Cross country feature: Back on course

Steve Virgen

Two roads diverged in a wood And I took the one less traveled by

And that has made all the difference -- Robert Frost

Passion does not come by chance. Passion is not a gift. Matt Doyle is

the evidence.

His life indicates loss breeds desire, the will to overcome. When

doctors discovered a tumor the size of a cantaloupe that took up half of

his left lung, Doyle prepared for a long and hilly road. The Newport

Harbor High junior, who is on the Sailors’ junior varsity cross country

team, wondered if he would ever run again. Stunned, he wondered if he

would ever breathe again.

“I was shocked to find out that I got the tumor,” said Doyle, who

earned the Special Achievement Award in the Mt. San Antonio College

Invitational Saturday. “The first thing I asked was, ‘ Will I be able to

run?’ The doctor told me (a week after surgery) that I wouldn’t be able

to run for another two years. I proved him wrong.”

*

Doyle became ill in October, 2000. Pneumonia weakened his body and he

could not run. He knew he had to visit the doctor’s office. And that’s

when the tumor was found.

The tumor was lymphatic and in its teratoma stage (teratoma, from the

Greek teratos which means monster, as in monstrous growth), growing to

half the size of his left lung. Doctors had to act fast as the tumor

pushed at Doyle’s heart and his lung was collapsing. At Fountain Valley

Regional Hospital, surgeons did not want to perform surgery on Doyle’s

birthday, Nov. 4, so they did it the day before.

Over one month, Doyle endured three biopsies and then one surgery to

remove the tumor and, hopefully, all the cancer. After the first biopsy,

when living tissue is removed for examination, doctors discovered the

tumor was malignant or in its end stage. This meant when the tumor would

be taken out, the cancer would remain.

With the second biopsy, the diagnosis changed. The tumor was not

malignant. It was mature, a grade lower than malignant.

The third biopsy, the extraction of a portion of the tumor, which

doctors said rarely grows in the lung, revealed the growth weighed three

pounds and had caused internal bleeding. The results pressed the surgeons

to go to work.

To think, Doyle had lived his entire life with this tumor. It was only

until he hit puberty, that the cells formed the tumor and it began to

grow ... and grow. He said he looked in amazement as doctors revealed the

pictures of the growth inside him.

“It freaked me out,” Doyle said.

Then came the surgery.

The muscles in his arms and legs atrophied to the point that he

possessed very little strength.

There was also the risk of death during surgery. In addition, there

was no promise all the cancer would be removed. In fact, doctors expected

Doyle would be left with traces of cancer, even with the tumor gone.

But Doyle beat the odds.

“We had a miracle,” said Doyle’s mother, Kim, who slept in a chair at

her child’s side before and after the surgery, for more than two months.

“When they did the final surgery and took the tumor out, they couldn’t

find cancer. The doctors couldn’t explain that. I’m taking it as a

miracle.”

*

On Nov. 4, Doyle will celebrate his 17th birthday. Last year, was

hardly a celebration. Amid the rehabilitation from the surgery, Doyle

learned that his most cherished activity would be stripped from him for

the next two years. Half of his lung was gone, so doctors advised light

activity in Doyle’s rehabilitation. He would not be able to run cross

country. But Doyle would have none of that.

“I thought, ‘I’m still going to run,’ ” Doyle said. “I’m not going to

listen to him. But, I was so worried about not being able to run, because

I like running so much. It just makes me feel good when I run. I just

like the feel of when I keep going and going and going.”

Doyle immediately focused on a comeback. He received support from his

brother Nick, 12, sister Sarah, 10, and his mother, a single parent the

past three years.

Also, Doyle’s Newport Harbor teammates and Coach Bim Barry visited him

during his rehabilitation, providing added inspiration.

A year later, Doyle is back on course. Now, it’s his strides that are

providing inspiration for the Sailors. Doyle’s first meet back was the

Sea View League Invitational, the last meet he competed in before the

tumor was discovered. Last week, he completed the notably difficult Mt.

SAC cross country course and won the Special Achievement Award.

“I wouldn’t be the same if I was in his situation,” Barry said. “I

wouldn’t be doing what he is doing. I would probably be feeling sorry for

myself.”

Kim Doyle has also been inspired by her son’s recovery.

“I cry every time he takes off, because I have him back,” she said.

“Especially from seeing him not being able to breathe, and he was

bleeding, hooked up to all the monitors ... to see him running now is

quite incredible.”

*

When Doyle lifts his left arm, the scars near his ribs are visible.

That doesn’t matter to Doyle because, he says, the cancer is gone. He

undergoes a monthly CT scan to determine whether the tumor has returned.

However, in Doyle’s mind, the cancer will never come back. The thought

keeps his legs moving today as he runs in a Sea View League meet at

Woodbridge. His three-mile times average about 30 minutes, but

championships are not his quest. Finishing races and competing on the

varsity squad next year are his goals.

He said he has learned to cherish life more because of what he has

been through the past year and those experiences motivate him in each

race.

“For me, it’s all about finishing the race because they told me I

wouldn’t be able to finish races,” Doyle said. “They told me I wouldn’t

run.”