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LB Chris Spielman (2x All-American, 4x Pro Bowl, 3x All-Pro, CFB HOF)

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Spielman gives his all to raise awareness of breast cancer
Former NFL linebacker is man on a mission
BY DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR

When Chris Spielman was wreaking havoc on the college and pro football fields, the legendary linebacker credited his success to a relentless drive to outwork, outlift, and outrun the competition.

But the Ohio State All-American and four time NFL Pro Bowl player found himself facing a different and much more sinister foe in July, 1998, when his wife and high school sweetheart, Stefanie, was diagnosed with breast cancer.

For the first time in his life, Mr. Spielman said in a recent interview, he found himself facing an opponent he could not defeat through his own skills, strength, and determination. "I had no control. I had to submit to God and accept that no matter what the outcome, there's got to be trust. There's got to be a plan," he said.

Mr. Spielman will talk about his and his wife's long battle with breast cancer on Friday as the featured speaker at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes event at CedarCreek Church in Perrysburg.

For the 11 years after her diagnosis, the Spielmans poured everything they had into fighting cancer, both for Stefanie's sake and for all those who face the same world-shattering diagnosis. After Stefanie lost her battle on Nov. 19, 2009, at age 42, Mr. Spielman has continued raising awareness and funds for research, saying it has become his purpose in life.

It is also the reason for the title of his new book, That's Why I'm Here: The Chris & Stefanie Spielman Story, published last month by Zondervan. As Maddie Spielman, the couple's 18-year-old daughter, explains in the foreword, when a cancer survivor once thanked her mother for her efforts to end cancer and to give people hope, Stefanie replied, "Don't you understand? That's why I'm here."

In his book, Mr. Spielman weaves together the stories of the two greatest loves of his life, Stefanie and football. He readily admits that football was an off-the-charts obsession for him from childhood through his years with the Massillon Washington High School Tigers, the Ohio State Buckeyes, and the NFL's Detroit Lions, Buffalo Bills, and Cleveland Browns.

Mr. Spielman, now 46, retired from football in 1999 and works as a college football analyst for ESPN and is co-host of ESPN's reality series Rise Up.

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http://www.toledoblade.com/Religion...-all-to-raise-awareness-of-breast-cancer.html

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk8YUC134Gg"]DLHQ Chris Spielman Interview 5/10 - YouTube[/ame]
 
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Ex-OSU?s Spielman writes book about his, wife's life
By Tom Archdeacon, Staff Writer
Sunday, May 13, 2012

Chris Spielman and his four children will start today with a Mother?s Day trip to Union Cemetery along the Olentangy River in Columbus.

?The ride there is sometimes solemn,? he said. ?But the ride home is filled with laughter ... and peace.?

That?s because once they get to the grave, Stefanie Spielman?s spirit ? everything she stood for and believed and celebrated ? fills her family and transforms them once again.

?We?ll get there and pray, but we don?t talk to the grave, we look upward,? Spielman said. ?Then the kids tell Mom what they?re doing. It?s not that she doesn?t already know, but it helps us.

?Maddie might tell her about the prom. Noah?s just turned 16 and he?s our church drummer. And Macy and Audrey, the two younger girls, have their stories. They?re playing lacrosse and softball and soccer.

?And then when we?re done, we?ll head back home. We?ve got soccer and lacrosse games after that. ... Life goes on.?

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http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/s...writes-book-about-his-wifes-life-1374842.html
 
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Chris Spielman on his book, Mother's Day
May, 13, 2012
By Lynn Hoppes | ESPN.com

With today being Mother's Day, former NFL veteran and now ESPN college football analyst Chris Spielman will take his four kids to the cemetery in Columbus, Ohio, to visit his wife, Stefanie, whose 11-year battle with cancer took her life in November 2009.

"It's not going to be easy, but we will focus on the memories and the celebration of her life," said Spielman, who has four children ranging from ages 9 to 18. "While we're there, we'll say prayers and tell her things going on in our life today. On the way home, the car will be filled with laughter and song."

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Stefanie Spielman died of cancer in 2009, and Chris Spielman released this book this spring.

Spielman said this is just part of the new normal for his family after his wife passed away after a fifth battle with cancer. He wrote a book -- "That's Why I'm Here: The Stefanie and Chris Spielman Story" -- to talk about Stefanie's fight and what life is like today.

"All families have challenges but it's about getting through those firsts. You have to learn to adjust," said Spielman, who was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame after a standout career at Ohio State University. "My children would obviously love having their mother back healthy, but that's not going to happen. So we need to focus on what we do have."

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http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/trending/post/_/id/1507/chris-spielman-talks-on-book-mothers-day
 
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osucollegebuck;2153966; said:
I work for a Barnes and Nobles in Columbus and this book is flying off the shelves. I'm happy for Chris .
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Copies at the B&N at the Campus Gateway are autographed by Spiels, I got one for my wife for Mother's Day and she's enjoyed the first couple chapters.
 
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Chris Spielman discusses new book about late wife's battle with cancer
May 30, 2012|By Matt Murschel, Orlando Sentinel

Chris Spielman promised his wife, Stefanie before she passed away in 2009 of breast cancer, that he would continue her mission to be an advocate for those afflicted with the deadly disease.

Part of that promise included sharing their very public battle with cancer in the pages of a new book that the former NFL star and current ESPN college football analyst just released.

?That?s Why I?m Here: The Stefanie and Chris Spielman Story? chronicles the Spielman?s journey through Stefanie?s cancer diagnosis in 1998 through five battles with the disease as well as raising a family during the time.

I spoke with Spielman by phone and we talked about the process of writing the book, his children?s reaction to it as well as whether or not he felt like it accomplished the goals he set for it.

Q: When do you come up with the idea for a book?

CS: ?When I found out that Stefanie was terminal, for numerous reasons. One, was I wrote it then because when you hear news like that you begin to reflect on your life and your journey that you had together. Things become clear. She always wanted to put it on paper because Stefanie was a national voice for the breast cancer world and we thought we could help people by sharing our journey and our experience. In order to do that, you have to be honest and say the things you did well and say where you struggled so people can relate to the book and to the story. For me, I promised her I would carry her mission forward and this book will help me do that.?

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http://articles.orlandosentinel.com...h-cancer-20120530_1_breast-cancer-new-book-cs

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vIICbhE_I8"]INTERVIEW: NBC4 Talks With Chris Spielman - YouTube[/ame]
 
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Posted: Monday June 11, 2012
Peter King>MONDAY MORNING QB

chris-spielman.jpg

Former Lion, Bill and Brown Chris Spielman was an intense player, but you see a completely different side of the linebacker in his emotional book.
Manny Rubio/WireImage.com

Some of you like this section, which has begun to take over one of my 48 Monday columns each year, and some of you don't. For those who don't, skip the next 4,000 words or so. For those who do, I appreciate all the support you've given this idea over the years, and I hope you find a book here -- or anywhere, quite frankly -- to give the Dad who really wants a book. I can tell you one of the gifts of the last four or five weeks has been the gift of unplugging so I could read the books I've listed here.

The other day, in Montana, I toured a one-room schoolhouse (more about that later) and picked up a little tome called English Reading for Schools. The book was published in 1926. Inside were these words: "The virtue of books is the perfecting of reason, which is indeed the happiness of man.''

Well, I always thought the happiness of man was the Red Sox winning the World Series. But reading's pretty good. I urge you to pick up one of these for the man who needs to get back to reading. Thanks for reading.

That's Why I'm Here: The Chris and Stefanie Spielman Story, by Chris Spielman, with Bruce Hooley (Zondervan). Non-fiction.

Once, when I was in Detroit in the early '90s, sent by Sports Illustrated to write about linebacker Chris Spielman, I gave him a pitch for a story I wanted to do: I'd go home with him after practice one day and watch how Mr. Intenso went about his preparation for film study for the next game. Spielman listened to me as I sold the inside look into his world harder and harder -- "I want America to see who you are,'' is approximately something I said -- and after a few minutes he gave me a bit of a patronizing stare and said he'd think about it. The next day Spielman told me no. "My life's not the friggin' NFL Today!'' he said.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I cracked this book and read some of the most intimate details, conversations and eruptions a family of six can have as the noble wife and mother careens toward death. Chris Spielman, one of the most balls-out football players I have ever covered, but also one of the most private, delves into things like:

? Asking Stefanie: "How do you want your funeral?''

? How to tell ninth- and seventh-graders their mother is dying. The oldest child, Madison, wrote the foreward to the book. What a strong, eloquent girl she is.

? Drawing baths for Stefanie as the end neared, making sure the water was just the right temperature and her favorite lotions were there for her ... then lifting her in and out of the tub, drying her off after the bath.

? The painful dialogue with the younger children, telling them their mother wouldn't be around much longer, then letting it sink in, then giving little Audrey time to think. "What are you doing?'' Chris called out a few minutes later. Said Audrey: "Crying my eyes out.''

? Watching a tape Stefanie left the family, to be viewed only after her death. "She told each one [of the children] that she had prayed for their future spouse for a very long time,'' Spielman, with Hooley, writes.

? The last words he speaks to her body before he personally lifts her into the crematory and pushes the button ... for her to be cremated. "I didn't want her to be alone at that moment,'' Spielman writes.

It's a stunningly unvarnished look into the most painful time of a family's existence, and how the deeply religious couple copes. I had to call Spielman and ask, with a mixture of surprise and great admiration: "How could such a normally private person have done this?''

"It's funny,'' he told me Saturday. "But I've done some interviews about the book, and people will say to me, 'It must be so therapeutic for you to tell these stories and talk about this.' No. It's painful. But in order to make the story credible, you've got to tell it all. To have an impact, to really help people, you've got to put it all out there.''


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Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/peter_king/06/10/mmqb/index.html#ixzz1xZuahDab
 
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Chris Spielman's tribute to his wife is also a tribute to fathers and family: Terry Pluto
Published: Saturday, June 16, 2012
By Terry Pluto, The Plain Dealer

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AP file
In the happier days of 2000, Chris and Stefanie Spielman posed outside their Columbus home as Stefanie was in remission from cancer. The battle that ensued when it returned is at the heart of Chris' book, "That's Why I'm Here."

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- When Chris Spielman decided to write a book, he wanted to pay tribute to his wife, Stefanie, who died of cancer in 2009. But the former Ohio State star and Pro Bowl linebacker did far more than that. His book is an encouraging word to fathers.

"One of the hardest parts of Stef getting sick was wondering if I could do a good job as a dad to our four kids," Spielman told me this week.

Dads have doubts. No matter how strong they may seem at work, or even at home. Dads wonder if they are measuring up. They hate it when someone in their family is hurting, and they can't do anything about it.

"If I couldn't fix it immediately, I out-studied it, out-lifted it, out-ran it, but I had no control over [cancer]," wrote Spielman in his new book, "That's Why I'm Here."

When Spielman trained on his own in the swelter of the summer before football season opened, he'd run laps until he nearly dropped. Then he put a plastic suit over his sweat-soaked body and sit in the car.

And roll up the windows.

And turn up the heat ... full blast.

And stick a wad of chewing tobacco in his mouth.

And then drive around and see how long he'd last "before having to spit" the tobacco.

In his locker, was this sign: Super Bowl Champs, Only Thing That Matters.

But none of that helped when Stefanie was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998. Or when it came back years later in her lungs, her spine and, finally, in her brain.

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http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/blog/index.ssf/2012/06/chris_spielmans_tribute_to_his.html
 
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Commentary: Chris Spielman's new book heartwarming -- and heartbreaking

Angelique S. Chengelis

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Former Lion Chris Spielma's new book, ?That?s Why I?m Here: The Chris and Stefanie Spielman Story,? is available at bookstores for $24.99. (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

The photo on the back book cover features Stefanie Spielman, sitting in a wheelchair with her left fist pumping in the air; her husband, Chris, the former Ohio State and Detroit Lions linebacker, behind her; and their four children decked out in scarlet and grey.

That day was about Chris Spielman as he was honored at Ohio Stadium for his induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.

But the photo captures the spirit of his wife, who fought a long, difficult 11-year battle against breast cancer that eventually spread to her lungs, spine and brain. She died at 42 in 2009.

For Michigan fans, this is one story about a former Buckeye that certainly is worth reading.

It is honest, heartbreaking and inspiring.

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From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120623/OPINION03/206230385#ixzz1yiDdwag0
 
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