The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Updating the condition of Lance McFarland
08.11.2003 | Football
AUSTIN, Texas -- Lance McFarland, who played linebaker and defensive end at Texas in 2001-02, is continuing the chemotherapy program doctors established for him after he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's large cell anaplastic lymphoma in early July. He recently entered phase two of his therapy, which is scheduled to last 49 weeks into June of 2004. Recently, his mother, Jackie Ramsey, asked Mack Brown-TexasFooball.com to update all of the well wisher's on Lance.
"He's been doing okay," said Ramsey. "He's gotten an infection, and they're running some culturing sensitivity tests. He started running some fever Wednesday night, and he got a little infection where his port was, and they had to take it out and put a central line in to do his chemo. A couple of days after they took it out, they found he had an infection in his blood stream, so they're trying to trace it and test it, because he should have been shaking some of it off by now. They've got him on some really strong antibiotics, but he hasn't shaken it yet."
The infection was discovered on Friday after McFarland began running a fever at the hospital where he had been since Wednesday to receive fluids and chemotherapy. He was originally scheduled to return home Saturday, but will now remain at least through Monday.
"They want to watch him and try to get some more I.V. antibiotics in him," Ramsey said. "He's been laying around and feeling pretty good. A little bit earlier he was moving around a bit more, but he's looking really good, considering what he's been through. He's had some pretty powerful chemo."
McFarland originally noticed a lump in June, and after being diagnosed and beginning treatment, doctors also discovered a mass on his kidney. The mass on his kidney was already responding to his treatments, although it prevented the doctors from reducing the amount of chemotherapy he received.
"They were going to cut back on his chemo so he wouldn't have so many side effects, but because of finding that mass, they said they couldn't risk it with it being large cell, meaning aggressive," Ramsey said. "They didn't want to take any chances on it growing more."
Ramsey said McFarland has been given an 80-percent chance of cure and his spirits remain high despite the long road ahead.
"His spirits are really good," Ramsey said. "He has his moments, but I know when the football guys call him, he's always smiling and giggling. He's got a really good attitude. He knows that he's got a battle ahead of him, and that he's got to do what he's got to do. He has to do all of the right things for everything to go right. I think he has a good attitude about everything, and I think he's gotten a lot of love and support from everybody. That's been very, very helpful."
Part of that love and support is a large stack of letters from Longhorn fans, which he has greatly appreciated.
McFarland is receiving treatment in Houston at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the leading cancer hospital in the nation. The family hopes he may be able to visit Austin in the future, although they are very cautious due to the weakness of his immune system from the chemotherapy. However, they have begun plans for a Web site, which will include updates and pictures as he progresses.
"The really great thing about the trauma of all of this is we just realize that there are tons and tons and tons of really good people out there who were able to just take five minutes of their time and write a little note and let him know that they're thinking about him," Ramsey said. " It just touched our hearts. My sister and I sat there one day, and we just cried, because we were so touched. It meant a lot to know that my son had made some kind of impact on people, whether it was through a personal relationship or just his position on the football team. It was really, really touching."
