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Picture Courtesy of Andrew Miller NJ.com/Star Ledger
Picture Courtesy of Andrew Miller NJ.com/Star Ledger
Story Originally Appeared in NJ.com
Eben Myers has been to hundreds of track meets as a runner and as a coach. He knows a thing or two about racing against time and the push it takes to shatter a school record or beat a personal best.
But when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2009, he feared his time was up.
"For the first time in my life I was faced with something that no matter how hard I worked physically, I knew could still break me down," the 63-year-old Myers said. "I was scared. I cried like a baby."
Myers, of Rahway, has been the track and field coach at Henry Snyder High School in Jersey City for 22 years. He’s coached many all-state athletes who have gone on to win All-American national medals in high school and college.
This season Myers could add to that success as he returns to the field in his third season post-cancer.
"I’ve noticed more determination in him, a more invigorating spirit," said Willie Workman Jr., a history and special education teacher at Snyder who has known Myers for 10 years. "He has always been an excellent role model for our young people, that didn’t change."
Myers said his wife encouraged him to get a check up in September 2009 because he hadn’t been to the doctor in a while. When some blood work came back irregular, he went to a urologist in Perth Amboy who took his PSA count, a test that measures prostate produced protein which, if elevated, can be a cancer indicator. A normal count is around 4. Myers’ was at 7.2.
The initial outlook wasn’t good, according to his doctor, Eric Karp, founder and director of Rahway Regional Cancer Center. Myers’ count was too high for radioactive seed implants, a common procedure in early-diagnosed prostate cancer patients, and his spirits were low, he said.
"I spent a lot of time thinking cancer only happened to bad people. I wasn’t humble enough," Myers said, "and that affected my recovery early on."
During his 10 weeks of radiation treatment at the cancer center, Myers didn’t miss one team practice. He would go to the center at 7 a.m. and get to Snyder by 8 a.m. to teach history. At 3 p.m., track practice started.
"Helping someone else helped me," he said. "The kids were my therapy."
Now Myers encourages everyone he knows, especially black men, to go for annual screenings. "There’s a prevalent attitude in the African-American community, ‘if it don’t hurt, don’t fix it,’" he said. "That attitude could have killed me."
At first, Myers kept his diagnosis from his wife, four children, 10 grandchildren and his family at Snyder.
When he did open up — six weeks into treatment — he remembers his team silently staring at him, as if waiting for instruction.
"He told everybody to get to work, keep persevering," said Anthony Campbell, who won an All-American medal in the 4x4 relay at Snyder in 1997 and now coaches with Myers.
Track athletes at the small performing arts high school come from all around the world. Myers has runners from Vietnam, Cuba and Haiti, and has learned phrases in each of their native languages. The common denominator becomes the sport, Campbell said. "He’s a coach who makes his team into a family."
Myers is also a stickler for grades, constantly checking up on his 20 athletes. He’ll proudly tell you that 95 percent of them go on to college and excitedly rattle off names and universities of alumni. Doing school work is encouraged during down time at long meets. Tucked into his wallet is a photo of a current 600-meter runner crossing the finish line.
Every six months, Myers goes for testing at the Rahway center. His prognosis is good, Karp said, and his next challenge is losing the 30 pounds he put on.
Fatigue from the radiation treatments, followed by a broken ankle, has kept him from running, he said.
But he’s eager to get back to it.
"Running takes you away from your past and your present. I always tell my kids that," Myers said. "Anything that people do to you doesn’t matter, you’re gone. It’s a cleanser."