Schintzius epitomizes the word courage

Column

Kindly permit a final look back at last week's Sneaker Soiree, but this isn't about the 500 or so power players of the local sports scene who gathered at the fundraiser for the Tampa Bay Sports Commission.

Nor is it about ESPN's Dick Vitale, who crushed it as the featured speaker with an impassioned plea to join in his personal crusade to beat cancer. But it's appropriate that we mention Vitale and his cause because our subject today knows about the ravages of that disease far too well.

Dwayne Schintzius came to the event expecting to watch his father, Ken, receive an award for his work with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's alumni association. It was an elaborate ruse, though, just to get Dwayne there so he could be given a special award for courage.

"He wouldn't have wanted to come to the dinner but after I told him the award was for me, he said he'd come," Ken said. "It worked. We got him. We played it right to the hilt."

Dwayne got the idea something might be up when his brother, Travis, took the podium. Instead of talking about their father, Travis began telling the story of when Dwayne was stricken with leukemia in 2008.

Most people remember Schintzius from his basketball days as a center at the University of Florida, where he went after graduating from Brandon High School. He later played with several teams in the NBA, but suddenly he was sick and given only a 25 percent chance to survive.

There he was, though, standing taller than his 7-foot-2 frame, leukemia-free and filled with the kind of hope and resolve that people must feel when they come out the other side of the valley. The experience includes reminders that will be with him for the rest of his life, though.

"He loves to be outside but he can never spend time in the sun again because of the chemo," said his mother, Linda.

The initial diagnosis came on Sept. 11, 2009, and doctors ordered him to the hospital immediately. Ken had just returned from Ohio, where his brother was being treated for cancer, when he heard about his son.

"It's just hard, but Dwayne has always been a fighter," he said. "He has always tried to do the best he could. Even when he was playing, he would play injured."

There was no test to prepare anyone for something like this, though.

"A lot of prayers," Ken said. "Lots of prayer."

Dwayne spent 109 days at Moffitt and was in an induced coma for 18 of those. The treatment has left Schintzius with neuropathy in his feet and other complications. He lost his fingernails and most of his hair, and he has skin irritation. But after losing more than 50 pounds while fighting the disease, Schintzius is getting stronger and healthier all the time.

"People are giving me an award, I guess, for fighting for my life," he said. "I don't deserve the award. The people at Moffitt are the ones who are the true heroes. They saved my life."

The transplant of Travis' bone marrow gave Dwayne the chance he needed, but there were so many miles to go after that. There were those 18 days and nights in a coma, during which someone from the family was always with him.

"If he woke up, I wanted the first voice he heard to be one of us," Ken said.

Once that initial hurdle was passed, Schintzius still had the psychological problems that accompany a battle like this.

"I got scared one night. I broke down and cried in the hospital. I said, 'Lord, why me? What did I do to deserve this? Was I a bad person?' " he said.

"But then I got mad and it was like I was going to do whatever it took to beat this. So when the doctors would come in, I'd go, 'OK, tell me what we're doing today. Let's get it on.' "

He was declared cancer free about a year ago. He only has to return for checkups every other month now; initially, doctors saw him several times a week. A video detailing his athletic career and struggle against cancer was shown at the dinner. When Dwayne finally made it to the stage, he hugged Travis tightly.

"All this has taught me a great lesson not to take anything for granted like I used to," Travis said. "What a blessing from the Lord. I've been given the gift as much as Dwayne has."