When he announced in March that his cancer had returned from remission a second time, and doctors had given him a dire prognosis, few expected Craig Sager to be working NBA playoff broadcasts.
And yet the beloved longtime TNT reporter is still stalking the sidelines, resplendently clad, microphone in hand. This, despite a dangerously low platelet count that puts him at risk of mass bleeding.
"My platelets are at four!" Sager told Sports Illustrated's Lee Jenkins before working a recent Cavaliers-Pistons game (140 is considered a normal amount). "If I got cut right now I could bleed to death."
In the past two years, Sager has undergone two bone marrow transplants, 21 bone marrow biopsies, multiple blood transfusions, and more than 20 cycles of chemotherapy, on top of dealing with bouts of pneumonia, flu, and gout.
His doctor, Naveen Pemmaraju, said the fact Sager is still fighting and going to work regularly "is almost miraculous." Pemmaraju also said, "What he's doing has danger. It has risk."
But Sager, who's seemingly remained optimistic from the moment he received his diagnosis over two years ago, knows no other way.
"Am I naive? Maybe," he told Jenkins. "Am I in denial? No. I know the severity. But I have faith. I have support. I have hope. Hope is as important as breath."
