Coach won't let surgery stop him
By Josh Robbins
Sentinel Staff Writer
January 16, 2002
EUSTIS -- "Atta boy!"
"Stay with it now!"
"Nice job, Andrew!"
If you listened to Chet Lemon coach the Eustis High baseball team through its first practice of the year Tuesday, nothing sounded out of the ordinary, apart from a little hoarseness to Lemon's voice.
A glance at Lemon tells a different story. His cheeks sunken and his temples indented, Lemon spent much of Tuesday's practice sitting in a golf cart instead of hitting fly balls or pitching batting practice.
For Lemon, Tuesday marked an opportunity to lose himself in his passion, baseball, and forget about how he fought for his life less than a month ago.
Lemon suffers from polycythemia vera, a rare disorder that causes his bone marrow to produce an overabundance of red blood cells, making his blood thicker than a healthy person's.
The disorder can result in life-threatening blood clots or, in some cases, transform into acute leukemia, which Lemon said he does not have.
"I think being out there with the kids is going to help a lot, because that tends to help you forget about a lot of things," Lemon said.
But how could he forget completely?
In December, Lemon found himself in a Jacksonville hospital fighting for his life. His spleen -- an organ that protects against infections and filters and stores blood -- had ballooned to help recycle the overabundance of red blood cells.
Lemon's spleen had swelled to seven pounds, many times more than a healthy person's. The condition cut down his appetite dramatically and left him doubled-over in pain much of the time.
The surgery took 61/2 hours and was complicated by several factors. Lemon declined to receive blood, in accordance with his beliefs as a Jehovah's Witness. He had to stop taking anti-clotting medicines before the surgery to prevent excessive bleeding during and after the procedure.
R.C. Keeton, an outfielder and pitcher for Eustis, visited Lemon at St. Luke's Hospital of the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville several days after the surgery.
"He was out of it," Keeton recalled. "He had some painkillers before we went in there, so he seemed like he was getting a little bit drowsy. But when I was there, it was nothing but determination.
"He didn't seem to care about his big surgery. He was just talking about baseball the whole time -- what his expectations for the team were, what his expectations for himself were."
Lemon, who will turn 47 next month, was first diagnosed with the disorder during a routine physical in the spring of 1990. That season was the last of his 16-year Major League career, which he split between the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers.
The cause of polycythemia vera is not known and there was no family history of the illness, said Lemon's younger brother, Leo Lemon. Doctors have told family members that patients with the disorder can live a very long time.
Leo Lemon, a former minor-league baseball player, moved from Southern California to Central Florida late last year. "It was actually day and night, because when he picked me up from the airport, he was so toned," Leo Lemon said. "I never knew anything was wrong with him. Then, all of a sudden, it just hit him."
It was simply the most recent of scares the illness has brought to Chet Lemon, who had been hospitalized with life-threatening blood clots in his abdomen before.
Each Thursday, Lemon visits St. Luke's Hospital in Jacksonville for a series of blood tests to monitor his condition. "So far, everything's been perfect," he said. "They said my liver's been great. My liver function has been great. My kidneys have been great."
It's agony when he and his wife, Gigi, await the test results. "That's always a fear every time we go," he said.
Tuesday afternoon's practice at Stuart Cottrell Field helped Lemon lose himself in baseball's nuances as he watched his players -- who reached the regional finals last season -- go through fielding drills.
"It's a touch-and-go thing, but he's uplifted," Leo Lemon said. "That's a good thing. That's what I like to see, because at first he was really, really down. He didn't want to go through the operation, but it was at the point where he had to. It was life and death."
Those memories faded somewhat on Tuesday, and Chet Lemon pledges to remain with the team throughout the year. "I've got to move forward," he said.
Josh Robbins can be reached at [email protected].
Copyright © 2002, Orlando Sentinel