Estimated read time: 6-7 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PITTSBURG, Kan. (AP) — Sitting in a hospital in Joplin, nothing needed to be said.
Robert McField knew the news would not be good.
"About five doctors walked in, and when I saw that, I knew it wasn't right," he said. "One of them, his eyes were as big as a grapefruit. I looked at him, he looked at me and said, 'Man, we have to get you out of here fast.'
"He said, 'Don't get me wrong, I trust the people here. But there are specialists, and I've seen some things in you that need (immediate attention).' "
An ambulance took McField to the KU Medical Center in Kansas City, and there he learned he had cancer — more specifically, non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
"It was like my whole world turned around," he said. "I cried. I cried. I didn't know what I was going to do. I didn't know anything about what I had. I went there and had five surgeries done within eight days.
"The first diagnosis they told me is that in (the next) five years, I had a 45 to 50 percent chance to live. Medically they told me that was great ... but it didn't sound great to me.
"After that I got a specialist at the KU Cancer Center. He broke things down to me a little better in a way where I understood exactly what I had. He told me it was a freak accident. There was nothing I could have done about it. He showed me the tumor in my neck. He showed me the tumor in my stomach. He showed me the masses in my shoulders, and the one in my stomach was humongous."
The tumor in his neck — about the size of a softball — was surgically removed. Then McField started receiving chemotherapy, The Joplin Globe reported (http://bit.ly/1IzlicI ).
"That's the worst part about everything," McField said. "Chemotherapy, it breaks you down. I've lost 25 pounds so far, and I have to look forward to it every three weeks. But it's either that or not be living. I'll take the bad part of it now."
During the football season, McField, a two-time all-state defensive player at Normandy High School in St. Louis, saw his 6-foot-6, 268-pound body slowly break down.
"It started in segments," he said. "My body, my neck and my shoulders started aching and hurting. It really got bad in November. I went to the emergency room. I remember throwing up and having to take pills, ibuprofen and Tylenol, to make it through the day. As a football player, they tell you to be tough ... and I kind of brushed it off. They let me go and told me to take Tylenol, ibuprofen, and I could make it through."
McField certainly didn't feel like celebrating on Nov. 15 when the Gorillas won at Central Missouri to secure a share of the MIAA championship.
"Every play was horrible to go through," he said. "I kept going to the sideline asking for stomach medicine. I can definitely say before that it was manageable. I was just exhausted every single play that I did, but after that, everything started getting painful, especially in my neck and my stomach."
Despite the pain, McField played in the Gorillas' two playoff games, and he caught the 2-point conversion pass at Minnesota State-Mankato that sent the game to overtime. It was his only catch — and target — of the season.
"I'll never forget," he said. "They called the play, and I think that was the only time my sickness went away, my pain went away. I don't recall being nervous or scared. I just remember as soon as they called it I was like it's time to go to overtime."
McField attempted to resume offseason workouts in January, but that didn't last long. His body changed from that of a big, strong college football player to one that sometimes couldn't get out of bed without help.
"One morning I woke up and my whole right arm went numb. I went to the emergency room and they told me that I have masses in my stomach and my neck that were there in November but they were very small. Then I went to the Joplin emergency room to get a second opinion, and they told me that it was looking like cancer. I had to leave and go to KU Medical Center immediately because these (masses) were getting really big. The thing about non-Hodgkin lymphoma is 100 percent of the cells spread. So in a matter of months it can start diminishing your body, and that's what it did. I was a firsthand witness to it. I couldn't run, I couldn't lift my arm up, my right arm went numb. It can eat you up pretty fast."
Once the initial shock of the cancer diagnosis wore off, McField's outlook changed.
"When he got used to the idea — this is what really was going on — he kind of encouraged the rest of us," said his girlfriend, Kaylee Kinsch. "Me and his mom (Denise McField), we were obviously very distraught. He was like I'm going to fight this thing. He knew he was going to be strong. Obviously that was before we hit chemo, but before we hit chemo, he was ready ... let's do everything we can."
As a registered nurse, Kinsch fought some frustrations.
"When I can't fix him, that's the hardest part because that's my job," she said. "We have medicines at home. I'll give him all the medicines, and sometimes he's still (nauseated), he's still hurting. I've depleted all my sources, and I'm like now what do we do. Sometimes I just have to walk out of the room and say OK, I can't fix you right now."
"I lean on her so much," McField said. "I gripe sometimes ... but any chance I get I try to tell her I appreciate her. I love her to death. She is what's keeping me up. There are times I can't get out of bed, and she runs to get the medicine for me without question, without being upset, without being angry, without showing any sign of frustration. She's my teammate definitely."
The family also includes their daughter, Kassidi, who is almost 2 years old.
"She's a little ball of energy," McField said. "She doesn't understand that I'm sick (she's been told that daddy has a boo-boo), but sometimes she makes it better because she climbs in bed with me and I watch Power Rangers with her. She just lays there for about 45 minutes at a time, and that's unusual for her. ... I think sometimes she does get that I don't feel well."
McField's family has developed a lot of faith.
"It's definitely brought me close to God," McField said. "Days where I have good days when I'm able to get up and walk around, I say this is a great day, I appreciate doing this. ... I have to have a bottle of hand sanitizer, a mask over my face, but definitely I won't be taking my health for granted no time soon."
McField has the faith that one day he will be playing for the Gorillas again.
"Football is one of the main things that keeps me going, knowing that I could be back out there on Saturdays with the best fans in America," he said. "That's definitely one thing without a doubt that I envision. That's one thing that keeps me positive."
___
Information from: The Joplin (Mo.) Globe, http://www.joplinglobe.com
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
