Maine coach Shawn Walsh had successful surgery on Friday to remove a cancerous kidney in Boston.  According to several news reports he was in stable condition late Friday and his surgeon noted the operation went well.

The cancer has been diagnosed as renal cell carcinoma, which according to the Portland Press Herald is the most common type of kidney cancer.  The bad news is that the cancer has spread to Walsh's lymph nodes under his breast bone in his chest.  In the same PPH article, it notes that survial rates drop dramatically when this cancer invades the lymph nodes.  If this particular cancer is dected early, 5 year survival rates were 60-75 percent, but when the cancer spreads to the lymph nodes it is only 5-15%, and less then 5% if the cancer spreads to other organs.

Walsh is said to be considering a 20-day intensive treatment at UCLA's cancer facility after a two to three week recovery period from this operation.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Coach Walsh as he begins the greatest battle of his life.

Here are some quotes and some links to the newspaper articles:

Portland Press Herald:  http://www.portland.com/news/state/000708walsh.shtml
Bangor Daily News:  http://www.bangornews.com/cgi-bin/article.cfm?storynumber=17713

SHAWN WALSH:
"The support has been heartwarming and I am appreciative of it, The hockey community is a fraternity. I've heard from a lot of people who are involved in hockey.''
''This is something a lot of people have to undergo and you've got to be as strong as you can. My wife has been phenomenal and my family has been great,'' he said.

On his inspiration from cyclist Lance Armstrong's book:  "(Armstrong) fought an uphill battle, dealt with it and conquered it and that's what I expect to do,'' 

UM DEFENSEMAN AND 2000-1 CO-CAPTAIN DOUG JANIK:
"I think that's the best way for him to handle things. Coaching comes naturally to him. It's his normal way of life and keeping a normal routine will keep him positive and motivated,'' said Janik. "As a team, we're going to try to support him as much as we can like he has always supported us.'' 

Janik said Walsh's sometimes-fiery demeanor is misleading. 

"No matter how he comes across, he genuinely cares about everyone's well-being and has everybody's best interest at heart,'' said Janik.


UNH COACH DICK UMILE (who I hear appears in a Seacoast NH ad with Walsh):
"This is awful news. Our prayers are with him,'' said New Hampshire coach Dick Umile
"He's a battler whether its golf or cards or coaching a game against UNH,'' said Umile. "He'll overcome this.''

MICHIGAN STATE COACH RON MASON (Walsh's former father-in-law)
Michigan State coach Ron Mason, Walsh's former father-in-law, coach and mentor, said he was "completely shocked'' by the news. 

"It has stayed with me ever since I heard. We're all sick about it,'' said Mason, who hired Walsh as an assistant coach at Bowling Green and Michigan State. 

"Shawn is in the biggest game of his life right now. But everybody knows about his will to win. It's a difficult situation but if anyone can beat this, Shawn can. I'm firmly convinced of that. There's nobody who doesn't think he can beat it,'' said Mason. "He'll have a tremendous amount of support.'' 

Mason said the hockey fraternity isn't a big one so everybody knows everybody else well "and we're all close, especially in times like this.''