Play to Win

During my Tuesday platelet transfusion, I was surrounded by a chorus of five snoring men in Lazy Boy recliners. So much for settling in for a good chat.

But during my blood draw, I got to meet Russell, a 30-year young leukemia survivor who's just beginning to pack pounds back on his 137 pound, 6'1"frame. If he was a woman, his proportions might be considered super modelesque, but instead he looks like a starvation victim with twig-like limbs and slightly distended belly.

His good humor and healthy appetite are recent phenomena: he admits that he's just emerged from several months of severe depression, when he refused to roll out of bed or touch food to his lips.

I asked him if there was a sudden turning point in his mood or if it was a gradual climb from the depths.

His answer surprised me. "After my [donor] stem cell transplant, I developed severe graft versus host disease of the liver and I still had leukemia. My doctors told me they had never seen these two conditions together and said I had less than a 10% chance of living."

"One day I went in for tests and found out that the leukemia had disappeared. The doctors had no explanation. It was a miracle. From that moment, I was no longer depressed." He rolled out of his metaphorical bed and got down to the business of living, complete with daily practice at CoH's on-campus putting green.

"I still need to get my strength back before I can drive a long shot," he admitted, quickly adding that he was looking forward to playing golf with his sister.

Another patient, a fellow resident at Hope Village, suggested trying out a nine-hole course, but Russell looked as though he had missed the point entirely. "I want to BEAT my sister at the game."

In other words, he plays to win. He doesn't even want to get out on the greens if there's a chance he won't win.

It made me think immediately about our earlier conversation, when he disclosed that his chances of "winning" the game of life were less than 10%. With those odds, he chose not to play. But when the odds suddenly and miraculously improved, he got immediately back into the game with every intention of winning.