Curt Schilling Guests On WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon, Blames Chewing Tobacco For Cancer

Schilling

The annual WEEI/NESN JIMMY FUND radio telethon is underway on ENTERCOM Sports WEEI-F/BOSTON and the NESN regional cable sports network, and the event included a newsmaking moment, as former RED SOX pitcher CURT SCHILLING, recovering from treatment for squamous cell carcinoma, told morning hosts JOHN DENNIS and GERRY CALLAHAN that his cancer was likely the result of his use of chewing tobacco during his playing days.

SCHILLING, now an ESPN commentator, told D&C, "This all came about from a dog bite. I got bitten by a dog and I had some damage to my finger and I went to see a doctor. And the day I went to see the doctor, I was driving and I went to rub my neck and I felt a lump on the left side of my neck. I knew immediately it wasn’t normal. There happened to be an ENT right next door to the hand doctor. I thought, ‘What the heck, let me just stop in and see.’ So I waited in the office, went in there and he did a biopsy. Two days later, he diagnosed me with squamous cell carcinoma.”

He said that he believes tobacco caused the cancer, insisting, "I’ll go to my grave believing that was why I got what I got.  Absolutely. No question in my mind about that ... I do believe without a doubt, unquestionably, that chewing is what gave me cancer.”

The cancer and treatment caused SCHILLING to lose 75 pounds and lose his senses of taste and smell.

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