Bonamego speaks on cancer diagnosis
Head Football Coach John Bonamego held a press conference June 18 to address his cancer diagnosis.
Head Football Coach John Bonamego promises to be on the field during the Chippewas' season opener against Oklahoma State University on Sept. 3.
Following his cancer diagnosis, the coach held a press conference in the Indoor Athletic Complex. He said him and his family are confident they will be able to continue their normal schedule.
"I have never run from the truth or backed down from a challenge," he said. "It's just not the way I'm wired. The best way to deal with a situation is to deal with it directly."
Bonamego announced his diagnosis of tonsillar cancer today. He reassured his players and the Central Michigan University community that his prognosis is positive. He said he will receive treatment from McLaren Central Michigan and University of Michigan doctors. He will undergo radiation, where doctors will pinpoint the tumor on his left tonsil, making it as non-invasive as possible. He hopes to begin treatment within the next week.
"The second part (of treatment) is still under discussion," Bonamego said. "(U of M's) tumor board will meet and look at the lab work and prescribe whatever treatment they think is best for attacking this."
When he received the call, Bonamego said the first thing he wanted to do was get back home to his wife and children. He also knew he had to tell his team.
"It was important to me that the players were the first to hear it," he said. "If they had heard it from somebody else, that would have been devastating for me."
Nick Beamish, senior center for the Chippewas, said cancer wasn't what he expected to hear about during this morning's team meeting.
"He was very thorough," Beamish said. "We are all pretty confident. He's a tough guy, so it's only a matter of time until he beats it."
Bonamego's prognosis is more than 90 percent for recovery. He had an open-neck biopsy June 5, and a PET scan a week later. There, they took photographs of his entire body, and the area that lit up was his left tonsil. Yesterday, he travelled to Ann Arbor to determine if his tonsil was where the cancer came from. They concluded the cancer originated there and was not present in any other part of his body.
The coach said the level of support from players, faculty and students has been overwhelming.
"I'm never going to be able to favorite every Tweet, answer every text message or phone call--but I want to let everyone know I am receiving those and reading them."
Despite the diagnosis, Bonamego is confident he will continue business as usual.
"It doesn't affect (the team) one bit," he said. "I have total faith in my staff; I've got the best staff in college football."
Cancer has been a word familiar to the Chippewas, as running back Derrick Nash remains in the hospital battling leukemia. Beamish said both situations have only brought the team closer.
"You talk about brotherhood and it's already been installed in the football family," he said. "Between Derrick and Coach, there's nothing else but strength in it."
Bonamego said the team is very sensitive to what Nash is going through, but the two situations are very different.
"I think to lump them together isn't fair," he said. "He's a very strong kid. If I have half the fight in me that he does, I'm going to move out of this easily."
