Photo by ISIPhotos.com
By DAN KARELL
Major League Soccer announced on Saturday that commissioner Don Garber has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He is expected to make a full recovery.
The press release states that Garber, 56, has undergone a series of tests and that the cancer has not spread from the prostate gland. Garber has begun receiving treatment at Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital and will eventually undergo surgery at Mt. Sinai Hospital.
Garber intends to continue managing the league while receiving treatment.
“Obviously no one wants to hear that they have cancer,” Garber said in a statement. “However, I am being treated by exceptional doctors at two of the top hospitals in the world and am confident, as are they, that the prostate cancer will be successfully treated, with a full recovery. I plan on keeping a normal schedule and will continue managing the league and Soccer United Marketing during my course of treatment. With the support of my family, friends, colleagues and doctors, I am feeling very strong, energized and extremely focused.
“Other than skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in American men. It will affect one in seven men during their lifetime.” Garber added. “I hope through my experience that I will be able to create awareness of prostate cancer and encourage men to get regular testing, the surest way to ensure a successful outcome for those who get the disease.”
Is he going to step down?
Highly unlikely. He has too much to work for right now– his big projects are becoming reality and in my (admittedly uniformed) view it would take either a mighty shove from MLS or a near-total physical incapacitation for him to walk at this point.
Gotta admire his passion, and I’d give him a pretty good shot, having watched him beat Chivas USA into remission only months ago.
Bad news. Good thoughts extended to the commissioner and his family, hoping for a good recovery.
Get well Commissioner
Don,
I hope if you read this, that you will look into proton therapy. I work at one of the leading proton centers in the country in Loma Linda CA, and can attest to the livelihood it saves, because unlike other treatment methods, it spares the tissues around that important (read: manly) organ. More information is always positive. I wish you a speedy recovery.
Alright, back to soccer, let’s get that Miami stadium worked out, eh?
Get well Don. Viva MLS!
I wonder if any teams will be wearing sky blue ribbons this weekend.
The Don is ill.
+1 Indeed, the Don is ill, and this time Fredo is off the hook. No interest in making light of this, rest assured– As anybody who has had even indirect or observational experience with this is aware, a diagnosis of any cancer is a most unwelcome and disruptive event, which typically arrives with minimal warning and leaves its victims with a chaotic mess and a grim feeling that they had discarded whatever imaginary instruction manual they were given for this “purely hypothetical” situation at some point in the past decades. Finding the positive reaction in this chaos is a challenge for anybody, even men of Garber’s intelligence and resources—sometimes it’s just easier to check out and blame bad luck or maybe Fredo. I don’t suspect this will be a problem for Mr. Garber, but is a unique challenge and in almost all cases success requires a team effort. To that end, I wish Mr. Garber and his family the best of luck in approaching these challenges, embracing the transformative solutions rather than the band- aids, and most importantly achieving a swift and thorough recovery.
Get well Don.
Love him or hate him, there’s no denying the success of the league under his tenure. Good luck, don! Full recovery!
+ 1
I like the guy and I am a huge da for what he’s done for our league. Get well Don.
I agree 100%. His decisions aren’t always the most popular, but I don’t think the league would be near what it is today without him.