Sean Santos
Last May, Sean Santos was in the best shape of his life. Then he got a diagnosis that changed everything.
Doctors diagnosed Santos with Stage 4 colon and liver cancer. He was told he had nine months to a year to live. Santos was 36 years old at the time, with a wife and three young children at home.
Nine months later, Santos — an officer with the Pima Regional SWAT team — accomplished a milestone. He walked and played 18 holes of golf with his favorite baseball player, Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz, during Wednesday’s Cologuard Classic Jose Cuervo Pro-Am at Omni Tucson National. Santos is 40 pounds lighter than he was at the time of his diagnosis, and half his liver was removed in an Oct. 19 surgery.
But Santos is getting better. During a checkup a week and a half ago, doctors told Santos that the cancer markers in his blood were below normal and there is no cancer in his body.
“I felt like recovery felt almost impossible at times … like I was getting worse before I was getting better. And I wasn’t used to that,” he said. “And that was the roughest time for me. Probably the roughest time of my life. I would wake up and feel like I was so much worse. I called my doctors and they were assuring me, ‘Hey, we cut out your powerhouse organ, a lot of it, (and) you’ll feel bad for a while.’ And slowly but surely it took over a month to feel anywhere near normal.”
Santos didn’t have to look far for the motivation to keep fighting.
“I stuck with the mentality that I had as a police officer and a SWAT officer: you’re not going to lose any situation that you get into. And I wasn’t going to lose this,” said Santos. “I have three wonderful children; can’t go anywhere. They need their dad. I just never had the mindset that I was going to lose this battle. There were bad days that you don’t feel great, you don’t know what is going to happen. The majority of the time I just wasn’t going to accept it.
“I would look at my kids and there was no other option. I can’t go anywhere.”
Growing up in Tucson, Santos and his younger brother Austin were die-hard Atlanta Braves fans. This was in the 1990s, before the Arizona Diamondbacks began play in Phoenix. The Santoses would watch the Braves on TBS, which was standard on most cable packages. They quickly became fans.
“I specifically remember the 1996 World Series … Smoltz was pitching and he struck out 10 Yankees in that game,” said Santos. “Unfortunately, they lost the Series, but I’ll never forget that. I never thought later on in life I’d be golfing with him and Cologuard and the Conquistadores gave me the opportunity to play with him.”
The day was even better than Santos could have dreamed. Smoltz gave Santos an autographed jersey with his old number — 29 — and Santos’ name on it. Santos was set to get an official Smoltz jersey Friday.
“I recognized him immediately because he still has the goatee that he had when I used to watch him play,” said Santos. “I was worried because I golf, but I am no golfer. And it was just like golfing with one of your friends. It was surreal.
“I was a little sore the next day; used some muscles I haven’t used. I feel good, I feel better than I have in nine months. ”
During the round they talked about Smoltz’s career and their kids. Santos shared that his 5-year-old son, Eli, was starting T-ball this week.
“I’d like him to wear 29,” Santos said.
A mini-reunion
Olin Browne wasn’t expecting a mini-high school reunion.
The PGA Tour Champions golfer attended the small Holderness School in Plymouth, New Hampshire, with Tucsonan Ham Boynton. Boynton brought three fellow Holderness grads with him to this week’s tournament.
Browne initially didn’t recognize former classmate Jody Collins at the first tee box on Wednesday.
“It was certainly not expected. I was the last person he’d see,” Collins said. “Here I am giving him a hard time, standing next to Ham, and he’s like, ‘Who is the dude next to Ham giving me a hard time?’ It’s your old friend, Jody, just trying to cheer you on.”
Brown had no idea he would become a successful golfer when he attended the private boarding school in the 1970s. Browne initially told fellow classmate Jim Murray that he wanted to go pro after a round in which Murray beat him by six strokes.
But the game took a hold on Browne.
“In high school, I was a basically borderline useless. So were they, and that’s why we got along so well,” Browne laughed. “The bug bit me. It’s such a challenge it piques your interest. It’s a combination of the physical and the mental and structural. I find myself waking up every day with a lot of enthusiasm to try to get better.
“Thing about golf is that it brings people from every walk of life with the same kind of enthusiasm for the game. It’s the one game where you don’t have to be an elite player to enjoy being out here and playing with other good players.”
Chip shots
- Saturday is Dress in Blue Day at the Cologuard Classic. Fans are being asked to wear blue to help raise awareness about colon cancer. The first 10,000 fans will receive a free colon cancer awareness star pin. March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. The disease kills more than 50,000 Americans each year.
- Saturday is also the Celebrity Challenge, dubbed “Actors vs Athletes.” Movie and television star Greg Kinnear and Alfonso Ribeiro, formerly of “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” will face off against former UA and NFL standout Chuck Cecil and boxing legend Oscar De La Hoya. They will play nine holes starting at 9:30 a.m. from the first tee, take a break after they finish nine and start up again on the 10th tee around 2:45 p.m. They will be the last foursome to finish around 5 p.m. A $50,000 donation will be given to the Colorectal Cancer Alliance in the winning team’s name. The four best-dressed fans will receive blue certificates and will spend Sunday’s final round of the Cologuard Classic as honorary observers.
