Joseph Paul DiMaggio’s storied life had the structure of a classic Hollywood movie. Born in California to working class Italian immigrants on November 25, 1914, he was raised by his stern father to became a fisherman. Joe, however, had bigger dreams and even bigger plans.
While working various part-time odd jobs ranging from selling newspapers to stacking boxes at a dingy warehouse, Joe played for a minor league baseball team called the San Francisco Seals as a shortstop along with his older brother. As a member of the club, he scored consecutive safe hits in 61 games – an amazing feat during his time and the second-longest streak in semipro baseball history.
Then, in 1936, he began playing for the famous New York Yankees. His early years in the Major League earned him the nickname “The Yankee Clipper” after a stadium announcer compared his speed and range to the Pan American aircraft. He set an astounding rookie franchise record of 29 home runs, a score that stood unbeaten for 81 years until it was surpassed in 2017 by Aaron Judge.
Later on, he was called “Joltin’ Joe” by fans due to the effortless grace of his style. Joe led the Yankees to over nine series championships during his 13-year professional career. Considering the fact that he had struggled against a virtual handicap whenever he played in the Yankees’ stadium – a field that favored left-handed power over right-handed force – Joltin’ Joe’s accomplishments seem almost herculean.
This man, who started from humble beginnings, fought his way to the top and became known not only for his exceptional talent but also for his fiery romance with his generation’s most beautiful and gifted actress, Marilyn Monroe. Joe DiMaggio had fought many battles, both personally and on the baseball field, but his greatest war came during the twilight of his life when he was diagnosed with lung cancer.
The last home run
Joe had always been a heavy smoker. This addiction to nicotine eventually caught up to the famed baseball player at the age of 84 when doctors convinced him to undergo surgery for a malignant tumor growing in his right lung. Although the cancer itself was dangerous, the immediate threat to Joe’s life was actually pneumonia. His left lung was filling up with mucus, while the right lung, also flooded with sputum, barely functioned because of the tumor.
Lung cancer surgeries have always carried risks for elderly patients due to the number of factors that could go awry: bleeding, infection, an air leak in the lungs, and possible complications from general anesthesia. Even though Joe retained the fighting spirit of his youth, it’s important to remember that he was an octogenarian, an 84-year-old man who had spent his life pushing his body to its utmost athletic limits.
The surgery, although successful, took its toll. Five months after the cancer was removed, Joltin’ Joe – the boy raised to be a fisherman but who grew up to become a baseball legend – died on March 8, 1999.
He had finally made his last home run and crossed the home plate towards a peaceful, well-deserved rest.
Would fucoidan have saved Joe’s life?
It’s difficult to speculate if alternative methods aside from surgery would have been effective in treating Joe’s cancer.
We can, however, formulate an informed decision based on recent studies and discoveries in the medical field. For elderly cancer patients who are not eligible for surgery, perhaps a more natural remedy can provide relief to their symptoms alongside mainstream medical techniques.
Fucoidan, a natural sulfated polysaccharide that exists in brown seaweed, was found to have an anti-tumor potential in a 2015 study conducted by researchers from the Menzies Institute for Medical Research. In this analysis, scientists discovered that fucoidan induces cell death within cancerous tumors by suppressing angiogenesis alongside metastasis.
They’ve also postulated that fucoidan may protect against side effects when administered during chemotherapy. Despite promising pre-clinical reports, however, few clinical studies such as the one conducted by the Menzies Institute have been performed. It is for this reason that this blog exists – to collect and to spread as much information regarding this amazing substance to the general public, so that deaths like Joltin’ Joe’s can be prevented.