James Conner overcame chemo -- and himself



… eager for Sept. 3 

The scene is one that many will cherish. A running back who was the best in his conference, one who broke records set by the legendary Tony Dorsett, will charge onto the turf at Heinz Field.

Another outstanding back for the Pitt Panthers, James Conner is eagerly anticipating Saturday's game after suffering through an hellacious year.

In 2014, Conner won the ACC Offensive Player of the Year award in just his sophomore season. Going into the 2015 season, the sky was limitless.

2015 a tough year

Then, he tore his MCL against Youngstown State in the first game of 2015, ending his season. Last December, he received worse news when doctors diagnosed him with Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Emotionally, the year had to be depressing: From the top of the ACC to knee surgery and then to cancer.

The 240-pound running back was forced to undergo chemotherapy, and it was successful as he is now cancer-free.

"I'm ready for it all. I know my team's got my back. They can count on me. I can count on them. Sept. 3. Great day," Conner said earlier this week in an interview with PennLive.com.

The regimen of chemo

The battle, however, to reach that destination was difficult, probably worse than anything else in his young life. Writing for ThePlayersTribune.com, Conner talked about the shock of seeing bright red in his urine.

However, he said that the most challenging part of his therapy occurred later in his regimen.

"They should tell you about the wall, because you will hit a wall. For me, it was treatment six ... But treatment six -- the halfway point of a 12-session course of treatments -- that's when things really got tough."

James explains how he felt at that stage.

"But I definitely remember sitting in that green leather hospital chair, waiting for the nurse to mix up the chemo batch, and thinking, 'I do not want to be here right now. I wanted to get away, away from ... everything.' And I just kind of went numb ...  my entire body, numb. It was a sensation like no other I've ever experienced."

Depression

Depression can be a major component of chemo treatments, and Conner went through that emotion, far from the cheering throngs; instead, he laid back in a chair in a hospital, alone, with his previously vibrant life  seeming to desert him.

The gut-wrenching words are these,

"I didn't want to die, but ... I just wanted to shut my eyes and drift away."

That is the challenging part, the emotional drain of a young man in the prime of his life, a Div. I football player, who instead must lie back and take the chemo through his veins, knowing this it will wrack his good cells in order to kill his nasty ones.

[Read James' entire post, URL below]

Chemo

While the junior is number one on the depth chart right now, having chemo devastates part of a person's body. The oncologists insert poison into a person's body in order to destroy the cancerous cells, but in doing so, they also destroy vital cells.

Chemotherapy is considered a "systemic therapy," according to chemotherapy.com. "This means it may affect your entire body. Chemo drugs target rapidly growing cancer cells, but they can also affect healthy cells that grow rapidly."

In short, Conner's body will never be the same. The Pitt medical staff will closely monitor him throughout the season. He successfully went through the grueling pre-season camp, but the drudgery of the season will be challenging.

The vacillating emotions

However, the most difficult part of cancer treatment is the emotional part, telling yourself that it is worth it, that you will be better because of it. That is the part that James struggled with earlier this year.

Rather than looking at the negatives from the past year, Conner is upbeat. "I've always been that way, but for the rest of my life, I have a constant reminder to always be grateful to be in the position I'm in. I'm always smiling," he said earlier this week.

It was a far cry from those feelings in an oncology hospital.

Bad things do happen to good people

The Panthers will face FCS [I-AA] foe Villanova on Saturday, and the Wildcats are ranked 23rd in that lower affiliation. That does not matter for Conner, who must just hope for one good game going into next week's battle with Penn State.

Conner is a great candidate for the mantle of "When bad things happen to good people," but he is not complaining.

If he can return to the form of 2014, the Panthers will also be happy.

Good luck to a special young man.

James' personal thoughts

http://www.theplayerstribune.com/james-conner-pittsburgh-college-football-cancer/

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