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He's one of the best basketball players who ever lived, and now he has a bigger fight on his hands than the Celtics... cancer.
After being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer last December, Kareem Abdul Jabbar is speaking out about his newest challenge, Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, or CML. It's a disease doctors attribute to an abnormality in your white blood cells.
"In leukemia the cells don't die, they just accumulate," says Dr. Edward Ball.
Dr. Ball works at the UCSD Moores Cancer Center. He treats more than 100 people a year suffering from leukemia, including Joann Kelly who has CML.
"I was scared to death," says Kelly.
Lucky for Kelly, her diagnosis was caught early, but Dr. Ball says there are CML signs to look out for like fatigue, frequent, unexplained bruising, and bleeding.
He says about 7,000 people are diagnosed with CML every year and it's more common with age. The disease can be detected through a blood test, and treated without chemo or radiation.
In fact, there's actually a pill that treats CML. It's called Gleevec, and you take it once a day, pretty much for the rest of your life.
Kelly says the medication took a major toll on her body for the first couple months, but now she's simply faced with manageable side effects.
"I can't make it through the day without taking a good two-hour nap."
But she's living proof you can literally live with cancer, something doctors say the NBA all-star will do as well.
"He has en excellent chance of having a normal life span," says Dr. Ball.
After being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer last December, Kareem Abdul Jabbar is speaking out about his newest challenge, Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, or CML. It's a disease doctors attribute to an abnormality in your white blood cells.
"In leukemia the cells don't die, they just accumulate," says Dr. Edward Ball.
Dr. Ball works at the UCSD Moores Cancer Center. He treats more than 100 people a year suffering from leukemia, including Joann Kelly who has CML.
"I was scared to death," says Kelly.
Lucky for Kelly, her diagnosis was caught early, but Dr. Ball says there are CML signs to look out for like fatigue, frequent, unexplained bruising, and bleeding.
He says about 7,000 people are diagnosed with CML every year and it's more common with age. The disease can be detected through a blood test, and treated without chemo or radiation.
In fact, there's actually a pill that treats CML. It's called Gleevec, and you take it once a day, pretty much for the rest of your life.
Kelly says the medication took a major toll on her body for the first couple months, but now she's simply faced with manageable side effects.
"I can't make it through the day without taking a good two-hour nap."
But she's living proof you can literally live with cancer, something doctors say the NBA all-star will do as well.
"He has en excellent chance of having a normal life span," says Dr. Ball.
