from Dan Rosen of NHL.com,
Mike Keenan's fearlessness comes through as clear as the stern directions he used to give his players.
"So far, so good," the 68-year-old former NHL coach said at the start of a phone interview Wednesday.
Keenan has prostate cancer. The coach who led the New York Rangers to the 1994 Stanley Cup championship and won 672 NHL games, ninth all-time, was diagnosed in May and on Sept. 18 had a procedure called prostate brachytherapy, an implantation of seeds into the prostate that slowly dissolve, releasing radiation to kill the cancer cells.
He said he could have opted for a prostatectomy, the surgical removal of the prostate, or regular rounds of daily radiation treatments, but doctors at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, where he was treated, told him his cancer made him a candidate for the brachytherapy, a one-day treatment that uses needles to implant the seeds.
He's scheduled to have a checkup early next month to determine if any of the seeds dislodged from the prostate and if the cancer has spread.
"It's a positive prognosis because they caught it early and it wasn't extreme cancer," Keenan said. "It was moderate, and you can have less moderate or more extreme. For example, the procedure I did have, not everyone qualifies for it. If you're more advanced or you have a more extreme diagnosis than I had, most likely you have to have surgery to remove your prostate."
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