Charles McMillian
Courtesy: Texas A&M Athletics
Courtesy: 12th Man Magazine Release: 08/26/2011 |
12th Man Magazine One of the primary reasons Texas A&M enters the 2011 football season with such high expectations is the full return of its starting secondary and several key reserves from last year. In the era of the spread offense-and especially in the predominately pass-happy Big 12-poised and proven defensive backs can often make the difference between a good season and a great one.
The A&M defensive backs, however, are more than merely experienced veterans. Defenders like Coryell Judie, Trent Hunter, Steven Campbell, Terrence Frederick, Lionel Smith and Dustin Harris have proven to be gridiron warriors. They are tough, tenacious and resilient. As individuals and as a unit, they've dealt with adversity and battled through it, transforming setbacks into comebacks.
In that regard, they also happen to have an outstanding role model. Defensive backs coach Chuck McMillian is not just a masterful strategist and mentor of young men. His impact on the A&M defensive backs also goes well beyond teaching techniques.
McMillian, who will turn 40 in December, has provided his players with quite a life lesson on staying strong in the midst of storms and conquering fears with faith. Last October, McMillian faced a foe much more imposing and intimidating than anything he'd ever encountered on the football field.
It knocked him to his knees. It rocked his world. It forced him to look into the mirror where he clearly witnessed the reflection of his own mortality.
Ultimately, though, the rare form of cancer that suddenly was detected in his kidney prior last fall strengthened McMillian's faith and renewed his commitment to live each day with courage and conviction.
"Throughout the process (last year), I would get on the Internet-probably the worst thing I could do-and I read that after surgery, I would probably have something like a 65 percent chance of living," said McMillian, who has three children, including two who have not yet started grade school. "So, I'm thinking there was at least a 35 percent chance I was about to die. When it was all said and done, the entire ordeal certainly strengthened my Christian faith because when you talk about the end, you never know when it's your time. I just want to make sure I'm doing things the right way because I have a very recent reminder that your perspective on life can change in the blink of an eye."
Or something as routine as a trip to the bathroom.
On the night of Oct. 7, 2010-two days prior to the A&M-Arkansas game in Arlington's Cowboys Stadium-McMillian tucked Mykayla, his then 4-year-old daughter, and his son, Isaiah, who was 2 at the time, into bed (he also has a college-aged daughter, Cherrelle, from a previous marriage). He then kissed his wife, A&M Consolidated High School head volleyball coach Cydryce Carter-McMillian, goodnight and drifted off to sleep.
Before the alarm clock sounded the next morning, McMillian awakened at about four in the morning needing to go to the bathroom. A couple hours later, he awoke to find blood on his body and on the sheets of his bed. He initially thought one of his kids had left a toy in the bed that had pierced him, but he could not find a cut or wound on the surface of his body. Then, when he went to the bathroom again, he was shocked to discover blood in his urine.
"I knew something was wrong right then," said McMillian, who grew up in Bryan and played for Merrill Green at Bryan High in the late 1980s. "I went to the doctor and they ran every test from A to Z. I'd been planning to take off that (Friday) morning to go to Dallas to do some recruiting. But those plans changed, and after they did an ultrasound on me, they came in and told me, 'Mr. McMillan, you're healthy. Everything looks good.'
"I said, 'Well, completely healthy people just don't urinate blood. The doctor wanted me to stay through Saturday, but Dr. (Richard) Smith, our team doctor, had come with me and told her I had a football game on Saturday, and we had plenty of doctors if something went wrong. For two and a half days, I urinated blood. The following Monday I went through some procedures that weren't fun, and on Wednesday, I went through a CAT scan in Dr. Smith's office. Dr. Smith came out to practice and told me they found a possible tumor in my kidney. When he said that, it was a shock. We went to M.D. Anderson in Houston, and the doctor told me that when a tumor is found in the kidney, there is an 80 percent chance it's malignant."
Further tests soon revealed McMillian's tumor was, indeed, malignant. After receiving that news, the typically upbeat and optimistic McMillian visited with his pastor in Bryan. They prayed together, and he says he began to experience a sense of peace about the diagnosis.
"At that point, I knew I was going to be fine and I was putting all my faith in God," said McMillian, who played defensive back for two years at San Jose City Junior College before transferring to Utah State for his final two years of eligibility (1993-94). "I didn't know the size of the tumor at that point, but the blessing was that it was very small, less than the size of a centimeter (in diameter). Usually, a tumor in the kidney does not appear until it's the size of a softball. We went from talking about removing the whole kidney to where, after surgery, the doctor was able to save 95 percent of the kidney."
McMillian continued coaching the secondary throughout the rest of the season, and the blood in his urine disappeared in the week after the Arkansas game as mysteriously as it had first appeared. He says his doctors are still not sure why the blood appeared in the first place. But McMillian is grateful it did, as that is what sent him to doctors and hospitals in search of answers.
Those answers saved most of his kidney.
Shortly after the Aggies returned to Cowboys Stadium to face LSU in the Cotton Bowl, McMillian underwent successful surgery to remove the tiny tumor. His surgeons commended McMillian for being in outstanding shape, which was a blessing and a curse. The doctors said the most difficult part of the surgery was cutting through McMillian's clearly defined abdominal muscles.
While the surgery was a success, the recovery process was agonizing. Because surgeons sliced through his abdominal muscles, McMillian could barely move without enduring severe pain. He stayed in the hospital for four days after the surgery, and he stayed in his bed as much as possible in the ensuing weeks.
"It was really rough," said McMillian, who coached previously at TCU, Indiana, Cincinnati, Navy (twice) and Boise State before being hired by Mike Sherman at A&M prior to the 2008 season. "I really didn't lose much weight, maybe something like seven pounds, but it was very painful to even move after the surgery. I recovered enough to go through spring ball, but when I raised my voice, I found myself grabbing my stomach.
"(In July), I finally felt good enough to begin playing basketball again. For the most part, I'm back to normal and just need to get myself back in shape. I try not to take my health for granted anymore. I know I'm blessed to be in this physical condition less than a year after being diagnosed with cancer. I'm very grateful for that."
McMillian is also grateful to be coaching again. He is passionate about working with the young men in the defensive backfield, and he is obviously a tremendous coach. McMillian was the only defensive coach Sherman kept prior to the 2010 season when he hired a new defensive coordinator (Tim DeRuyter), two new linebackers coaches (Dat Nguyen and Nick Toth) and a new defensive line coach (Terrell Williams).
McMillian, who grew up in a big family of five sisters and two brothers, says he is excited about the 2011 season for many reasons. He believes A&M is capable of making this season a particularly memorable one, and he is excited about working with a defensive backfield that is loaded with potential postseason award winners.
Most of all, he's excited about the opportunity to coach this season with a clean bill of health. McMillian says doctors are still not sure of the form of cancer he battled. It was so rare that the surgeons declared it a new form of cancer.
Regardless of what the cancer is called, McMillian feels called to incorporate the cancer scare of 2010 into his overall story of faith and football.
"My strength as a coach and a man comes from putting God first and that is one thing that Coach Sherman also stresses to the players," McMillian said. "Obviously, we can't tell our players what to believe in, but I personally believe in Jesus Christ, and I am going to put him first in my life in the good times and the tough times.
"I sure didn't ask to go through cancer, but I do feel like it tested me and strengthened me. I always want to be honest with my players. I'm not going to pretend I'm a perfect coach or that I was a perfect student back in my days. I'm not going to pretend that I've never had fears or setbacks, either. I know there will be some guys who are going to miss class and do stupid things, so I tell them my story so that I can relate to them better and they know what I've been through."
Surviving cancer is now part of what McMillian's gone through. And he has the battle scars to prove that he can handle "gut-check" time...on the field and off.
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