Andover Celtics fan battling terminal cancer inspires fans to appreciate team with Reddit post
"If the Celts don't win this year, I probably won't see them across the finish line."
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In early February, Reddit user u/jalapeno-whiskey posted an ode to the 2020-21 Boston Celtics on the popular forum r/BostonCeltics entitled “totally at peace with the idea of watching this team grow.”
“I’m 54,” the post started. “Have terminal cancer. So if the Celts don’t win this year, I probably won’t see them across the finish line. And I’ve been a hardcore fan since 1976.”
The writer went on to assure readers he wasn’t a Green Teamer. He really likes Danny Ainge, but he believes Ainge swung and missed by not trading for Myles Turner this summer. He doesn’t think Romeo Langford is headed for the Hall of Fame. He gets frustrated with Marcus Smart’s shot selection sometimes. But he does enjoy rooting for this group of players he described as highly intelligent, respectful, and decent human beings.
“I’m completely at peace with riding this group of players into my own sunset,” the post read. “I’m very grateful to have them to watch.”
The post took off in popularity, garnering 1.7k upvotes and 104 comments. (The average “hot” posts on the forum hover around 300 upvotes.) After posting, u/jalapeno-whiskey — known outside of Reddit as Andover resident Kevin Lenihan — initially considered deleting it, floored by the engagement it garnered.
“I didn’t know what to do,” Lenihan told Boston.com. “I didn’t go on Reddit for a couple of days. I didn’t even want to read [the comments]. I felt really embarrassed about it.”
Eventually, however, he got around to reading what people said, and what he saw was a pleasant surprise. Some fans were struggling with their own health issues and reached out to commiserate. Others appreciated his perspective, and some even seemed to re-examine the way they cheer for the team.
“F*** bro, this hit me,” one user wrote.
“I feel like we all needed to hear this,” another added. “Thank you.”
“I was kind of surprised at how many people just kind of had the same reaction after reading me,” Lenihan said. “They were saying, ‘Yeah, maybe we should just appreciate this team more for what they are. I’ve got enough other issues going on in my life that maybe I should just enjoy this team.’ I was amazed at how many hundreds of people were saying that.”
Lenihan’s embarrassment at the attention is part of a larger theme: He is extremely careful not to exaggerate his condition, which is controlled for the time being.
Kevin Lenihan
More than a year before his diagnosis, Lenihan first felt pain in his hand at the gym, which spread throughout his body. It kept him up at night, and he visited an orthopedic doctor, who called him into his office just one day after his initial appointment.
“That’s never anything good,” Lenihan recalled thinking.
Lenihan had cancer, and the disease had already spread widely. After more scans, they tracked it to his lungs.
Lenihan remembered thinking three things. First: How would he break the news to his family? Second: He had to fight.
And third?
“Am I gonna make it till April?” Lenihan said. “Because I want to see the playoffs.”
Again, Lenihan wants to make it clear he is not a Green Teamer. He doesn’t live and die by the Celtics’ success. Cheering for the Celtics isn’t who he is as a person.
“I just invested enough into the Celtics story,” he said. “I wanted to see where the story ended.”
Lenihan is a storyteller. A lifelong Massachusetts resident who attended Clark University, he owned one bar and managed another before they shut down about 10 years ago. After that, Lenihan began writing screenplays with a friend from Florida, and he even sold a couple. Since his diagnosis, he buckled down and completed a novel.
Lenihan learned of his diagnosis in October 2018. He was put on a drug that targets his specific cancer and stabilizes it for a couple of years. Lenihan has now had more than two years and hopes a couple more might buy enough time for science to achieve more breakthroughs.
As a result, Lenihan has seen a lot more of the story than he initially expected. He watched Irving’s Celtics fall to pieces, he saw Kemba Walker arrive, he saw Tatum emerge as a bonafide superstar, and he witnessed the NBA shut down due to COVID-19.
The story may have been unpredictable, but Lenihan’s good health provides hope.
“People that get a terminal diagnosis are dealing with a lot of anxiety,” Lenihan said. “But if you have hope, even if it’s a slim hope. It’s something, and that’s what helps you go to sleep at night. …
“Hopefully they win the championship this year. But you look at that and say, ‘These guys are going to be in their prime three years from now. So you just, if you can build the right crew around them, there’s a very good chance that they can win championships.’”
Lenihan knows he might not be around for those championships. He’s seen some Celtics moments himself, though. His first Celtics game was in 1976 at age 10. He attended with his dad and some friends who insisted that Lenihan’s father looked just like Tommy Heinsohn. He got to watch the Larry Bird years in real-time and took a girlfriend to the 1984 game in which Bird and Julius Irving fought at center court. Afterward, Lenihan and his girlfriend collected Kevin McHale’s autograph in a parking lot behind the arena. Lenihan saw the Celtics win another championship in 2008.
Like many Boston sports fans, Lenihan has seen a lot of titles. He’s learned to appreciate the other stuff too.
“I think what the diagnosis has done, and having grappled with it now the last couple years, is taught me that if you find something that you can appreciate, then you let yourself appreciate it rather than dwelling on what it’s not,” Lenihan said. “Whatever that is in your life, whether it’s people that are in your life, or family members, or sports teams or your work or whatever you’re trying to do.
“It’s good to have goals and ambitions. But the whole point of that is you’re chasing something. You’re almost never meant to achieve it. So you should just kind of enjoy the parts that you can appreciate.”
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