Veteran pro Stacey King of Missouri has withdrawn from the final two FLW Tour events of the season so he can undergo cancer treatment.
“They’re going to take out my tonsils and also take three biopsies,” King said in an FLW release. “There’s a chance the cancer could be in my tonsils, but they’ll be able to tell more after I’ve had that operation. I know one thing, I’ve had so many tubes and scopes poked down my throat and my nose that it’s made me pretty sore. But other than that I feel fine and never had felt bad from it.”
King, who's been fishing professionally since the early 1980s, said he first noticed swollen lymph nodes in his throat about 6 months ago, and after tests were conducted, was told that nothing abnormal was discovered, although he should remain vigilant.
“I kind of put it aside when we got into the heat of the tournament season,” King said. “The lymph nodes never changed one way or the other, so a month or so ago I went to a different doctor and he looked at it and said ‘You need a CT scan and a biopsy.’ It showed some cancer in there, but they don’t think it’s in my lymph nodes. They can’t tell where it is right now, but they’re going to find out.”
King had posted Top-30 finishes in three of the four Tour events this season and is currently 26th in Angler of the Year (AOY) points. King had previously sat out most of the 2007 season after undergoing open-heart surgery.
“All of our thoughts and prayers are with Stacey and his family right now,” said Kathy Fennel, FLW’s president of operations. “We know how tough he is and if there is anyone out there who can get past this, it’s Stacey. We wish him the best of luck with his procedures and hope to see him out on the water competing again very soon.”
