancer, but, just like my grandmother fought, I’m going to fight too,” he said.
