Herzlich embraces role as cancer survivor

The day they told him he had cancer, Mark Herzlich drove to his parents' house outside Philadelphia. He walked up the stairs, stepped into his childhood bedroom and shut the door.

For the next two hours, Herzlich stayed alone in his room. He thought about the awful pain in his left leg from what had been diagnosed as a rare and often deadly bone cancer called Ewing's sarcoma. He thought about the incredible football season he had just finished at Boston College and how doctors now said it would be the last football season he would ever play. And yes, he thought about dying.

"It was just shocking," said Herzlich, who turns 24 on Sept. 1. "At first, I thought the doctors were probably right because they are doctors. But then I decided, what if they aren't right? They might know about cancer, but they don't know about me. That's when I left my room and told my mom and dad that I was going to get back on the football field."

Today, he's within striking distance of achieving his lifelong dream of playing in the NFL. A little more than two years after being diagnosed in May 2009, he is competing for a roster spot as a linebacker with the Giants.

In his first preseason game Saturday, Herzlich was credited with two tackles. "He did well," Coach Tom Coughlin said Sunday. "He's very smart and plays multiple linebacker spots for us. . . . It was a good first game for him."

"Watching him is a motivational tool for everybody," said Giants defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka, who also played at Boston College. "He's a testament to discipline and staying focused and never giving up on a dream."

Herzlich's road from diagnosis to the Giants' training facility has been anything but easy. He lost his hair, he lost his muscle tone and he lost the 2009 season with his teammates at Boston College. What he managed to hang on to was his sense of self. And he believes that is a big reason he is where he is today.

"I am a person who has always set goals, big ones and small ones," said the 6-foot-3, 250-pound Herzlich. "My first goal was to be able to run out of the tunnel with my football team. I didn't know what my skill level was going to be, but I knew I wanted to be back there."

The first step toward getting back was undergoing seven months of chemotherapy. That was followed by five weeks of intense radiation that caused his skin to peel off, leaving the exposed area raw. Then, in November 2009, after he was declared cancer-free, he had surgery to insert a 12-inch titanium rod to strengthen his left femur, which was compromised by the radiation / chemotherapy treatment that removed a 10-inch tumor. Though he was being treated in Philadelphia, he remained a full-time student and earned his marketing degree in 31/2 years.

"I don't know how, but he just found a way to deal with it," said his mother, Barb Herzlich. "I remember the one thing he really didn't want to lose was his eyebrows, but when that happened, he didn't dwell on it. For Halloween, he dressed up as Mr. Clean and painted on these big funny eyebrows."

He was back in uniform for Boston College's 2010 opener, leading his team out of the tunnel as it took the field. Though he wasn't quite the player he had been in 2008, when he was widely considered a potential top-10 draft pick after being named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year and an All-American, he was ready to pursue his next goal: making the NFL.

Herzlich was not drafted in April, but several teams were interested in signing him as a rookie free agent. Coughlin and Giants owner John Mara have Boston College ties and thought Herzlich could help the team. "Everybody is cheering for him," said Coughlin.

Many of those cheering are not football fans. Herzlich, who has remained cancer-free, embraces his role as a survivor. Herzlich (@MarkHerzlich) has more than 28,500 Twitter followers, and many note that they are cancer survivors or people whose lives have been touched by cancer. He hopes that by sharing his story, he can help others.

"Whatever you go through in life -- it can be good or bad -- makes you who you are," Herzlich said. "I am a cancer survivor and it is a part of my life. I'm proud of who I am and where I got to. It's made me the person I am today."

What is Ewing's sarcoma?

Ewing's sarcoma is a cancerous bone tumor that generally affects children and young adults, and it usually occurs in the long bones of the arms and legs, the pelvis or the chest, according to PubMed Health, which is affiliated with the National Institutes of Health.

It usually develops during puberty, when bones are growing rapidly.

It is much more prevalent in Caucasian children than in African-American, African and Asian children.

The most-common symptom is pain and/or swelling at the site of the tumor. Pathologic fractures -- bone breaks after what are normally minor injuries -- may also occur.

The best chance for cure is with a combination of treatments that includes chemotherapy plus radiation or surgery.

Source: PubMed Health

With Tom Rock