12 I Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010 Spence returns to coaching after battle with leukemia By Quinn Roberts COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Everj’ year like clockwork. Fritz Spence would get sick around New Year's. In December 2007, Spence and his wife Teri believed this time was no different But his cough had still not gone away by February, and Spence started waking up Tp A ~p four to five times a night to change his t sweat-drenched shirts. M L HI.ID Fed up with his inability to get a decent night's sleep, he went to the doctor, where he was diagnosed with nothing more than the common cold and given a Z-pack. That same week in his second year as the jumps and multi-events coach for Penn State's track and field pro gram. Spence returned home from dinner with a recruit. Exhausted, he fell asleep on the couch, something his wife said almost never happened. "When I went over to touch him on the couch. 1 realized his shirt was soaked through, and it felt as though he had a fever." Teri said. "I wanted him to go back to the doctor one more time just to be sure everything was all right " After a second trip to the doctor that Monday. Spence's doctor received the tests the next day. The doctor saw his patient's white blood cell count was through tire roof. He told Spence to go to Hershev Medical Center as soon as possible for further testing. Spence and his wife drove to Hershev late that night and weren't seen until 7 a.m. the next morning. Diagnosis The morning of Feb. 27. 2008. now lives on in Fritz Spence's memory as the day he was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia. "I first thought, 'Why me?" " Spence said "Yet. then I kept telling myself, ‘Everything happens tor a reason, and this will make me better and stronger.' "It then became a question of. 'How am 1 going to beat this 1 ?'" Spence's body had begun to grow leukemic cells quickly, crowding out red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. What made the then-35-year-old Spence's case so inter esting is that cancer does not run in his family, and his type of leukemia occurs mostly in young children or older adults. "After getting the bad news. the doctor told us that it we would have not come in. Fritz didn't have more than a few weeks to live" Teri said. "It was so surreal hearing it. It was like 1 wasn't even present." Even though he realized the severity of the situation. Spence remained upbeat, realizing he had to tocus on get ting better. "I put a lot of energy into overcoming it and doing what ever it takes" Spence said. 'As much as it hurt. 1 tried to block it out" One of the first players to find out about Spence's situa tion was Lena Bettis, then a senior long juniper "We had to not be selfish." Bettis said. "We had to look beyond not having a coach and beyond athletics" "At first, it was hard to believe." said Jay Pagana. a ter mer jumper and now first-year medical student at Penn State's Hershev Medical Center. "And then it wasn't a real ity until he wasn't there." Many of the other athletes not specifically coached by Spence found out the next day when head coach Beth Alford-Sullivan held a team meeting. “Many people left crying" Bettis said "It was such a surreal moment for so many people" Associate head coach Chris Johnson, who is one of Spence's closest friends, thought Spence may have pneu monia at worst. Johnson came down with a cold tine same time as Spence, but doctors just diagnosed him with the flu. "It is scary because you never think it would happen to someone that you know,” Johnson said. You do all of the right things, and for that still to happen, it makes you look at life a little differently." Johnson knew that if nothing else. Spence w ould keep fighting until he got better. "You just had a feeling that if anyone could get through it, it would be Fritz." Johnson said. Treatment After being admitted to the medical center. Spence immediately began a round of chemotherapy that lasted seven days. "Those first 24 hours, we were in shock. We thought they had made a mistake." Teri said. "However, he still embraced the whole thing and kept going to get back to work and doing what he loved." When Spence finished the weeklong treatment, test results came back showing the first round of treatment had not worked, something doctors said was unusual. Stressing speed as a key to keeping Spence alive, the medical center began a second round of treatment a few days later to stop growth of the specific leukemic cells. After treatment ceased, the Spence's heard encourag ing news the second treatment had stopped the spread of the cells. "Through all the tests and procedures. I never heard him complain," Teri said. "For many of the treatments, they even had to drill into his hip bone." Whenever the coach had the strength, he'd walk around the ward for a few minutes or write w'orkouts to send to the players. Pagana specifically remembered a time when Spence sent him a text message before a meet. "I always had a problem fouling, and this one meet I get a text message from Coach Spence saving. Relax, don't foul today, dude,' " Pagana said. "We all laughed about it." Many times, though, the recovering coach didn't have the energy to write an e-mail or text a player because of f yf' ** '' . J||\ S 9K9BBMW’ - Vs f * Assistant coach Fritz Spence kneels in the sand pit of the Mult-Sport Facility at practice Feb. 4 •> * • »**r the strain the treatment was taking on him mentally and physically. Spence said. Weighing around 190 pounds before treatment. Spence dropped to between 150 and 160 pounds during and after chemotherapy. Spence also felt the affects of chemotherapy through his heightened sense of smell. "The smells around me became so intense that paper towels had to be removed from my room because of the chemicals I could smell coming from them" Spence said. "They also had to let my food cool off in the hall before I ate it because the smell was too strong to me otherwise." To this day. Spence still cannot eat broccoli or mashed potatoes because they remind him of that time. That type of food became even harder for Spence to eat the longer he stayed in the hospital. He began to have severe nausea and ulcers in his mouth that made it hard er for him to eat food. But the battle for his long-term survival had only begun. For people suffering from AML, the best chance for long term remission rests in having a bone marrow transplant. Hoping for a match of proteins in the blood. Spence looked to his family, the majority of which still live in his home countrv of the Bahamas. If Spence didn't get a match from his family, his next option would be to look on a bone marrow donor list, where only 3 percent of the people at that time were black. With those circumstances, a match was nearly impossible. The most difficult part of finding out if his family could be a donor rested on the ability to get the blood from the Bahamas to Hershev in a specific amount of time. A doctor who could draw and ship the blood properly would have to be located. "From the time the blood was drawn to the time it was tested, only 18 hours could pass." Teri said. "We had a huge concern about getting the blood through customs over the heightened restrictions on fluids post-9/11." But the samples made it safely. Spence and family were ready to brace themselves for the worst if a match could not be found within his family. "When we began talking about the tests results, they told us that something had gone wrong with the tests, which became very deflating" Teri said. "Then, all of a sudden, as we left, the transplant coordinator came run ning after us and said they had found two matches." Spence's sister Karen and brother W’avde both turned out to be bone marrow matches. In the end. because he was two years younger than Spence and the same sex. doctors decided Wayde would be the better match. After hearing the good news. Spence decided to make a visit to the Bueknell Team Challenge, where Penn State was competing April 19. While Spence had a mask over his face the entire time and applied hand sanitizer liberally, players and coaches said lie wore a wide-eyed grin the entire meet. "It became our most important meet of the year. It was just great for him to be there and hear his voice," Bettis said. .After Spence visited the team and went back to Hershev. the transplant continued to be put on hold because of dam age to his liver and a possibly cancerous growth on his thy Spence shuttled back and forth between Hershev Medical Center and the Hope Lodge, a facility he stayed at while recovering. After an operation to remove the tumor on his thyroid and with his liver healthy again, doctors per formed the transplant on July 29. 2008. more than five months since his original diagnosis. "We all missed his personality, jokes and his laugh and were eager for him to come back as soon as he was able." Bettis said. Recovery After the transplant. Spence fell into a state of total exhaustion. But as the days passed, he got stronger and stronger. "Even to this day. he has given me the fight if anything like that should ever happen to me." Teri said. "I could never have imagined being so optimistic then about every thing that was happening." His response to the transplant went so well that around Day 30. his doctor gave Spence news he had been waiting months to hear. He could finally go home and sleep in his own bed. Spence did come home a few times before his trans plant. but this time he knew it was for good, and that meant all the difference. ' The most exciting thing for me after I got home was just being able to take a shower without any tubes, cords or stickers on my body so I could actually move," Spence said. "1 still love it to this day." But Teri had mixed feelings about Spence living at home and going back to practice. I was so nervous and became obsessive about germs." Teri said. I knew it all was so liberating for him, yet I remained terrified and acted almost like a mother hen." After coming home in September, Spence waited until late fall to get back to the track. But when he did, it was with a new mindset. -I have really tried to show them how the decisions they have to make are not as serious," Spence said. "I am try ing to guide them so they can see things from a different perspective." Coming back so soon after recovering from such a debil itating disease has been an inspiration to the players he coaches. Bettis, who still trains with Spence, had food poi soning in January, but that didn’t stop her from practicing. Knowing what it was like not to have a shred of energy Spence stressed that Bettis should stay strong and take advantage of being healthy even in a weakened state. it is really hard to feel sick when your coach had can cer." Bettis said, ‘it will always be my motivation in giving it all I have." Teri became worried with Spence’s energy level when tiiiEgfiaßiKflHHHHMilPft Kelsey Morris/Collegian Jumps and multi-events assistant coach Fritz Spence instructs h>s team cmctice Feb. 4. he returned to the track and with the possibility that he might overexert himseli. In Spence's first week back at practice, he was advised to stand in the background and observe, but before the week ended, he took his place back on the track, talking, demon strating and cracking jokes. He once again became the coach that won the 2008 Mid- Atlantic Region indoor Assistant Coach of the Year and Outdoor Assistant Coach of the Year awards. But Tori had Alford-Sullivan in her corner, who made it a special priority to check up on Spence those first few months during practice. "1 gradually worked my way up and sometimes did press." Spence said. "Because of it. I would fatigue quickly and the muscles in my body would ache all of the time" Spence -aid the biggest difference he noticed was in what his both allowed him to do and how active he could be. He could not stand as long or demonstrate, but Spence had no limitations imm a coaching standpoint. He said it wasn't until this past fall that he felt he could really get into coaching and do everything he once did. Howe'er Spence's eating habits changed drastically eariv m his recovoi’v. After hts transplant. Spence's wile said he started having a sweet t»«>ta. something he never had before treatment She had been told that patients often pick up characteristics of donors, and In this ease. Spence began to love sweets just like his bivihcr Wayde did. Food asKF. lie is 'back to the Fritz everyone knows. "I look back ••u certain days that were bad and instead I now look at tile om picture and tell myself and even my play ers to real" appreciate life and being healthy," Spence said. As a precaution. Spence still takes bactrim. a pill to pre vent bacteria': injections and more severe illnesses such as pneumonia. He also continues to take anti-rejection med ication daily gets his blood drawn often and gets immu nizations every three months, a process his wife said will probably continue lor the rest of his life. Teri admits to getting nervous any time Spence gets sick, feels fatigued or has night sweats, making her paranoid that the disease has come back. Yet almost two years after being diagnosed. Spence has no leukemic cells in his body. "I always tell all of the athletes to appreciate life because it is short." Spence said. "You never know what tomorrow brings" Kelsey Morris/Collegian The Daily Collegian To e-mail reporter: qlrsool@psu.edu
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers