Former NBA player Jason Collins, known for his 13-season career and as the first openly gay athlete in the league, revealed he is battling Stage 4 glioblastoma, one of the most aggressive forms of brain cancer. After his family issued a brief statement earlier this year about a brain tumor, Collins chose to speak directly about his condition in a deeply personal essay shared on ESPN.
Collins wrote, “I have Stage 4 glioblastoma, one of the deadliest forms of brain cancer. It came on incredibly fast.” He described the tumor’s spread and severity in vivid terms, saying to imagine “a monster with tentacles spreading across the underside of my brain the width of a baseball.” Because of its size, location and growth, Collins said the tumor cannot be removed through surgery and has already affected his memory and focus.
Reflecting on his life and relationships, he shared that in May he married “the love of my life, Brunson Greene” at what he called a perfect ceremony. Collins also recalled missing a flight because he couldn’t concentrate enough to pack, a sign of how his symptoms first made themselves known.
Despite a prognosis of only 11 to 14 months, Collins made clear that he intends to battle the disease with everything he has.
“We aren’t going to sit back and let this cancer kill me without giving it a hell of a fight,” he said, adding that his goal is to reach personalized immunotherapy once it becomes available.
Back in September, Collins revealed he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Sadly, this grim update is a testament to how quickly his condition worsened in just a few short months.
