Last Sunday (Aug. 23), the TBS crew, including announcers Ernie Johnson and Cal Ripken, was in Houston to broadcast the Dodgers-Astros game. That prompted Craig Sager to stop by Minute Maid Park, say hello to some friends and pass along some good news.
Sager is undergoing treatment for acute myeloid leukemia at Houston’s M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, currently participating in a hundred-day maintenance program that requires daily clinic visits after receiving a bone marrow transplant on July 17. He told the Houston Chronicle’s David Barron that he’s responding well to the treatments, according to the latest tests.
“I was on hard-core chemo 24 hours a day for 14 days, had the (transplant) after I got into remission, and there’s a period after that to see if your body accepts the transplant,” Sager said to Barron.
“I had major tests (last) week from brain scans to chest X-rays and bone marrow biopsies, and all 20 markers came back and none showed any kind of leukemia. Everything has been very positive. The doctors say they couldn’t be happier and things couldn’t be in a better place. That’s good news to my ears.”
Sager appeared on TV for the first time since his leukemia diagnosis last November, looking noticeably thinner and with less hair. At the time, the disease had gone into remission after a bone marrow transplant. But the leukemia returned in March, requiring a new round of treatment that has kept him from his Atlanta home for the past five months.
Chemotherapy has once again cost Sager his hair, but he insists he’ll need it back when his health permits a return to NBA sidelines and reporting for Turner Sports’ coverage. So no snazzy hats to go with those flashy blazers for Sager and TNT viewers, it appears. But that certainly doesn’t diminish the good news regarding Sager’s treatment.
