The Utah Jazz's Derek Fisher finds himself in a whole new ballgame lately as he helps his 10-month-old daughter, Tatum, fight for her life.Tatum was diagnosed last week with retinoblastoma, a cancerous tumor in her left eye. Fisher, who was excused from his team to begin dealing with his daughter's illness, flew his family -- his wife Candace, Tatum, and Tatum's twin brother Drew -- to New York on Monday to see a specialist.
Fisher and his wife must decide on a course of treatment for their daughter. Their options are removal of the eye or a combination of surgery and chemotherapy. Their most pressing goal is to save Tatum's life. They also want to save her eye. And they think in her case, she should be able to keep her eye.
Tatum's condition was first noticed by her mother who detected an odd reflection of light coming from her eye. The Fishers took her to a few doctors and then a pediatrician at the University of Utah who diagnosed the problem. Brother Drew has no signs of the condition.
Only 350 cases of retinoblastoma are diagnosed in the United States each year. The good news is that 95 to 98 percent of children grow to live a long life.
Fisher is back to playing ball. And when the basketball season ends, he and his wife say they will talk more about their daughter and her disease.
"My wife and I definitely plan to try and help as many people as we can," Fisher said. "I don't know how we'll be able to at this point. If there's a treatment out there, they should be able to get it. Some people can't afford to get it. Some people don't have the resources."
21. To the Fisher family, I am a retinoblastoma survivor from 1956. I am currently a 54 year old male the lived a normal life. Played all sports, went to college, married and have to great kids. I hope everything turns out for Tatum as it has for me. G-D bless. Stuart
Posted at 9:13AM on Jul 20th 2007 by stuart epstein