THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 4, 1995 TAG: 9503040557
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL LEFFLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
After Dan Ward won the Eastern Amateur preliminary First Flight Tournament in July, we sat together for hours in the dining hall at Elizabeth Manor.
It was one of the happiest moments of his life. And most of our conversation was about dying.
Dan, 39, had just finished chemotherapy treatment after his doctor had advised him in January that, without this treatment, he would not live more than six months.
A malignant mole had caused his problem. It was removed and, for nine years, Ward said ``everything went well.''
Then a lump appeared in his shoulder near his neck. That was removed and radiation treatments followed. Just before Christmas a malignant lump on his leg was discovered during a check-up.
After undergoing chemotherapy, Ward began receiving a daily shot of interleuken to stimulate his natural immune system. It allowed him to resume physical activities - which meant playing golf.
Ward, a high school golf star at Maury who was runnerup for the state junior championship and a quarter-finalist in the National Junior Championships in Dallas in his senior year, played six rounds and decided to enter the First Flight Tournament.
The three-handicapper won the two-day competition with his fiancee, Terri Martin, lugging his golf clubs. And she mentioned how much it meant to Dan because he probably wasn't going to win a much bigger fight - with cancer.
And so we talked.
I told him I had faced a similar problem, almost identical to his.
A mole was taken off my left leg. Sometime later nodules appeared higher up the leg and my doctor advised I go to Duke University Hospital for treatment.
A biopsy was taken and a malignancy was found. Additional surgery was performed and nerves in the leg were deadened.
His face brightened when I said that was nearly 30 years ago.
The 5-foot-8, 178-pound Ward said his tournament victory was something special to him ``because I thought for awhile there I would never play golf again.
``I just had a good time out there,'' he said. ``Didn't worry about a thing on the course. I have more important things than golf to be concerned about.''
Now Dan's long battle with cancer has come to an end. He died Friday morning.
``Here was a champion who went out as a champion,'' said Eastern Amateur chairman Dave Whitener. ``If Dan could have had a wish come true, it would have been winning that tournament. And he made it happen.'' ILLUSTRATION: Dan Ward's last victory was the Eastern Amateur preliminary
First Flight.
by CNB