Jason Collins, the former NBA center who made history in 2013 as the league’s first openly gay active player, has revealed that he has been diagnosed with Stage 4 glioblastoma, an aggressive, incurable form of brain cancer.
“A few months ago, my family released a short statement saying I had a brain tumor. It was simple, but intentionally vague. They did that to protect my privacy while I was mentally unable to speak for myself and my loved ones were trying to understand what we were dealing with,” Collins told ESPN reporter Ramona Shelburne in a lengthy statement.
“But now it’s time for people to hear directly from me,” Collins continued. “I have Stage 4 glioblastoma, one of the deadliest forms of brain cancer. It came on incredibly fast.”
Collins said he went public with his diagnosis for the same reasons he came out as gay — to be honest about what he is facing and in the hope that sharing his struggle might offer comfort to others in similar situations.
He explained that his form of glioblastoma is especially difficult to treat because the tumor is encroaching on his frontal lobe, which he described as “a monster with tentacles spreading across the underside of my brain the width of a baseball.”
He told ESPN that a biopsy revealed the cancer “had a growth factor of 30 percent,” meaning that “if nothing were to be done, the tumor would run out of room and I’d probably be dead within six weeks to three months.” He added that the cancer also contains “mutations” that make it more difficult to treat.
Collins said he and his husband, Brunson Green, first realized something was wrong when he began showing early symptoms of glioblastoma, including headaches, confusion, memory loss, personality changes, speech difficulties, and vision changes. He struggled to focus, lost his short-term memory, experienced bouts of forgetfulness, sent “very weird text messages,” and displayed other behavior that was out of character.
“According to my family, in hours, my mental clarity, short-term memory, and comprehension disappeared — turning into an NBA player’s version of ‘Dory’ from Finding Nemo,” he said.
After his diagnosis, Collins said his family — particularly his twin brother, Jarron — encouraged him to fight the cancer rather than succumb to it.
He began taking Avastin, a drug intended to slow tumor growth and reduce symptoms, and underwent radiation treatments.
Collins believes the treatment helped stem the tumor’s growth, noting that he regained the ability to walk, experienced fewer episodes of forgetfulness and brain fog, and improved enough that his husband gave him his phone back. He is now pursuing specialized treatment that he hopes will have a positive impact.
“The goal is to keep fighting the progress of the tumors long enough for a personalized immunotherapy to be made for me, and to keep me healthy enough to receive that immunotherapy once it’s ready,” he said.
“Because my tumor is unresectable, going solely with the ‘standard of care’ — radiation and TMZ — the average prognosis is only 11 to 14 months. If that’s all the time I have left, I’d rather spend it trying a course of treatment that might one day be a new standard of care for everyone,” Collins concluded. “I’m fortunate to be in a financial position to go wherever in the world I need to go to get treatment. So if what I’m doing doesn’t save me, I feel good thinking that it might help someone else who gets a diagnosis like this one day.”
The United States Tennis Association, the national governing body for tennis in the United States, has quietly banned transgender athletes from competing in women's events.
As first reported by independent journalist Marisa Kabas in her newsletter The Handbasket, the USTA revised its "Player Eligibility Policy" page on October 25 with no prior warning or public announcement.
Under the revised policy -- which applies to all sex-specific junior and adult leagues, tournaments, and competitions, whether Olympic, professional, or recreational -- only athletes who meet the USTA's definition of a woman or girl may compete in events designated for women or girls.
Swiss tennis player Mika Brunold has come out as gay, becoming only the second active male professional tennis player in the sport’s history to do so.
In a late November Instagram post, Brunold shared the news with fans and the wider sports world.
“One of the most important things I’ve learned is that success on the court isn’t just about physical skill -- it’s about discovering your personality and staying true to yourself,” Brunold wrote. “That’s why I feel it’s time for me to open up and share with you that I’m gay.”
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