One Percent Chance

By Redmond Zmudzien

Being on the field at this year’s FIL World Championship is something that Chris Sanderson appreciates just a little bit more than his peers.

Sanderson, a 36 year old native of Orangeville, Ontario, was given the go ahead to play goalie for Team Canada in the international tournament after a long battle with cancer.  In 2008 Sanderson was diagnosed with a grade IV glioma, which is a malignant brain tumor also known as Glioblastoma Multiforme.  In December of 2008 Sanderson had the brain tumor removed.

“It was pretty dire; I was given nine to 12 months to live best case scenario,” Sanderson said.  “Obviously lacrosse wasn’t in the plans.”

It’s been a long and difficult road for Sanderson, but he has recovered to a point that most doctors believed he would never reach.  When he was diagnosed with the brain tumor it appeared his storied lacrosse career was all but over.  Sanderson had to focus on his health because it wasn’t just his lacrosse career that was in jeopardy; so was his life.  However, Sanderson refused to let the tumor take over and he dedicated his life to beating it and returning to the World Championship.

“I had it in my mind I was going,” Sanderson said.

Many thought it was a pipe dream since the type of tumor that Sanderson had is considered deadly.  As long as there was a chance though, no matter how small, he refused to give in not just for the sake of his lacrosse career, but for his wife and two daughters.

“One percent survive the brain tumors…we could be that one percent.  I think we took it as a challenge,” Sanderson said.  “After that point we didn’t want to hear number and percentages from the doctors anymore, we set out to beat this thing.  A big part of this was lacrosse.”

The road to recovery has been a painful, yet rewarding one for Sanderson.  At one point he went through 38 days straight of radiation while simultaneously going through chemotherapy.  Sanderson described the whole process as “anxiety inducing,” but he never lost hope.  And the longer the difficult recovery went on, the more the one percent chance began to grow.  Sanderson continued to get better and soon he had his mind set on playing lacrosse again.  Not just playing, but representing Team Canada at the World Championship.

“Oh it’s great, I don’t know how this thing got spun up that I just found out, but I knew in May [that I was going to play].  I get MRI’s every two months, so it was great to know then.”

Once he had the go ahead from doctors that he could play without jeopardizing his treatment he was “packed, prepared and ready to go.”

Ready to resume his storied lacrosse career.  He won a gold medal with Team Canada in the last FIL tournament.  With Sanderson as its goalie in 2006, Canada won its first world title in 28 years.  The 2010 tournament will be his fourth straight stint as Canada’s starting goalie.  The Canadians took home the silver medal in 1998 and 2002 before winning gold in ’06 and his record of 14-5 ranks as the best ever by a goalie in the World Games. 

Sanderson also played goalie in the National Lacrosse League from 1999-2003 and was an assistant coach for the NLL’s Philadelphia Wings from 2005-2007.  Sanderson loves the game so much that within a month of his surgery he was back behind the bench coaching the Wings.  The Ontario native also was a member of the Virginia Cavaliers from 1995-98 as he led his college squad to two Final Four appearances during his tenure.  It’s safe to say that lacrosse has been an integral part of his life.

“Playing at a high level gave me the competitive spirit and the determination to get after this thing,” Sanderson said.

Even with treatment leaving him tired and weak Sanderson knew he could once again be the stopper for his country.  So he told Team Canada head coach Dave Huntley that he was confident he could return to playing the demanding position as well as excelling at it once again. 

And excel is exactly what Sanderson has done since returning to the field.  Canada scrimmaged Scotland Tuesday in preparation for its first game Friday against Japan.  In that game Sanderson got the start in net and played as if he hadn’t missed a beat, despite the fact he hadn’t played field lacrosse since Canada won the gold in ‘06. 

In a Team Canada press release, players and coaches used words like “awesome” and “terrific” to describe Sanderson’s play.  Huntley even described Sanderson as a “fine wine” sitting in a cellar for all this time, simply growing better with age.  Sanderson was also named one of the team’s four captains on Wednesday, along with Brodie Merrill, John Grant Jr. and Shawn Williams.       

Team Canada kicks off its run for a repeat as World Champions Friday July 16 when they take on Japan in Manchester, England. 

Sanderson still goes through chemotherapy and struggles with the since removed brain tumor every day, but one medicine will certainly make that battle all the easier; a gold medal. 

“Originally my goal was to get here, but as we got closer [and I trained more] I felt like I’d been playing better than I ever had,” Sanderson said.  “[Now] our goal is to get back to that championship game and win.”

2010 Major League Lacrosse Championship Weekend presented by Warrior
August 21-22, Annapolis, MD
For information and tickets go to www.majorleaguelacrosse.com