During the final round of the 2010 AT&T National spectator Chris Logan experienced first hand the ever popular expression “The Lord works in mysterious ways.”
The 25-year-old from West Chester, Pa., was following his favorite golfer, Sean O’Hair, who drove an errant tee shot into the crowd, directly into the side of Logan’s head.
When the onsite doctors examined him for a concussion, they found a lump in his neck that they strongly urged him to get checked out by his family doctor who then determined it was a malignant tumor that turned out to be thyroid cancer.
“I guess it was fate,” said Logan, who quickly underwent two operations to remove the tumor and a bout of radioactive iodine treatment to kill any leftover cancer cells. “I was lucky to be there.”
The crazy thing his that he almost didn’t go. If his friend had not dragged him out against his will in 95-degree heat last July 4, someone else might have taken the shot to the head. Fast Forward one year later, a cancer-free Logan finally met the man who gave him the life-saving headache at Waynesborough Country Club in Paoli, Pa.
“It was funny,” Logan said of meeting O’Hair, who also lives in West Chester. “Right as he apologized for hitting me in the head, I thanked him for starting this whole process off.”
O’Hair called the fluke a “cool experience.”
“You feel bad about hitting him, but yet you feel good that he found out about the cancer, found it early, and got it worked on,” the 28-year-old told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
When it’s detected, thyroid cancer is one of the most treatable cancers and thanks to the misdirected golf ball, the tumor was discovered. If you think about it, it’s a pretty amazing stroke of luck, I can’t say I know many 25 year old men who go to the doctor for an annual check-up and even those that do would have a low possibility of discovering something like that.
He underwent two surgeries, 1st was to remove the tumor whilst trying to spare the thyroid, but the doctors decided to have a second procedure to remove it as a precaution to prevent future complications. Without a thyroid gland, Logan has to take synthetic thyroid hormones every day — a routine he happily accepts.
“If being a cancer survivor means taking two pills each morning, I really can’t complain,” he said.
In what little spare time Logan has between full-time grad school and part-time work, he loves to play and watch golf. This year he volunteered at the AT&T National, which had him back on the same fairway where his life-saving wake-up call fell from the sky.
“I remember all the details like it happened yesterday,” Logan said. “But everyone’s like, ‘Jeez, has it only been one year?’ It feels like it’s been a lot longer.”
See original story here.