Recently, former 13-year NBA veteran Jason Collins revealed he had a brain tumor, and he is now undergoing treatment for Stage 4 glioblastoma.
In a piece for ESPN, Collins promised that he would continue to fight the cancer. “We aren't going to sit back and let this cancer kill me without giving it a hell of a fight,” he proclaimed. It has been a wild ride in 2025, as Collins married Brunson Green in May.
The former New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets star‘s grandmother previously fought Stage 4 stomach cancer. He will be just like her in one respect: “I'm going to fight it,” he promised.
“When they gave my grandmother her diagnosis, her doctor told her she had six months to live. Well, she ended up outliving the doctor who gave her that prognosis,” Collins said. “So when a doctor says this is what your time frame is, in my mind already like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know there's more in me. I know there's more fight in me.'”
The first step in his fight was taking Avastin, which is the “best chance of stopping the growth of the tumor and regaining any quality of life back.” Then, it was time for radiation.
Within a few days of his treatment, Collins was starting to “come out of my fog.” By October, he was taking short walks, and it's only going up from there.
He knows it won't always be easy. His career as an NBA player may help him continue to be resilient. This is nothing new for him, and Collins will continue on.
“As an athlete you learn not to panic in moments like this,” he explained. “These are the cards I've been dealt. To me it's like, ‘Shut up and go play against Shaq.' You want the challenge? This is the challenge. And there is no bigger challenge in basketball than going up against prime Shaquille O'Neal, and I've done that.”
Currently, Collins is receiving treatment at a clinic in Singapore. The clinic offers targeted chemotherapy, and this could help treat the tumors directly.
He was given an “11 to 14 month” prognosis, but Collins is going to give it his all. “If that's all the time I have left, I'd rather spend it trying a course of treatment that might one day be a new standard of care for everyone,” he concluded.
