The nature of Gary Carter’s fight against brain cancer became more clear yesterday, when the family was told by doctors they were “99 percent sure” the Hall of Famer has a Grade 4 Glioblastoma and that it is likely inoperable.
The results won’t be confirmed until Tuesday, and the family is hopeful for more positive news. But tests have shown the cancer “is like a snake of tumors that are connected across the back of the brain. The biggest tumor is on the left side of the brain,” wrote one of Carter’s daughters, Kimmy Bloemers, last night on a family website.
Though the tumors may be inoperable, Dr. Henry Friedman of the Duke Medical Center told the family the medical team will be “attacking [the disease] and doing all we can to shrink these tumors. He explained that we are not fighting to prolong Dad’s life, instead, we are fighting to cure him completely.”
Carter recently completed his second season as baseball coach at Palm Beach Atlantic University, where Bloemers is the softball coach.
The former Met announced on May 21 that an MRI exam had revealed four small tumors on his brain. He had biopsies done on a single tumor at Duke on Friday, when doctors said they were “90 percent” sure it was malignant.
The doctors remain confident that Carter is well-suited to fight the disease “because he is so young, strong and healthy,” wrote Bloemers. “This will not be an easy road at all, nor is this a simple battle but WE WILL FIGHT.”
The Mets showed a video tribute of Carter during last night’s 5-2 loss to the Phillies at Citi Field, drawing a standing ovation from the crowd.