In 2013, Phillies legend Mike Schmidt brought a mole on his hand to the attention of his physician. That conversation led to the discovery of another mole on his back, one that indicated the presence of melanoma, a form of skin cancer. Schmidt would undergo surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, eventually being diagnosed as cancer-free.
In the decade-plus since, Schmidt has used his platform as one of baseball’s greatest, in partnership with the Richard David Kann Melanoma Foundation, to spread awareness about melanoma prevention and the oft-overlooked practice of safe sun protection.
On Thursday, April 3, Schmidt visited Holy Name of Jesus Church in Fishtown to meet with students from the St. Laurentius Catholic School of the Arts & Sciences and discuss skin cancer prevention and sun-smart practices. Ahead of the event, Schmidt sat down with Metro Philadelphia to discuss his personal journey, the Richard David Kann Melanoma Foundation, and the evolution of the conversation about sun protection.
What initially went through your mind when you first heard the diagnosis?
I could die. I mean, it hits pretty hard because of melanoma; the words are a little scary. It’s the worst type of skin cancer you can have; people die from it. It wasn’t a death sentence in 2013 but it surely could happen. If you go back 10 years, 15, 20 years prior to that, it might have been more of a death sentence. You know, the percentage of people who died from melanoma was quite higher in the 80s and 90s. In fact, I know a lot of people who’ve lost loved ones. In fact, I hear that now because of what I do and what I’ve gone through.
For me, when you hear that news, it doesn’t come with “don’t worry about it.” You know the odds are you dying; they don’t send that message with it. So you don’t know any of the statistics. You right away go, ‘Oh my God, why me?’ And it’s cancer, right? The words cancer and melanoma are quite scary, so right away, I was able to connect with the best medical people in both the Jupiter Palm Beach area and right away with the do the same with the people up in Boston, where I spend my summers. So, I had that going for me. I had the best there is to lead me.
A lot of things came together quickly: the removal of lymph nodes and the melanoma on my back and then getting into whatever immunotherapies I needed to do. [The] first one failed, the second one saved my life, and still on the journey, got my pills right here. And once I felt like I was kind of, I didn’t beat it; it can always come back, but once I felt like I was cancer-free and had my wits about me, I partnered up with the Richard David Kann Melanoma Foundation, [founded by] the mother of my oncologist in Florida, which has a foundation to raise money and awareness about skin cancer, and I became on the board with them.
And then, I developed my own initiative here in Philadelphia, which I spend most of my time, if not all of my time related to skin cancer here, rather than down in Palm Beach, but I am on the board down there. so that’s pretty much where I am right now. I’m trying to communicate to as many people as I can the dangers of the sun’s rays and how to protect yourself, how to respect that, and how to be aware that that can happen and you do the damage when you’re young. All those kids out there need to know that the damage is done at the age they are now, not their parents’ age.
All the damage I have going on in my skin and back then, all the lymph nodes carried it around my body, and all of that, that damage was all done when I was a kid, and now I’m suffering from it.
When you were playing in the league, was there even a conversation about sun protection?
No, never. Skin cancer, the two words were never mentioned my entire career. During my career, it wasn’t until I was a coach around spring training later in life, after I had been retired for over 10 years, that I actually saw sunscreen in the minute in the shower, in the minute shower, or a sunscreen bottle by the door when you go out to the field.
Thanks to you, folks at Citizens Bank Park now have access to sunblock — Schmidt, along with the Phillies and the RDK Melanoma Foundation placed 12 sunblock dispensers around Citizens Bank Park in May 2017.
They do. I try to impress upon — we actually did a PSA today — I try to impress upon as many people as I can at Citizens Bank Park the importance of using sunscreen and covering their arms and their faces and everything.
As you said, you didn’t “beat [cancer],” but when you heard that you were cancer-free, what was your first thought?
I had seven spots in my brain from melanoma and 12 in my lungs. Now, when you say spots, what does that mean? I think it’s smaller than a pencil eraser, just enough to know it’s there, which meant radiation, lung radiation. I had cyber knife radiation on my brain, had brain surgery, I got a scar across here, and it’s not like they took part of my brain out. It’s like there was a little, a little spot that was causing my right arm to do some funny things, and so that had to be removed.
So kind of like, when all that was done, it was like an “exhale.” Now I’m relieved that my lungs are clear, my brain is clear. We’ve done everything we can do. You know, I still take these (shows a container of pills), and I still occasionally get the needle in my arm, just as a refresher, you know. But, you know it’s bad too; sometimes I really forget that I had melanoma, and that’s a great thing to be able to do that.
That’s happy, but, you know, until I sit down all by myself and, you know, and do that, when I thank the Lord for allowing me to have what I call the bonus years. You know, I didn’t die, so I’m kind of on my bonus life right now, and I try to make the best of it. And I’m sure I’ll tell the kids out there when they ask me about my spiritual life, how it all, I mean, it didn’t change, but it made me have a totally new and different outlook on every day that I get.
For more information on Mike Schmidt’s work to raise awareness for skin cancer prevention, sun-smart practices, and the work of the Richard David Kann Melanoma Foundation, visit melanomafoundation.com.
