Ten-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner and all-around poker legend, Doyle Brunson, announced last week that he has cancer and will soon be undergoing surgery. The good news is that it sounds like it was caught early and as far as cancers go, it is not overly serious.
Brunson relayed the news to the public over Twitter, writing, “Got my 3rd melanoma confirmed today.Early stages, should be simple operation.Fortunately, it’s on my head and everybody knows I’m hardheaded.”
Always the comedian, he added, “Simple or not, this will be my 12th major operation. Gonna play poker now because i always heard u get lucky right before u die.#justsaying”
Melanoma is a type of skin cancer, typically manifesting itself as an irregularly shaped, growing mole. If detected early, it can often be completely removed. Melanomas that grow deeper into the skin pose greater risks to the patient.
As the 81-year old Brunson noted, this is not his first major medical issue. His most recent operation was in October 2014, when he had his gallbladder removed, had eight “marble size” stones removed from his bile duct, had his bile duct re-routed, and had a hernia repaired. That’s some work.
In addition to his other incidences of melanoma, his most famous tussle with cancer was detailed by Brunson himself in his book, Super System 2. As the story goes, in late 1962, he developed a sore throat and felt a knot form in his neck. After failed antibiotic treatment, he underwent surgery. The doctors had expected to simply find a benign tumor, but instead, once Brunson was opened up, it was discovered that he had cancer that had spread throughout his body. He given just a few months to live, so he opted to have another, longshot surgery on the off-chance that it could extend his life long enough to witness the birth of his daughter. Oddly enough, after an eight hour surgery, the doctors saw that the cancer had basically just disappeared.
“The odds against merely surviving the operation itself were very high,” Doyle Brunson wrote. “A month earlier the black corruption of melanoma had been visible to the naked eye. That the cancer had disappeared was incomprehensible to the staff at the hospital. Five doctors had unanimously agreed that it was a medical impossibility for me to live longer than a few more months, with or without the operation.”
Brunson’s other famous medical issue had to do with an injury rather than an illness. He was a star athlete in high school and played basketball at Hardin-Simmons University. He was so good, in fact, that while in school, he received interest from the Minneapolis Lakers. Unfortunately, while working at a gypsum factory over the summer, a load of sheet rock fell on him, crushing his leg. His basketball future was finished. The silver lining, though, was that he was able to turn his attention to his education and eventually poker. Were it not for that accident, we may be talking about Doyle Brunson the NBA Hall of Famer rather than Texas Dolly the Poker Hall of Famer.
