Since November, Utah junior quarterback Joel Gines has endured six rounds of chemotherapy, 35 straight days of radiation treatment and five surgeries, all in a most-aggressive effort to rid him of a particularly rare and difficult form of cancer — a synovial sarcoma in the right groin/upper leg.
"The whole process was a good thing," said Gines. "I will look back and gain strength from it. That will be a personal strength of mine."
On Monday, a remarkably strong-looking Gines returned to the weight room at the Smith football-training center for the first time since November, and he watched his first fall practice — all as a newly proclaimed survivor, officially in remission. He learned he was cancer-free on Aug. 6, and a bone scan a week ago seconded the opinion.
He also has been told that if the cancer returns, "It's very fast-acting, and in two months to a year, you'll be done," Gines said, quoting a doctor. There's about a 30 percent chance of the cancer returning.
"That's just not an option," said Gines's wife, Charakie, who was at practice with her husband and their 1 1/2-year-old daughter, Cambrie.
That's why Dr. Lor Randall of the Huntsman Cancer Institute put Gines through the maximum number of chemotherapy sessions, determined to knock out the cancer for good. "He said, 'I'll take one year of your life so you can live the next 60-70 years,' " Gines said.
The 24-year-old former Provo High team captain was all for that approach. From the first, he wanted to "attack it. Kick it in the butt and be done with it.
"I was really taken aback when they said 'tumor.' Just, wow," Gines said. But he immediately took the all-business approach. "I never freaked out and got all emotional. It makes it harder if you get devastated.
"For me, it's a strength-builder. A lot of things in life feel very easy now. It's nothing," Gines said, recalling when he thought double-day practices and other football-related travails were hard.
"Would I like to go through chemo again? No," he said. But the illness gave him a new perspective on everything, including himself and his family. He took 12 hours' worth of courses in spring semester, mostly doing the work from home, where he had plenty of time to be with his daughter.
"She knows when I'm sick and will be a lot softer and not play with me," he said, but she doesn't realize what has happened to him. He is taking a 15-hour load on campus this fall.
His hair, now at the peach-fuzz stage, is growing back for the third time. His face is still puffy. He felt a little tired but good after his first weight-room workout in about nine months.
He plans to lift four or five times a week, hoping the exercise will help the swelling leave his right leg. He even harbors thoughts of a return to football. He and coach Ron McBride joked Monday that Gines's right leg looks like it belongs to a guard rather than a quarterback, and he may have to switch positions.
The leg is swollen from five surgeries that removed the tumor and then repaired the damage that the hole in the leg caused. Because a large amount of tissue was removed, his body tried to fill in the gap with fluid. That meant radiation treatments couldn't be done because they could have caused infection. Finally, surgeons used the top of a knee-to-hip muscle to fill the void, unhooking it from the hip and folding it over and into the hole. For a time, he noticed the muscle twitching, trying to work, but now it doesn't bother him.
The swelling is slow to leave because a large vein was removed with the tumor, leaving only small vessels to return blood to the heart. Eventually, they'll grow big enough to do the job, but they're overworked now.
Gines had a part-time job this summer, and Charakie cuts hair, and with his scholarship funds, they're making a financial go of it. Personal insurance has so far paid most of the medical bills.
E-mail: lham@desnews.com