Jaguars 'super fan' with stage four lung cancer, upbeat attitude heads to the AFC title game
Eric Mitchell says he’s had “a great life.”
That’s a pretty upbeat attitude for a man under hospice care because he has stage four lung cancer.
But he has plenty to feel good about this weekend.
The 50-year-old Jacksonville Jaguars fan will be heading to New England on Saturday morning carrying precious cargo: Two tickets to the American Football Conference championship game, which on Sunday will match the Jaguars against the Patriots with a Super Bowl trip at stake.
Cindy Hamilton of Baptist Health and Jeannie Blaylock of First Coast News both reached out to the Jaguars on Mitchell’s behalf. Friday morning, Mitchell picked up his game tickets, which came with an autograph from Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone.
Saturday morning Mitchell and his wife, Terra, with whom he will celebrate 29 years of marriage on Feb. 24, are flying to New England, where they will pick up a rental car and drive to their hotel.
Megan Johnson-Traylor, Robert Smalls and Ken Hussey, friends from his work at Johnson & Johnson Vision, and another friend whose name he said he couldn’t share, paid for the airline tickets, the rental car and the hotel.
Mitchell was diagnosed in June with lung cancer and began treatment at the Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center.
“By the time we’d met him, his tumor had already spread to his spine, and he began treatment with radiation to his back which eased his pain, as well as chemotherapy,” said Michael Olson, a radiation oncologist at Baptist MD Anderson and chief of service at Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville and Baptist Medical Center South. “Because he wanted to be aggressive, we offered — and he accepted — radiation and chemotherapy to his lung tumor.”
But a few months later, his cancer appeared in his liver and other bones, Olson said. He then began immunotherapy. By May 2017 he was placed back on palliative chemotherapy. He progressed again over the summer of 2017, and ultimately, by the winter of 2017, decided to stop chemotherapy when side effects were becoming too burdensome.
That doesn’t seem to have phased the father of four and grandfather of six.
“Honestly I feel like I felt four years ago,” Mitchell said. “… Man I’m still going strong.”
“Mitch is unforgettable,” Olson said. “He has the most resilient spirit of anyone I’ve ever met, and brightens the room simply by being in it.”
“Despite having incurable cancer, he never let it get in the way of his positive attitude,” said John Vu, a medical oncologist with Baptist MD Anderson. “When I saw him in clinic, he always had the most contagious smile and had plenty of jokes to tell. He was fearless and always seemed to see the glass half full … He has been an inspiration to me and my office staff.”
The self-described “super fan for the Jaguars” said he has no doubts about how Sunday’s game will turn out. He accurately predicted that the Jags would beat the Pittsburgh Steelers last Sunday. He now expects them to beat the Patriots.
“We’re going all the way to the Super Bowl,” he said. “This is our year.”
Charlie Patton: (904) 359-4413