Thursday, October 26, 2006

Another Casey Update

This one courtesy of Cleveland Plain Dealer writer Michael Heaton, who's been doing an occasional series on WTAM/1100 sports voice Casey Coleman and his battle with pancreatic cancer...

And the news, unfortunately, is not good.

In today's piece, Heaton spotlights Casey's road to personal recovery from alcohol addiction. He tells the story not many outside the broadcast industry actually knew, of the hard-charging former TV anchor slamming down booze enough to be arrested for DUI, and to be diagnosed as a "full-blown alcoholic" when he entered treatment at the Cleveland Clinic.

A turn to 12-step programs, and faith, brought him around and out of that addiction. It's that story that will be shown to addicts on a DVD Coleman showed Heaton for the article.

But...alas, the bad news.

Heaton reports that Coleman says he "feels more frail by the day", and that he feels the diagnosis of having six months to live back in June is "fairly right on", feeling what he calls a "three ring circus of pain" in his body. It's come to the point that Casey, as he puts it, is "hopeful to see January".

A miracle? One can still hope...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not to be flip, but Casey's return to the Browns sideline was probably not as therapeutic as hoped. I wish him the best in the biggest game of all.

Mr Moohead

Anonymous said...

i really wish WTAM would have a "casey" day where all the local fans and athletes could call in and tell casey how they all feel about him.... to often we have to wait til they are gone to talk about it...

Anonymous said...

The summer of 2005, I went to an Indians game and snapped a few pictures of Casey on the Home Run Porch doing Tribe Insider. Turns out, that was his last trip to the Home Run Porch.

Good guy. I wish him well.

Anonymous said...

I can't imagine what it must take to confront one's inevitable death with such resignation and grace. In his weakest moment, Casey is showing us the very definition of strength. God bless him and his family.