Gene Upshaw RIP

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

That's totally unfair. Gene did far, far more for his fellow players than any of his late-to-the-party detractors. He inherited a defeated mess of a union because his contemporaries were apathetic and eventually split and busted. The same former players complaining about retirement and health benefits had the opportunity to take care of themselves when they were active players and in position to do something about it. They made Gene the scapegoat for their pitiful inability to stick up for themselves.

 

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

Four days, devil? I don't buy it.

And like Simon said, if Upshaw gets admitted to a hospital and doesn't come home ... that's actually believable. But the information we have now? Something's up. I don't know what, but we're missing some pieces to this puzzle.

 

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

And just to clarify, from what the lawyer says, it's actually more like 3 1/2 days from the point he was diagnosed (Sunday night) to this morning.

 

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

it says apparently from the cancer as the cause of death, but he also may have had a bad reaction to treatment. had this happen fairly recently to a friend's very close mentor...diagnosed with leukemia one day, dead two weeks later (after a week on life support) due to a bad reaction to radiation/chemo/treatment (don't remember which).

 

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

A little before my time, but I know enough to know he was one tough dude.

 

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

I'm told that the worst thing about pancreatic cancer is that it's nearly undetectable on its own. Normally it's not discovered and diagnosed unless the doctor is looking for something else.

Cancer's a bitch. Stealth cancer's a mean bitch.

 

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

My father had pancreatic cancer, and it was found when he went for a physical.

 

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

Pancreatic is fast. And awful. It was a couple of months for my old editor. Back in high school, a buddy's mom went in to the doctor with some stomach pain. They eventually opened her up and cancer was ravaging her, she died a day later.

 

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

From what I have read, it is right up there with bone cancer as the most painful.... how can it be undetectable?

 

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

Dying within days is a weird dichotomy — it's especially mean to loved ones but at least it allows for minimal suffering for the patient and a chance to say goodbye. I'm trying to figure out how to describe it.

There's definitely an unhappy medium to fatal illnesses — between battling a disease for 10-15 years, and dropping dead of a heart attack or dying in a crash. The first is sad but still expected, and the second is so shocking it doesn't register at first. This instance is like "dropping-dead" death to the public because none of us even had a clue he was sick.

Being diagnosed and dying within days is the most horrifying for family. It's so sudden and yet it has time to sink in. That's how my paternal grandfather went 15 years ago with lung cancer. He didn't know he had it because he wasn't a smoker and, well, he didn't see any need to go check out that coughing-blood thing.

At least he didn't have to suffer for months or years, and at least he was able to get his will and other affairs squared away. He shuffled off to the next plane A-OK, but it sure sucked for the rest of us.

 

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

<blockquote>Early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is difficult because the symptoms are usually non-specific and varied. Common symptoms include pain in the upper abdomen that typically radiates to the back and is relieved by leaning forward (seen in carcinoma of the body or tail of the pancreas), loss of appetite, significant weight loss and painless jaundice related to bile duct obstruction (carcinoma of the head of the pancreas). <b>All of these symptoms can have multiple other causes. Therefore, pancreatic cancer is often not diagnosed until it is advanced.</b></blockquote>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancreatic_cancer#Presentation

 

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

The owners are probably paying to keep him alive.