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Kevin Sharp Says Music Saved His Life |
The high school football star was suddenly sidelined. He had such leg pain that he didn't play during his whole senior year and missed any chance of the big scholarship offer he had seemed destined to receive. He was told he had a sports injury, or that it was all in his head. "I told the doctors I had cancer. Why, even as a kid, when I had problems with my legs, I told my Mom that someday they would find cancer in my legs. I guess that was just the worst thing I could think of to say." Kevin Sharp learned that his terrible premonition had come true. He was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma in his left femur, and it had already spread to his lungs. Nine months into his one-year program of chemotherapy, he fell and fractured his leg. During surgery to put a rod into his leg, they found the tumor hadn't shrunk at all. The year of chemotherapy began again. There was radiation, and surgery, and finally, in 1991 he was in remission, and has had no further sign of the disease since then. Along with football, music has been an important part of Kevin 's life. "Music is the most powerful healing force that there is out there. Music saves my life, on a daily basis," he says. "Whenever I was having a bad day, songs could always help me over a heartbreak. More so when I was ill." He especially liked "The Dance" by Garth Brooks. "Those songs helped me get through the night when they didn't think I would see the morning light," he recalls. When Make-A-Wish came to call, Kevin asked to meet famous record producer David Foster, who became his mentor. This led to a recording deal with Asylum Records. After his album "Measure Of A Man" came out he was nominated as Male Star of Tomorrow by the Academy of Country Music. Now recording star Kevin Sharp visits children in the hospital, and shows them he has a bald head, too, since his hair never quite grew back after his chemotherapy. One parent told him that during his visit their son took off his hat for the first time. "I can walk into a hospital room and look a kid square in the eyes and say, 'You're going to be OK. If you live you're going to be OK, and if you don't you're going to be OK.' Sometimes the people around them don't want to talk about death, they're afraid of the subject. I find that the kids are stronger than their parents." Does he have advice for the young patients? "I just hope anybody going through it looks at it not as 'Why me?' but 'Why not me?' Don't let anger take over. Think of all the wonderful things you can do because of what you've gone through. The mental aspect of fighting the disease is as important as the medical side." The main thing he wants them to know is that they are not alone. "Lots of people know how you feel. And, it does help to talk to others." Kevin now says of the cancer experience: "Cancer changed my life for the better. You can't go through that experience without learning the importance of life and why we're here and what it's all about. You can't learn that any other way. When things are easy, you don't learn a thing." He adds that he is planning to write a book called, "Tragedy's Gift." He says," My experience was a gift." http://www.kevinsharp.com/ Kevin@KevinSharp.com |