Table of Contents
This is a heart wrenching story about Steve Kerr. All too often in our office we see individuals who were given an easy solution to their back pain. It was either take powerful narcotics for the pain or surgery. The patient is usually assured that the surgery will make everything “go away”. Unfortunately, years down the road there is an inherent MAJOR problem. The most difficult cases we see in the office are the ones that have had surgery. Spinal surgery outcomes are really not good. Rather than cut something out or masking the pain, we focus on getting to the true cause of what is really wrong. Stories like Coach Kerr have are all too common, unfortunately you are not going to hear from your Medical Doctor to go to a Chiropractor first. We are seeing a huge Opioid epidemic. Most of which are coming from individuals who had an accident and were given Opioids for the pain. After on these medications for a period of time it is very common to get addicted. Then the cascade of major problems starts. Rather than focusing on getting rid of the symptoms we focus on getting to why the symptom is there in the first place. Read below on this amazing story of Coach Kerr. Please pass this to others that are thinking of having surgery. Please tell them to try Chiropractic FIRST.
THIS IS CRUEL: STEVE KERR IMPRISONED BY MISERY THAT HAS ENGULFED HIS BODY
PORTLAND — Steve Kerr can’t golf. His body won’t allow it, hasn’t in two years. He has spent most of his life being able to golf, enjoying it immensely, and not being able to do so now saddens him deeply.
He can’t play basketball, either. Can’t even shoot free throws, not comfortably, and he spent half of his adult life playing the game at the highest levels.
Kerr, 51, can’t enjoy even the simplest things in life. Not now. So coaching an NBA team, the job he loves, a vocation that fulfills his lifelong need to compete, is out of the question.
Coaching the Warriors in the playoffs, in pursuit of a championship, is put on hold all because 21 months ago he made a reasonable, rational medical decision he may regret for the rest of his life.
Kerr opted for back surgery.
The after-effects have been devastating. He is imprisoned by misery that has engulfed his body. Kerr told NBCSportsBayArea.com earlier this season that he felt he had exhausted just about every possibility he is willing to trust, all in a quest for physical normalcy. He has researched hundreds of books in search of relief. He has talked to dozens of specialists. He has tried opioids and other medical treatments, herbal treatments, spiritual treatments and marijuana in a form he reluctantly revealed. And his reluctance, once revealed, was easily understood.
“I can tell you if you’re listening out there, if you have a back problem, stay away from surgery,” Kerr said Sunday in his first comments since Friday. “I can say that from the bottom of my heart. Rehab, rehab, rehab. Don’t let anybody get in there.”
The covers were pulled back on Kerr’s condition Saturday afternoon, when it was announced he would not coach Game 3 of the Warriors-Trail Blazers series. Now it was public, everybody knowing what those of us who work closely with him already knew. Much of what we’ve known, and some of what we’ve suspected, came tumbling into the open Sunday, when Kerr told the world that his condition, which had nagged at him ever since the summer of 2015, which he had suppressed with an admirable degree of success, finally had gotten best of him — at least for now.
In private conversations this season with NBCSportsBayArea.com, Kerr has acknowledged his agony. He has admitted that he has never been more miserable and expressed his regret over having the first back surgery, which resulted in a spinal fluid leak, which led to a second surgery — which has sent him plummeting down this path of torment.
Kerr lives with pain that most commonly might be associated with sinus headaches or, worse, migraines. Now that it has reached a level of utter despair, he no longer can even pretend to hide it. Gutting it out, a term often linked to competitive sport, was possible until this weekend.
“I was able to manage the pain and the discomfort over the last year and a half and, suddenly, things got a lot worse,” he said.
“I don’t know why. I’m trying to figure out why.”
This is cruel, and Steve Kerr knows cruelty. He has a great job, a great wife, a solid family — yet none of this can completely eclipse the tragic death of his father. Dr. Malcolm Kerr was the president of the American University of Beirut when he was assassinated by a group of terrorists in January 1984.
Losing a father to senseless violence in a faraway place is not something a son gets over, not completely. Steve Kerr doesn’t often reference his father, but every time he does it is beneath a cloud of melancholy.
To have a great childhood, followed by unimaginable heartache while entering adulthood, leaves open the possibility for bitterness, maybe even the desire for vengeance. Not with Steve. He chose to continue living following the example set by his father, namely that the world is a place in need of healing.
It’s why anyone who knows Steve Kerr can only admire his principles and dedication. His innate goodness always shines through.
And now he has this great job, one in which he has more than earned his salary. He is a championship coach who always points to his players and his staff. He has a policy of openness that put everyone around him at ease.
And now this, such an unkind cut it seems profoundly unfair.
Kerr has so much that enriches him and can’t savor any of it. He wants nothing more than another Warriors championship and to be pain-free. At this stage, who could blame him if he yearned more for the latter than the former?
