"I May Have Cancer, But Cancer Doesn't Have Me."

Carlos Carrasco of the Cleveland Indians

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The doctor was really great in explaining everything, and in giving us detailed information, but as he was talking, my wife … she could see that I didn’t fully get it.

I’d never even heard anything about leukemia before, and she could tell that it wasn’t really registering with me. That I was kind of just sitting there nodding my head as the doctor spoke.

“Wait!” she said at one point. “Stop. Stop for a second, please.”

She turned to me, and grabbed my arm. Then, looking me dead in the eye, she goes….

“Carlos. Carlos!”

I just stared at her as she spoke my name.

“You have cancer.”

“That’s what he’s saying right now. That’s what he’s telling you….

“You have cancer!”

And right there — right when Karelis finished that last word, cancer… that’s when the 10-second clock started.

It was like, two seconds of thinking, This is really it for me. I’m gonna die. And then three seconds of extreme sadness. And then like five seconds of thinking about my family, and us no longer being together.

That was the worst 10 seconds imaginable. It seemed to last forever, like those 10 seconds were actually days— days and days, where all I could think about was dying. It was all just very dark and sad. I wouldn’t wish those 10 seconds on anyone.

But then, in the blink of an eye, everything totally changed.

For good.

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