Former NBA Player Jason Collins Reveals Stage 4 Brain Cancer Diagnosis

He has announced that he has Stage 4 glioblastoma

Former NBA player Jason Collins, who, during his NBA career, became the first openly gay player in the league, has announced that he has brain cancer in an ESPN editorial that has shocked the sports world.

Collins, who spent the majority of his basketball career with the New Jersey Nets, has revealed that he has Stage 4 glioblastoma. According to The Glioblastoma Foundation, this is described as an aggressive stage 4 brain cancer that is referred to as the “emperor of all cancers.” The median survival is just one year after diagnosis, while only 5% of glioblastoma cancer patients survive 5 years after they are diagnosed.

He stated that, in September, his family relayed to the media that he was having surgery for a brain tumor. In May, while preparing to head to the US Open, he couldn’t concentrate and missed the flight. According to him, that was a key moment after he realized, about a week earlier, that he was having weird symptoms.

After going to the hospital because of what was going on, the realization that his brain was not functioning well was confirmed after several tests.

“What makes glioblastoma so dangerous is that it grows within a very finite, contained space — the skull — and it’s very aggressive and can expand. What makes it so difficult to treat in my case is that it’s surrounded by the brain and is encroaching upon the frontal lobe — which is what makes you, ‘you.'”

In the ESPN article, he goes into greater detail about everything related to finding out he has glioblastoma, which you can check out here.

He also discusses his condition with Ramona Shelburne in a video posted to his social media account.

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A post shared by Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne)

Collins played for six teams during his NBA career: the Nets, the Memphis Grizzlies, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Atlanta Hawks, the Boston Celtics, and the Washington Wizards before retiring in 2014. During his time in the league, Collins averaged 3.6 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.