The Southeastern Conference will help raise awareness of prostate cancer prevention and honor former commissioner Mike Slive, who battled the disease during his athletics administration career, with Prostate Cancer Awareness Games on each of the 14 league campuses during the month of September.
Mike Slive was working at his stand-up desk in Chicago when the call came from his doctor.
"Are you sitting down?" the doctor asked. "I said, 'no, talk to me.' He said you've got prostate cancer and we need to figure out how to treat it."
It was 1996. Slive was serving as commissioner of Conference USA at the time.
Like many prostate cancer patients, Slive had no symptoms when the cancer was discovered. He had been in for a routine PSA check, and his numbers were high.
"It was a long time ago," Slive recalled. "There were different kinds of treatment available at that time, but they didn't have longitudinal studies to know if they were really effective. So I sat down with my family, and we decided to have surgery."
Doctors removed his entire prostate in a procedure that would be considered primitive by today's standards. It was a four-hour surgery requiring a major incision, blood transfusions and a long, tough recovery.
Doctors told Slive there was a 20 percent chance some of the cancer cells may have escaped the prostate, but he didn't have any issues for another five years. Then his PSA started to rise again.
"If you don't have a prostate and your (PSA) numbers start to rise, that tells you there is some activity you would prefer not to have."
Slive still had no symptoms, which he says is important for men to understand.
"At that level, there are no symptoms, so it doesn't really affect how you live your life," Slive said. "That's what is important for people to realize. You need to have your PSA checked, because you're not going to have any symptoms unless you don't take a look and it catches up with you."
Slive underwent radiation in the pelvic region in 2001, and his PSA numbers dropped. He came to the SEC as commissioner a year later and didn't have any problems for another five years. Then his PSA started rising again.
Doctors started hormone therapy to bring his PSA down, Slive kept working and he never really worried.
"I was busy and living a full life and didn't have any symptoms. I'm the kind of person whose cup is always half full, it's never half empty. Things went okay. We checked it periodically."
Slive had no significant issues with his health again for years. Then cancer came crashing back into his life during one of the most momentous times of his remarkable career.
Not long after SEC Media Days in the summer of 2014, Slive took his wife, Liz, and his family to Atlanta to get away for a few days. Walking down the hall of his hotel, he felt a pain he'd never felt before in his abdomen.
"We couldn't figure out what it was," he said. "But the pain began to increase substantially."
Doctors thought it might be an issue with his digestive system. Test after test turned out negative.
"I had a series of tests and significant pain over a three to four-week period. It got to the point I was hoping one of the tests would say something was wrong so we could figure out what it was."
That day would come soon enough. And it would be far worse than anything he or his family imagined.
It was August of 2014, and the league had just launched the SEC Network with great fanfare. School presidents, athletic directors and league officials gathered with ESPN brass for a grand party in Charlotte to celebrate the most successful launch in the history of cable television.
But something was wrong.
"It was a big evening," Slive said. "When I got there, I had trouble walking. It was to the point we had to make sure the podium was on the floor so I didn't have to climb any stairs."
The commissioner gave a short speech and was rushed out of the event by his family.
Three days later, doctors did an MRI on his spine. He finally had an answer.
"They told me what you don't ever want to hear. The prostate cancer had metastasized to my spine and had started to wrap around my spinal cord."
Dr. Mark Hadley, a "superb neurosurgeon" at UAB, came out and delivered some jarring news.
"He said, 'don't move. We can't let you fall. If you fall, you're going to be paralyzed.'"
Dr. Hadley performed the surgery the next morning. Cancer had invaded the thoracic spine, the upper and middle portion of the back that protects vital organs and holds the body upright. Hadley removed the cancer and inserted titanium gates in Slive's spine all the way from the T5 to T11 vertebrae. The surgery was a success.
"The pain went away, and most importantly, I was able to walk. I walk a little differently, but I walk."
But that was just the beginning. Slive still had to endure an aggressive treatment plan at MD Anderson in Houston. Dr. Christopher Logothetis, one of the foremost prostate cancer doctors in the country, decided on 10 rounds of radiation and a course of chemotherapy.
"I had chemo a little earlier than usual after the radiation, so it was a little rough," Slive said. "There was not much time between radiation and chemo because of concerns about my ability to walk."
Losing his hair was the least of worries for Slive, who still had a conference to run.
"I tell everyone chemo is no fun. Everyone knows there are side effects that are unpleasant. The good news is that I saved a lot of money on haircuts and razor blades."
The biggest challenge was fighting fatigue and stomach issues caused by the chemo.
"One of the side effects of chemo is fatigue. So most of the time during chemo, when I was feeling really good I would go to the office, but when I was just feeling okay, I would just work from home. The SEC staff would come to my house and we would talk. They did such a good job, we didn't lose a step in the administration of the league."
Slive had his last chemo treatment in March. He went back for a check-up two months later and was clear. He'll go back again in September to determine what treatment, if any, comes next.
"Right now we're in a holding pattern, but I feel very good," Slive said.
It's been a hard fight, harder than Slive will fully admit. But he never lost his sunny outlook on life.
"I never lost my optimism. I never lost my spirit. I never had any thoughts about feeling sorry for myself. I was always positive, and it was a competitive thing. Cancer is a worthy competitor. Cancer cells are very smart. They know how to mutate, so when you try to treat them they know how to change direction and go somewhere else. That's why you need such good care."
Slive wants those who are fighting cancer to know that having a positive attitude is critical during treatment.
"The mental attitude and being upbeat helps the chemotherapy," he said.
He encourages all men to talk to their doctors about the appropriate time to begin screening for prostate cancer. While there is some confusing debate in medical circles about when or how prostate cancer should be treated in some cases, Slive offers simple advice.
"What's not confusing is that as men age, it's imperative they get checked for prostate cancer. Get your PSA checked. That's just good care. When you have cancer, you are confronted with a myriad of choices, and it's important you do a lot of research. Then you have to make a choice."
That choice might be surgery or treatment. Or it could be "watchful waiting."
"Watchful waiting is when you know you have it and you just watch it. There is some risk to that. We went through that whole decision-making process."
Now that he is retired, Slive wants to do his part to raise awareness for prostate cancer. He was "wonderfully moved" when the SEC athletic directors voted for a conference-wide awareness campaign this fall.
"I have been treated extraordinarily well since my retirement announcement and since my retirement," Slive said. "I always wanted to help contribute to the awareness of prostate cancer and for the league to create this opportunity was very special to me."
Now that he has retired and his treatment is over, Slive plans to enjoy the simple pleasures of life. A good book and a nice cigar on his porch. A sip of bourbon every now and then. And the one thing that matters more to him than anything else. His family.
"I want to give back to my wife all of the time that we missed while I was working. I want to spend time with my daughter, Anna, and her husband, Judd, and my granddaughter, Abigail, who is the light of my life. She and her Papa have a very special relationship, which I cherish."
Slive is grateful for the team of doctors who treated him. He's grateful for friends and family who loved, encouraged and prayed for him throughout the ordeal. He's even grateful for the perspective gained from the fight of his life.
"The sky is bluer, and the flowers are prettier," he said. "You want to make sure you say to your family that you love them every day, and you treasure every minute of every day. I say to myself, if you want to have a fight with me, bring it on. We'll take you on, and we're going to win."