PBAU coach, former baseball great Gary Carter likely has brain cancer Wellness Health Fitness

PBAU coach, former baseball great Gary Carter likely has brain cancer

Posted by Hayden Solomon 27 May, 2011

Hall of Fame catcher and Palm Beach Atlantic University baseball coach Gary Carter has a brain tumor that is likely cancerous.

Doctors performed biopsies on a tumor in the Palm Beach Gardens resident’s brain on Friday morning and Duke Medicine announced in a release that preliminary results show it “appears to be malignant.”

“Once the pathology report is available, which will take several days, we will discuss treatment options with Mr. Carter and his family,” said Doctors Allan H. Friedman and Henry S. Friedman, the co-deputy directors of The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke, in Durham, N.C.

“In the meantime, Mr. Carter is in excellent spirits and good physical condition. He is resting comfortably, surrounded by his family. We hope that his friends and fans will continue to pray for Mr. Carter and his family during this time.”

The 57-year-old Carter announced May 21 that an MRI had revealed four small tumors on his brain. The Duke Medicine release says the biopsies were performed on a single tumor.

“It was very hard for all of us to hear, as we have been hoping and praying that the tumors would be benign,” one of Carter’s daughters wrote on a Carter family web site. “Lots of tears have been shed in the hospital room today, and we are all a bit scared of the unknown.”

According to the web site, the plan is for Carter to begin chemotherapy and radiation as soon as the final test results are known. Also, the web site announced, doctors have said that even if malignant, the tumors could be treatable.

“(The doctor) wants us all to team up and help Dad through the battle ahead,” Carter’s daughter wrote. “He said that this IS treatable and they will attack it with the same kind of vigor that Dad displayed on the baseball diamond!”

Carter hit .262 with 324 homers and 1,225 RBI in 19 seasons in the majors. The 11-time All-Star played his last game with the Montreal Expos in 1992 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2003.

He won three Gold Gloves, five Silver Slugger Awards and was runner-up in the MVP voting in 1980.

The always effervescent Carter, nicknamed “Kid,” is perhaps best known for helping the Mets win the 1986 World Series. He had 24 homers and 105 RBI during the regular season that year, then drove in 11 runs in the postseason.

Carter recently completed his second season at PBAU, where his daughter, Kimmy Bloemers, is the softball coach, and son-in-law, Kyle, is as an assistant athletic director.

The New York Daily News contributed to this story.

Manage your lifestyle to new mental and body health