THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 20, 1994 TAG: 9407200528
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL LEFFLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
Dan Ward has faced tougher obstacles than the Elizabeth Manor golf course.
Cancer, for one.
So it wasn't much of a contest when Ward, 39, qualified Tuesday for this week's Eastern Amateur by winning the annual First Flight tournament, shortened by rain to Monday's 18 holes.
In January, a doctor advised Ward that without chemotherapy treatments he might have just six months to live.
Now, more than six months later, the 5-foot-8, 178-pound Ward - his treatments completed - is ``just getting back to playing golf.''
``He's under treatment for malignancy,'' said Ward's local doctor, Robert Burger. ``I'm not surprised he's able to play. People like to maintain as normal a lifestyle as possible and he loves to play golf.''
It's been like this for 14 years off and on for Ward, a No. 1 player at Norfolk's Maury High School in the 1970s.
``I had a mole high on my back fester up and a dermatologist took it off,'' Ward recalled. ``A biopsy was taken and it was malignant.''
The lump was removed and for nine years ``everything went well.''
Then a lump appeared in his shoulder near his neck. That was removed and radiation treatments followed.
Just prior to last Christmas, a lump on his leg was discovered during a six-month checkup. The malignancy had returned, he was told.
Ward said he had to quit his job at Norfolk Wire Company when he struggled with the chemotherapy treatments. At times, his body temperature ran up to 105 degrees. At other times, he felt as though he was freezing. He was losing weight.
``My doctor told me I had to have these treatments,'' Ward said. ``I asked him what if I didn't take them. He said I would probably be dead in six months.''
Ward now receives a daily shot of interleuken to stimulate his natural immune system. That has enabled him to resume physical activities - including golf.
``This has really lifted me up,'' he said. ``I felt like visiting my cousin in California and while I was there I played five rounds of golf.
``I guess I played a dozen rounds since the chemotherapy, so it was a little surprising when I shot the 68 Monday.''
Dan's fiancee, Terri Martin, caddied for him. His father, Norfolk attorney William Ward, came to watch.
``Dan has maintained a marvelous bravery through all of this,'' said the elder Ward. ``I can tell you he will fight it with all he has. I'm not a religious fanatic but I do believe in God. . . . Maybe a miracle will come for Dan.''
With ``more important things than golf to be concerned about,'' Ward said the game is just for fun now. ``I'm just having a good time this week,'' he said.
Ward played at Maury at the same time that Curtis Strange, who went on to win two U.S. Open championships, was the No. 1 player at Princess Anne High School.
When Strange won the state junior championship in his senior year, he beat Ward by one shot.
The two went to the National Junior Championships in Dallas and both advanced to the quarterfinals.
``Now I'm playing to a 3-handicap,'' Ward said. ``I wanted to play in the Eastern but I was too late in deciding to enter. So I had to play my way in.''
Ward was on the seventh hole Tuesday when rain washed out the day's scores. He parred the first six holes, picking up a stroke for a two-shot lead over Lennie Luke, who bogeyed No. 1, and Jack Barrett and John Hall.
Tournament officials called a 2-hour, 52-minute delay, hoping the entire field could complete at least nine holes, but lightning prompted the cancellation.
Advancing to the Eastern field along with Ward, Luke, Barrett and Hall were Donnie Simpson, Clarence Norton and Mel Holland at 71, Al McCarthy, Rick Garrity, John Field and David Williams at 72 and Eddie Kurpiel III at 73. Kurpiel, son a former Norfolk Tides player from the 1977 and 1978 seasons, gained the last berth by winning a scorecard playoff. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
BILL TIERNAN/Staff
Dan Ward has received support from his fiancee and caddie, Terri
Martin.
Dan Ward chips onto the fifth green Tuesday. Playing golf again
``has really lifted me up,'' he said.
by CNB