Eddie Olczyk On Cancer Battle: 'I Feel Very Confident That I'm Going To Beat This'
(670 The Score) Twenty-seven days and two sessions of chemotherapy remain for Eddie Olczyk, the beloved Chicago native, former Blackhawk and hockey broadcaster who's battling colon cancer.
Olczyk has inspired countless people with his positive demeanor amid a courageous battle. He has undergone biweekly treatments, often working Blackhawks or national hockey broadcasts during the timein between. Olczyk has described this ordeal as a grind and a battle and added he's through 10 of 12 rounds of chemotherapy.
"I'm just looking forward to putting this in the rearview mirror and getting back to what I love to do," Olczyk said on the Spiegel & Parkins Show on Thursday. "And that's doing hockey games, doing some horse racing and get back to some normalcy so to speak and hopefully put this cancer behind me.
"It's not only the physical part, the side effects that come with it, but it is the mental part of it that really debilitates you. It cuts you down. It tests your belief, it tests your strength. It tests your belief in the big guy. That's the reality of it.
"I feel very confident that I'm going to beat this. But there is that part hanging over my head, is like what is that scan going to show me a few weeks after my last treatment? Is it going to tell me what I want to hear? Is it going to tell me what I need to know? And that's the scary part. Look, I'm still scared to death for sure."
In early August, it was revealed that the 51-year-old Olczyk was diagnosed with colon cancer and had begun treatment for the disease.
Olczyk played 16 years in the NHL, including five years over two stints in his hometown of Chicago, and has been broadcasting Blackhawks games since 2006. He later joined the NBC Sports national hockey broadcasts alongside partner Mike "Doc" Emerick.
The hope for Olczyk is for good news on his post-treatment scans and to return to the broadcast booth shortly after.
"I do see that finish line," he said. "I do see that wire. It's coming, and it's coming quickly. I just want to get through these two treatments with flying colors, have a positive scan and then I'll maybe be able to take a deeper breath and put my mind at ease.
"Anybody that goes through this horrible disease is tough. I don't care what anybody says; you are not weak. You are tough to have to go through this, because it's horrible and I wouldn't wish this on anybody."
