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Rower battles back from cancer
Posted: Friday June 09, 2000 02:22 PM
Here are two inspiring stories to watch at this weekend's U.S. Olympic rowing trials in Cherry Hill, N.J.: Dan Perkins remembers the day in April 1996 when life nearly literally slipped from his reach. The Dartmouth junior and rowing ace was walking through his school cafeteria when he began to lose feeling in his right side. "I was lifting up a glass and it fell right through my fingers," Perkins recalls. "I had no touch or feeling." Unable to sign or spell his name at the doctor's office, Perkins had to hand in his college ID for identification. The healthy student-athlete had no idea there was a golf-ball-sized cancerous tumor growing in his brain. Perkins later went to a New York hospital to have the tumor removed, hopeful that while taking out some of his brain cells, the surgeon wouldn't leave him physically or emotionally impaired. The surgery was successful. Perkins was prepared for lengthy rehab and speech therapy, but instead walked out of the hospital within two days. The graphic-design major went back to school three weeks later to continue his studies and get back in the gym. He switched from sweep rowing to sculling in '97 and, after teaming with Ian McGowan, won the U.S. trials for the '99 World Championships. But just two weeks after the race, Perkins began having seizures. Doctors discovered another tumor, and instead of rowing at Worlds, Perkins had a second operation and underwent more than a month of radiation therapy. "I didn't think 2000 was possible at that point," Perkins says. He resumed training anyway, first teaming with Matt Madigan and now with Garrett Klugh, a member of the U.S. coxed fours which won the '99 worlds, in an attempt to qualify for the Sydney Games in the double sculls. "I keep wondering if it will come back in another four years," Perkins says of his cancer. "It's stressful thinking you just never know." Not many people can take their minds off their stress by competing at an Olympic trials. A life saverFour years ago Missy Schwen and Karen Kraft finished .39 seconds behind Australians Megan Still and Kate Slatter in the race for the 1996 Olympic gold medal in the women's pairs. Schwen learned a month before the Atlanta Games that her older brother Michael, who suffered from a genetic kidney disease, would need a transplant. A month after the Games she gave up one of her kidneys to save Michael's life. Since then, Schwen has married an Australian rower, Tim Ryan, and made a slow return to the elite ranks, after spending almost two years regaining strength in the abdominal muscles that were cut to remove her kidney. Michael is in good health. Schwen, a former White House intern, and Kraft, a waitress at the Cheesecake Factory in Dallas, only became a pair as a lark. U.S. coach Hartmut Buschbacher put the two together in 1994 to create competition for his more seasoned pairs. A year later, the duo won a silver medal at the 1995 World Championships. Schwen-Ryan and Kraft face stiff competition this weekend on the Cooper River. Lianne Nelson and Sally Scovel represented the U.S. at the 1999 World Championships, and each is competing this year with a new partner. Nelson has teamed with Katie Maloney; Scovel is rowing with Sara Field. Gienger still flying highFormer German gymnastics star Eberhard Gienger was considered a daredevil when he won a world title on the horizontal bar in 1974. His trend-setting release move (flyaway with a half-twist and re-catch) became a staple of high-bar routines in the '80s. But Gienger hasn't stopped seeking thrills since his retirement. For the past several years he has performed in low-flying parachute shows in Germany. Two weeks ago, Gienger, 48, broke his pelvis after leaping from a Cessna 20 meters off the ground in a skydiving accident before 500 spectators in Esslingen, Germany. In '98, Gienger, an official of the German Gymnastics Association, safely completed a jump, but the single-engine plane crashed 10 minutes later, killing the pilot and another passenger. Brian Cazeneuve is a Sports Illustrated writer-reporter who covers the Olympics. He is a frequent contributor to CNNSI.com. Click here to send a question to his Sydney 2000 Mailbag.
The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
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