‘It Got Worse’: Gary Woodland Recounts the ‘Tremoring’ Fear of Death That Drove His Life Into a Painful Misery

The journey is often not as easy as it seems. But even so, it takes a strong person to push through the same. Who else would we mean but Gary Woodland, as he overcame a brain tumor and subsequent surgery to return to the greens? The golfer had earlier taken a break from golf owing to the same and is currently set to make a comeback at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

However, as he geared up to play at the Honolulu greens, the golfer took a moment to take a look back at his journey of recovery. Moreover, he went ahead to recount the same, all the while dubbing the passage as one that filled him with “fear!”

Gary Woodland’s frightful journey

“A lot of jolting, especially in the middle of the night.” recollected Gary Woodland as he sat down during a press conference on Tuesday, ahead of the event in Hawaii. He mentioned how his hands were really “tremoring” as the golfer started to describe the symptoms that he faced during the whole ordeal, something that pushed him to be very “fear-driven,” especially around “death.”

Adding on, Gary Woodland mentioned how he called his doctor as things started getting bad with “loss of appetite, chills, no energy.” After a proper diagnosis with an MRI by a specialist in Kansas City, he explained how the jolting and everything were due to “partial seizures” due to a tumor on the brain. Moreover, the health practitioner revealed that the “lesion” was situated in a certain part of the brain that controlled “fear and anxiety.” He said, “You’re not going crazy. Everything you’re experiencing is common and normal for where this thing is sitting in your brain.”

Continuing with his experience, the 1X major champ disclosed how he started taking anxiety seizure medication. Although the convulsions stopped after a while as the dosage increased, “horrible side effects” took the front seat. Moreover, the fear started coming back after a while and the doctors recommended surgery since the part that it was “pushing on in the brain” was growing.

The 4X PGA Tour champ also looked back at the time he played at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, where he finished T27. After the game, Gary Woodland’s caddie pulled him to the side and said, “You can’t play this way. You got to go get help. You got to get fixed.”

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Gary Woodland went to Miami where he was referred to a specialist who expressed the need for surgery once again. Moreover, he also pointed out the ineffectiveness of the medicine being taken all the while mentioning how it was “not slowing down the fear.” Well, he made the choice and that was what made the difference.

Woodland’s surgery and recovery

After the biopsy revealed the tumor to be benign, the doctors decided on “surgery and removal” as the “next step.” Unfortunately, due to the location of the growth against his optic tract, the surgeons could not get it all out. However, if it was a cancerous one, Gary Woodland pointed out how “they would’ve removed it all.”

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But even so, Gary Woodland revealed how the surgery helped them remove “as much as they could” while cutting off “the blood circulation to what’s left.” Sitting back in the chair during the presser, he reveals how his current condition has been deemed “stable from surgery”, all thanks to the doctors, not to mention the MRIs, which keep his health tracked.

Being able to come back from such a frightening situation is nothing short of inspiring. What’s more, as the 2019 U.S. Open makes a comeback to the greens this week in Hawaii, many would be rooting for his win over the field just like he did with the tumor and surgery. A truly encouraging tale!