Cancer survivor already a winner

Texas Tech junior favorite in Big 12 final of shot put

By B.G. Brooks, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Friday, May 16, 2008

Through what she says was divine guidance, her parents named her Patience. Perseverance probably didn't make the divinely inspired top three, but it wouldn't have been a bad choice.

Today near the noon hour, if all goes as expected, Patience Knight will crouch, uncoil and heave the shot put in the women's final of the Big 12 Conference track and field championships at the University of Colorado's Potts Field.

Owning the best women's college throw in the nation this season (57 feet, 11 inches), Knight, a Texas Tech junior from San Antonio, is among the favorites today, which, by itself, puts her in a special category.

But her presence here elevates her to a category above that.

Count Knight as cancer survivor, but also count her battle among the more inspiring for her friends and Texas Tech teammates. "In Patience," said coach Wes Kittley, "we have the greatest example of someone who won't quit . . . we all rallied around her to make her well, and in turn, she's helped to make us well."

In February 2007, a softball- sized tumor was discovered just above Knight's heart. Having had a smaller growth removed from under her left rib cage when she was 11 years old, Knight surmised her neurofibromatosis - it's a disease causing benign tumors of the nerves and other parts of the body - once again had flared.

But the bigger tumor was malignant; Knight was suffering from Hodgkin's lymphoma. Ahead of her were six months of chemotherapy and four weeks of radiation treatment.

Continuing to throw the shot or the discus (she'll also compete in that event Sunday) were the last things on her mind . . . then again, they wouldn't be. Her doctor's advice, Knight said: "Continue with all my normal activities - as long as it didn't do anything harmful. So I went ahead and went back to practice."

But Knight did more than show up at the track. Many days fatigued, she continued to work, not to mention excel. A shot put of 48-71/4 (second) and a discus toss of 171-6 (fourth) at the Sooner Invitational qualified her for the NCAA regionals last season and provided a springboard into the 2008 indoor season, where she won the Big 12 and placed fourth in the nationals.

And through it all, Knight maintained a 3.9 grade-point average.

Best friends, teammates and fellow throwers Ozie Okolie and DeeDee Carter still are awed by, well, everything they watched. Said Carter: "Everybody feels like what they're going through is critical - boyfriend stuff, friend stuff, whatever. But when your life is on the line, that other stuff is nothing.

"For her to push her way through all that. . . . It was God's doing, and without him, there was nothing Ozie or I could do."

Friendship and faith, said Knight, anchored her: "When they told me it was cancer, I immediately thought, 'OK, this is going to be my testimony.' I hadn't really had a lot of big things happen in my life - something that you can really grow off of.

"I got to grow so much, not only as a person, but spiritually. And I think I got a little bit tougher as a person. That was pretty cool, too."

Even cooler, Knight is the winner of the 2008 Honda Inspiration Award, given annually to a female college athlete who overcomes adversity in her sport. She will receive the award June 22 in New York, where she also will visit her twin brother, Edward, a culinary arts school student.

"I'm really excited about that," Knight said. "I've been blessed."

With patience, perseverance and a lot more.

brooksb@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5466

Star performers/Day 1

* Kenyon Neuman, Bradley Harkrader, Matt Tebo, Chris Pannone, Richard Medina; Colorado, 10K

Sweeping the first five places in the opening day's final event, the Buffaloes scored 33 points and lead No. 2 Kansas by 12. Neuman's winning time was 30:40.7, while Harkrader was at 30:40.98. CU held the first four places the entire race. "I'm just happy with the fact we got so many points," Neuman said.

* Egor Agafanov, Kansas, hammer throw: The 25-year-old won his third consecutive conference outdoor title in his event. His top throw of 67.65 meters (221 feet, 11 inches) was one of six to break the Potts Field mark (60.04), with three of those by Agafanov.

* Kayla Wilkinson, Nebraska, javelin: Wilkinson also won her third conference championship in her event - but not consecutively. She clearly was the class of her field, outdistancing runner-up Jessica Wingfield of Texas A&M by more than 20 feet (182-10 to 161-08).