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.”

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The 62-year-old Abdul-Jabbar said his doctor didn’t give any guarantees, but informed him: “You have a very good chance to live your life out and not have to make any drastic changes to your lifestyle.”

Abdul-Jabbar, 62, made the public disclosure almost a year after he was first diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow which studies have shown can be controlled and treated with medication.

According to the Leukemia & Lymphoma society, from 1999-2005 the five-year survival rate for CML is 53.3 percent.

CML patients have what is called the “Philadelphia Chromosome” (Ph chromosome).

“I’ve never been a person to share my private life, but I can help save lives,” Abdul-Jabbar, 62, said, noting the impact Magic Johnson has had on AIDS. “It’s incumbent on someone like me to talk about this.”

The former NBA All-star said he is taking oral drugs to treat the disease.

“You have a very good chance to live your life out and not have to make any drastic changes to your lifestyle,” Abdul-Jabbar quoted a doctor as saying.

from 1969 to 1989, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored the highest points total of any player in league history (38,387), in addition to winning a record six Most Valuable Player Awards and six NBA championships, according to Wikipedia.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Has Leukemia: Reports