Two-time golf major winner John Daly reveals bladder cancer diagnosis
Two-time golf major winner John Daly has revealed he’s been diagnosed with bladder cancer.
The 54-year-old underwent a procedure to remove the cancer, but said there is a high probability of it returning.
“[The doctor] said there’s an 85 percent chance it comes back,” Daly told the Golf Channel. “I’ve got to go back and see him in three months. They will probably have to cut it out again. It’s probably going to come back, and then another three months that you don’t know.
“Luckily for me they caught it early, but bladder cancer is something that I don’t know all the details. But it doesn’t look like it may go away. We will just see what happens. Maybe there’s a miracle.”
Daly had been suffering with kidney stones and back pains recently and said these issues forced him to retire from the Charles Schwab Series last month and return to the doctor.
“[The urologist said] it doesn’t look like any stones are in there,” he said. “But unfortunately, you have bladder cancer.
“After I did the CT [scan] I was fixing to sip on my Diet Coke and he said, ‘Don’t drink anything. We have to get you back in here and get this cancer out of you.'”
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Daly has won five PGA Tour titles, including the 1991 PGA Championship and 1995 Open Championship, over the course of his 33-year professional career, during which he has suffered several health issues.
Last year, Daly’s request to use a cart at the PGA Championship was approved following his application through the tournament’s American with Disabilities Act policy. The American has regularly spoken about suffering with a recurring knee injury in the latter stages of his career.
Daly said the recent diagnosis has convinced him to follow a healthier lifestyle.
“I’m cutting way, way back on the Diet Coke and counting minutes before I can have a cigarette,” he said. “I’m trying to quit smoking. The doctors aren’t saying it’s too late. Unfortunately, it’s a cancer that keeps coming back. But I’m going to listen to them, and I’m going to try and quit smoking.
“If it comes back, it comes back. Six months to a year, if it doesn’t go away, I’m going to live my life. I’m gonna have some fun. I always tell people I’ve lived one hell of a life. No matter what happens, I’m not scared to die or anything.
“It would have been nice to play the last seven or eight or 13 years of my career a little more healthy. But hey, I’m still working, I’m still living life, I’m still doing the things I need to do … I can accept the challenge. I’m not scared of that. I just want my kids to be OK and everyone else in my family.”
