Fourth and Inches: How to Win When Cancer Is the Opponent

By Barbara Dooley and Debbie Crowe

This book offers help and hope to cancer patients and their families through laughter and humor presented in the context of sports and sports analogies. Vince Dooley, Speaker, Author, Coach

A positive and uplifting chronicle of two friends and their individual experiences with breast cancer. Both women are deeply in love with football and have framed their encouragements within football and sports jargon with a special twist to appeal to women and men, young and old alike! Barbara Dooley is the wife of legendary University of Georgia head football coach and athletic director, Vince Dooley, who coached Hershel Walker, among others, to the 1980 NCAA National Football Championship. She is a writer, speaker, and radio personality. As a Journalism major and member of the University of Georgias famed Redcoat Marching Band during the same Championship era, Debbie Crowe fully appreciates the dominance and importance of college football then and now. She is also a motivational speaker and leader. Barbara and Debbie offer a poignant and, often, downright funny glimpse into the reality of cancer diagnosis and treatment and suggest practical coping suggestions for patients, caregivers, and friends.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Mar 22, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512735307

Barbara Dooley

Barbara Dooley and Debbie Crowe share their stories out of their common love for college football, the love of God, and each ones desperate fight with cancer. Both have enjoyed highly visable lives and careers in the public spotlight, yet their uplifting message resonates for all cancer patients and caregivers. The encouragement of their friendship is evident throughout the book and you can almost hear the melodious southern drawl of the snickers and giggles they share while describing many of the painful but funny treatment experiences! Cancer may have slowed Barbara and Debbie for a season, but both are back on the playing field, stronger than ever, and sharing their wins with audiences around the country.

Book preview

Copyright © 2015, 2016 Barbara Dooley and Debbie Crowe.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Author Credits: Foreword by Jeffy Foxworthy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

1 [phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-5127-3531-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-3532-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-3530-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016904607

WestBow Press rev. date: 03/22/2016

Contents

Foreword - Jeff Foxworthy

Preface

1.   Sideline Sisters

2.   Put Me in Coach – Barbara’s Story

3.   A New QB – Debbie’s Story

4.   Top Ten Offensive Plays – Barbara’s Speaking Gig

5.   Top Ten Defensive Plays – Debbie’s Preaching Gig

6.   Conclusion – Our Four Encouragements

Appendix

Cancer Cannot

Bibliography

Resource/Purchasing Guide

Acknowledgements and Apologies

About the Authors

This book is dedicated to:

Our Lord, the Giver and Sustainer of all life,

and to all Cancer Patients, Caregivers, and Survivors.

With special thanks to our families,

friends,

and the many medical professionals

who provided physical and spiritual care for each of us

and so often reminded us to laugh!

"The Lord is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not grow weary;

His understanding is unsearchable.

He gives power to the faint,

and to him who has no might, He increases strength.

Even youths shall faint and be weary,

and young men shall fall exhausted;

but they who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint."

Isaiah 40: 28-31 ESV

Foreword

Jeff Foxworthy

Comedian, Celebrity, Cancer Caregiver

Cancer is a six-letter word that even a fifth-grader knows all too well. And cancer does not discriminate. Cancer doesn’t recognize the difference between a Wall Street banker and a south Alabama redneck. It treats us all the same. As a result, many cancer self-help books have been written about the diagnosis, prognosis, and care of terminally ill cancer patients. Most are technically sound. Many even give hope through spiritual and psychological teachings and thought patterns; however, very few authors have dared to write about the funny, sometimes goofy, aspects of breaking the bad news, treatment, and healing. As expected, cancer is a subject treated with humility and soberness. But not so with these writers…who happen to also be my friends! Both Barbara and Debbie are cancer survivors and I’m sure that I am correct in assuming that only those who have first hand experience with the terror of hearing those three dreaded words you have cancer would dare approach the subject with such insight and funny truth. A lay person couldn’t pull it off. A comedian couldn’t pull it off. I couldn’t pull it off. But these two bulldawg-loving southern women are telling their stories with a fresh take on just how to handle things like losing their hair, indeed, their crown of glory! These GRITS (girls raised in the south) offer readers a very sincere and real account of their cancer experiences. And while so many of their experiences are different, their outlook and positive message to others are a common bond which binds their friendship with each other. Did I mention that Barbara Dooley is the First Lady of SEC football? As the wife of legendary University of Georgia head coach, Vince Dooley, Barbara relates her cancer experience against a backdrop of 50 years of college football. Likewise, Debbie is a University of Georgia alum and member of the 1980 National Championship Redcoat Marching Band. Together they offer you, the reader, an upbeat strategy for dealing with cancer when you are down to your last chance. FOURTH AND INCHES: How to Win When Cancer is the Opponent" is a playbook worthy of a national title!

I wish I could say that my interest in this work is just about my relationship with the authors. Unfortunately, it goes far beyond just friendship. Over the past two years my wife, Pamela, and I have learned more about this disease than we thought possible. We’ve become intimate caregivers for close family members fighting this disease. It’s a hard road and the disease is definitely not funny, but thanks to my friends, I have found a way to smile at the little things. We can win by the way we live regardless of how long we live.

Thanks, girls! - Jeff

Preface

Ball’s on the 11-yard line. It’s fourth-down and inches. Time is running out. Time for Coach to consider all the possibilities. Play it safe and punt to the enemy? Go for the win and risk losing everything? The only way to win is to go for it! Why give into the enemy when there is one remaining down, one more chance to keep the play alive?

Upon receiving the ESPY’s 2014 Jimmy V. Perseverance Award, Stuart Scott, long-time ESPN sports announcer, voiced this spirit of living: I’m not losing. I’m still here, I’m fighting. I’m not losing. But I’ve gotta amend that. When you die, that does not mean that you lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live and in the manner in which you live.¹ On January 4, 2015, less than six months after delivering his poignant words of courage, Stuart Scott died. But he did not lose his battle with cancer. Indeed, he won by how he lived. Following each chemotherapy session, Stuart headed straight to the gym for a workout. Exhausted and nauseated, he refused to punt to the enemy. It is widely reported and confirmed by Stuart himself, that the workouts, however excruciating, helped him overcome many physical symptoms, perhaps through the release of feel good endorphins. But much more important was his sense of control. Stuart did not let cancer or chemotherapy dictate his responses. He played offense rather than defense!

Twenty-one years earlier, Jim Valvano, winning basketball coach and storied legend at North Carolina State University, fought his own battle with cancer. His decision to fight, to go for it, has been chronicled in the halls of sports history. It was the words of Jimmy V. that so inspired

Stuart Scott. During his acceptance speech at the 1993 ESPY awards ceremony, and upon receiving the Arthur Ashe Courage and Humanitarian award, Valvano expressed his daily game plan: To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day…that’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special.² The seven most famous words of Valvano’s speech serve as inspiration for our book, Don’t give up, don’t ever give up!

An estimated 1.2 million Americans will be diagnosed with some form of cancer this year. The temptation is to play it safe…punt to the enemy and just play defense! Inspired by the likes of Stuart Scott and Jim Valvano, the authors of this book, both cancer survivors, offer a unique and humorous look at the joy and life lessons living with cancer might offer! It’s fourth and inches and we are going for it!

Chapter 1

Sideline Sisters

Sideline Sisters: Debbie’s Diary

In the South, Vince Dooley is much more important than any governor and just slightly less important than God! It’s been that way for well over fifty years. Governors, university presidents, and other coaches come and go, but the legacy of the University of Georgia’s Coach Vince Dooley stands the test of time. And I had the privilege of attending the university as an undergraduate from 1979-83 during the glory years of an undefeated football season, two consecutive national championship games, and a national championship title all under the superb leadership of head football coach Vincent Dooley! Not only was I a student but I was also a member of the university’s Redcoat Marching Band in the days when football, cheerleaders and the band traveled together and socialized together much differently than they do