Special Report: Lucchino Speaks of His Battle with Cancer

To see him around Fenway Park you can tell Larry Lucchino is a man, who loves his job. As the president and CEO of the Boston Red Sox, he has a full schedule: media interviews, greeting fans, talking with his players.

It's obvious he enjoys life. But in 1985 he received a frightening diagnosis that could have robbed him of all that. On a Friday the 13th, Larry Lucchino found out he had cancer.

Larry Lucchino, President and CEO, Boston Red Sox
"I was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, and… I didn't know how to spell it, let alone, what exactly it was."

Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma is cancer of the lymph nodes, which are important in fighting off infection.

Dr. David Avigan, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
"The chance of cure again depends on the type and the specifics and of that patients situation. How much disease they have, how old they are, what kind of shape the patient is in."

For Lucchino the analogy was simple. It was the bottom of the ninth. He was down and already had two outs.

Larry Lucchino, President and CEO, Boston Red Sox
"The type that I had, had a fairly negative prognosis."

Lucchino fought back with the same aggressive strategy he's used as a baseball executive. First, he decided to come to Boston for treatment. He had chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, even a bone marrow transplant.

Larry Lucchino, President and CEO, Boston Red Sox
"I spent, I think it was about 38 days in, essentially in isolation over there. And when I was allowed out into civilized society, it was a Saturday, and I wanted to come to Fenway… I just wanted to get back in the real world and Fenway struck me as the best place to re-emerge from the hospital… For me it's always been a place of some ‘specialness’ in the baseball universe."

After that, Larry started the slow journey from cancer patient to cancer survivor.

Larry Lucchino, President and CEO, Boston Red Sox
"It took a long time, Joe, I must tell you…It was certainly a couple years thereafter before I felt some sense of normality."

Just as life seemed to get, as he puts it, 'normal', Lucchino received more bad news. He had prostate cancer.

Larry Lucchino, President and CEO, Boston Red Sox
"This one I kept much more to myself and dealt with somewhat… greater privacy. In part because I had the strength and experience of the first time around to lean on."

Now Lucchino tries to share that same strength and experience with other cancer patients.

Larry Lucchino, President and CEO, Boston Red Sox
"We owe it to current cancer patients and future cancer patients to speak out about our experience, so that they know that you can get through these experiences."

Lucchino credits the love of his family and friends for getting him through his battle with cancer. But he says that the best medicine was to get back to the work he loves.

Larry Lucchino, President and CEO, Boston Red Sox
"I'm happily married here in Boston, live in Brookline, have a job that I love in a city that I love… And of course, all of that comes after two bouts of cancer… And therefore, I'm a lucky guy indeed."

This Sunday, Larry Lucchino will be the featured speaker at a day-long event called Celebration of Life, sponsored by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The event will honor those touched by cancer and is free to the public.

For more information visit www.bidmc.harvard.edu/celebration.