By
Brian Landman, Times Staff Writer
Posted: May 18, 2010 04:32 PM
For former longtime Florida State assistant coach Chuck Amato, themilestones on the road to his recovery from throat cancer have beenanything but mundane.
He's back at his local Gold's Gym workingout for about an hour in the mornings. He's no longer living on BOOSTPlus and Ensure drinks. He's eating solid foods again, like a westernomelet for breakfast and pasta — his favorite — for dinner, andregaining some of the weight he lost.
Best of all, his checkupsare showing no evidence of the small cancerous tumor on a tonsil thatnecessitated six weeks of radiation and chemotherapy at Shands inGainesville.
"Things are going well," Amato said Tuesday, thefirst time he's publicly discussed a situation he shockingly announcedin a statement FSU released for him in mid January. "I got a CAT Scanabout a month ago and everything was good. I had another checkup lastFriday. I'm fortunate. I'm just totally fortunate that the type ofcancer I had was a curable cancer."
Not that he wasn't initiallytaken aback by something that began innocently enough as a slightlysore throat. Back in late November, the flu was going aroundTallahassee and he figured he might be coming down with a case, too. Ashe strolled through the Seminoles' training room, he asked a teamphysician if he could take a look at his throat. He didn't see anythingalarming and, not being a fan of pills, he passed on a prescription foran antibiotic.
A month later, as the Seminoles were preparing fortheir Jan. 1 matchup against West Virginia in the Gator Bowl, Amato'sthroat still was scratchy and asked the team doctor to look at him.Again. Nothing. Again.
"Why I asked the next question only the good Lord knows," Amato said. "I said, 'Should I have a specialist look at it?' "
Justbefore Christmas, he did and, viewing his throat through a scopeinserted through his nose, something was spotted. On Jan. 5, he got thediagnosis, one similar to what Denver Nuggets coach George Karlreceived about the same time, that he had a cancer and that it wastreatable in the vast majority of cases.
"When I heard that, Iwas not afraid one bit," Amato said, adding there's no history of thecancer in his family and he neither smokes nor chews tobacco.
Hedecided to go to Gainesville and see renowned specialist, Dr. WilliamMendenhall. During the next six weeks (he rented a place there), he had36 treatments of radiation — twice a day, five days a week — and sixtreatments of chemo — once a week.
Although many patients lose20, 30 pounds during that regimen (many need a feed tube), Amato saidhe only lost about seven pounds thanks to six bottles of the360-calorie energy drinks a day. He was still working out three times aweek. But less than a week after he completed the treatment andreturned to Tallahassee, he got sick with a virus and lost another 14pounds in a six days.
He then went about three weeks withoutworking out and, by then, the cumulative effect of the radiation, madehim so tired he couldn't sit and read a book without dozing off, afrustrating but necessary part of the recovery. On April 15, he got thegood news in a CAT Scan.
"I'll never be afraid of income tax dayagain," he said in his same old gravelly voice. "It's a day ofcelebration when they tell you everything looks great."
Amato,63, said he will have another test in June and undoubtedly periodicchecks for the rest of his life. But life is returning to normalcy,except for the first time in years, he's not involved in football.
"Iwant to coach. I'm going nuts right now," he said. "My whole goal wasto get healthy and that has happened. Next fall. There'll be jobs openand I'll go get a job."
CTC
Been critical of him football wise, but glad to see he is doing better
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