Longtime coach not alone in battle with lung cancer

LISBON - He has his appetite. He has his energy.

And Gary Stamp has his allies, an extensive army of support as he battles lung cancer.

“I didn't expect this, not in my wildest imagination,” Stamp, 65, said earlier this week, before leaving for Houston for a follow-up appointment with physicians at MD Anderson Cancer Center. “You go through life and hope you have a positive effect.”

A veteran coach who has made 13 stops over a 42-year career, Stamp is a well-known figure in Eastern Iowa.

“I never dreamed that this many people out there care as much as they do,” he said. “All the emails, the cards, the visits ... it's all been overwhelming.”

Stamp's website at www.caringbridge.org has attracted more than 11,000 visits, and its guest book has received more than 600 posts since it was developed by his oldest son, Tait, on March 23.

Cornell College's softball team held Gary Stamp Day on April 17, earning $900 to help defray costs. And Sunday is the Gary Stamp Benefit at Mount Vernon High School.

The event runs from 4 to 8 p.m. and features music, a pasta dinner, silent auction, raffle and bake sale. Stamp will be there, assuming he has returned from Houston.

“Gary is an amazing, caring individual. He does things the right way,” said Kraig Snyder, 41, who played football for Stamp at Olin High School in the mid-1980s and is a member of the benefit's organizing committee. “He has the ability to make you feel unique, and he's done that for so many people, for more than 40 years.”

Stamp plans to be coaching on May 9 when the Mount Vernon softball team opens practice. Two weeks ago, he admitted, it looked doubtful.

“I didn't see any way I could be out there,” he said.

That was before he was admitted to Mercy Iowa City, probably a decision that saved his life. A catheter was inserted near his rib cage to allow fluid to be drained from near his lung.

More than 1.5 liters were extracted the first time, on April 13, with smaller amounts collected since then.

Stamp has lost 20 pounds since his visit to Mercy, virtually all in fluid. He said he feels the best he's felt since November. Still, he's nowhere near the edge of the woods.

At his first trip to Houston, in late March, he received a 30-day supply of Tarceva, a chemotherapy pill that combats lung cancer without major side effects.

On the follow-up trip, Stamp said, “we'll see if the drug is working or if we need to go to Plan B.”

After “feeling lousy” through the winter, Stamp was diagnosed with lung cancer in early March. He was an avid runner and a non-smoker, though both of his parents, now deceased, smoked.

He has resumed walking, and has jogged up to 300 yards without stopping. He is doing push-ups again, increasing his total by one per day - he was up to 35 on Tuesday.

Stamp's age and his illness have brought a new appreciation. Of nature. Of people. Of life.

“I think you appreciate things a little more when you get older anyway, and this has magnified it,” Stamp said. “You see beauties in the countryside that you might have taken for granted before. You see things in people that you didn't see before.”