“Sending This Message Out There, It’s A Message Of Hope”

Many consider Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to be the best basketball player of all time. This NBA icon has just revealed that he was diagnosed with leukemia in December. The specific type of leukemia is chronic myelogenous leukemia or CML

Kareem became alarmed when he felt odd sensations such as night sweats and bouts of tiredness. He also suffered from hot flashes. His doctor ordered blood work which showed abnormally high white blood cell counts. To his dismay, he was diagnosed with leukemia, but his doctor assured Abdul-Jabbar that this type of leukemia is treatable.

“I started having hot flashes and sweats,” Kareem Abdul-Jabbar told CBS News. “And I wasn’t a candidate for menopause, you know? So, trying to figure out what that was all about.”

There are approximately 5,000 diagnoses of CML each year and now there are at least 22,000 people in the United States living well and productive lives with this disease. As of now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is taking medications that will keep the illness under control; however, there are no cures.

Kareem is a spokesman for Norvatis, the drug company that created the two drugs that can help the disease. Abdul-Jabbar ascertains that not everyone can benefit from these medicines, but he feels he can help people understand the disease of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Kareem wants to encourage patients not to be discouraged and to not give up hope.

“Sending this message out there, it’s a message of hope. That’s what it’s intended to be,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “It’s not intended to be just a grim announcement. I want people to understand that I intend to continue living and doing all the things that I love to do up until the end. And the end is by no means rushing up on me.”

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Has Cancer