00:00But, Charlie, you have an unbelievable story because it was right in the middle of, you know, when you were
00:05playing, you got a diagnosis.
00:08Yes.
00:08And can you tell us a little bit about that?
00:10Yeah.
00:10So I was playing, you know, after my car accident in 2009, you know, I was always trying to chase
00:17my old self once I recovered from that.
00:19And, you know, the doctors initially said, I don't know if you'll be able to run again.
00:22Right.
00:23So I'm back on the field.
00:24I'm playing for my hometown team, the New England Patriots, and I'm trying to get back on the national team
00:29again.
00:29You know, I missed out on that World Cup.
00:31So 2016, I felt like this is going to be a big year for me.
00:34I was the leading goal scorer for the Rebs in 2015.
00:36In 2016, I'm like, I'm going to take that next step.
00:38Yeah.
00:38And a week before the season, my wife's water broke.
00:42We had twin boys at 25 weeks.
00:46And so, you know, next thing you know, I'm like, what does that mean?
00:49Yeah.
00:50Fortunately for us, we're in Boston, the best health care system.
00:52Like, everything's going to be fine.
00:54She's going to be on bed rest for the rest of her pregnancy.
00:57Yeah.
00:57So I go to Houston, play the first game, I score, you know, I'm feeling good.
01:02But then going back and forth to the hospital, it was taking a toll.
01:05And then the boys came at 27 weeks and five days.
01:10So it was a lot.
01:12And, you know, the whole unknown, you don't know if they're going to survive.
01:15And it was pretty scary in the first couple of weeks.
01:18But now you're just in this routine of just going to the hospital and supporting your wife and supporting your
01:23kids.
01:24And so my body naturally breaks down because I'm not taking care of my body after practice.
01:28Oh, of course.
01:29Ice baths.
01:30No, I got to get to the hospital.
01:31I'm not eating properly.
01:32Tough to sleep, I'm sure.
01:33100%.
01:34I had slept in the hospital a couple of times.
01:36I had to sleep with a puffer because it was so cold.
01:39It was just.
01:40But I pulled my groin in a game about a month later.
01:44And so I went to get a scan.
01:46And that's when they found the tumor in my opposite leg.
01:49Oh, wow.
01:51So I always think the boys came early to eventually save my life.
01:56And that's how I'd look at it, too.
01:58Yeah.
01:58Yeah.
01:59If they didn't come early, then you don't stop doing the small things to keep you healthy.
02:05You don't get that growing pool.
02:07You don't get that x-ray.
02:08You don't get the diagnosis.
02:09It's literally a divine intervention.
02:11It's almost.
02:12That's how I have processed it because the doctors always told me that I wouldn't have found that tumor
02:18until it got to the size of a grapefruit, most likely.
02:20Oh, jeez.
02:21And then by that time, you know, the prognosis is not so good.
02:25So I caught it literally at probably the earliest stage you could catch that tumor.
02:29Oh.
02:30So when you go and you find out about that, obviously, that is something that you.
02:34We hear a lot of the patients going, not me.
02:36That's not something that would happen to me.
02:37This happens to other people.
02:38But when you get that, like, what was the way that you found yourself into a place where you got,
02:45like,
02:45the relationship you ended up having with your doctor, it's so important, like the type of care that you got.
02:50Because it needs to be so personalized when you get to something that scary, you know?
02:56Yeah, it was panic mode.
02:57I thought I had escaped death in that car accident, which I did.
03:02The doctor, the priest in the hospital told me, if you saw that car, most people don't survive.
03:07And I was taken in a helicopter.
03:09That was 2009?
03:09Yeah, I was taken in a helicopter, and I got to speak to the helicopter pilot after who ended up
03:15coaching his girl's soccer team at the time.
03:17So he's like, I knew who you were when we arrived on the scene.
03:20And 98% of the people who fly in that helicopter don't survive.
03:23So here I am surviving and playing soccer.
03:26So I got to go back to the hospital and thank all of the doctors and the pilot.
03:30But, you know, I thought nothing can get worse than that.
03:33I was at the top of my life.
03:36This was the peak of everything.
03:38I had one hand on the World Cup, and here I am now with another rock-bottom situation.
03:43And I thought because I had escaped death once, that was my get-out-of-free-death, get-out-of
03:48-free-jail card, that now it was going to happen.
03:51And I was thinking to myself, I'm not going to be able to be a father and see my kids
03:54grow and support my wife and all those, you know, scary thoughts that enter your mind at first.
03:59And so it wasn't until my brother-in-law said, hey, you should go to Dana-Farber.
04:05They are the best.
04:06They are the absolute best.
04:07Have a second opinion.
04:08Because I was going to rush to get my surgery done at Mass General.
04:11Yeah.
04:12So, I take that step.
04:14You know, I was so moved to just get the surgery and be done and try and play.
04:19And my brother-in-law said, hey, you only get one life.
04:23Yes.
04:24You want to do this right.
04:24Yes.
04:25There's no need to rush.
04:26Yep.
04:27So, I go to Dana-Farber.
04:28I sit down with Dr. Wagner, my doctor there in the sarcoma department.
04:33And he made me feel just so confident in their health care system and their knowledge and how they're going
04:43to deal with it.
04:43And, you know, I had my full body scan on a Friday.
04:50All I could think about was that they caught a piece of a tumor, but it's metastasized or the main
04:56tumor somewhere else in my body.
04:57So, that's the only thing I was thinking.
04:58So, I did this full two-hour scan.
05:00I remember all the equipment on me.
05:03I was sweating.
05:04I was tight.
05:04And I was thinking the whole weekend, it's probably all over my body.
05:08But in that scan, you know, you have a mirror so you can see the text.
05:12Yeah.
05:12There was about ten texts that came into the room, and they're all pointing.
05:16And I'm thinking to myself, this is probably within the first hour.
05:19Oh, my God.
05:20It's all over my body.
05:21Look, they're pointing all over.
05:23Yeah.
05:23So, I get in the car, and I said, I don't think this is good.
05:27My wife's like, it's going to be okay.
05:28And I said, no.
05:29There were ten texts in there.
05:30There's no way that they were.
05:33They were.
05:33That's not normal.
05:34Yeah.
05:35So, the phone rings.
05:36I'm pulling out of the driveway at Dana-Farber.
05:38That's my doctor.
05:40He's like, hey, Charlie, how you doing?
05:41I know it's Friday.
05:43I wanted to give you the news before so you don't have to think about it.
05:46The scan is all clear.
05:48Oh, jeez.
05:49I said, what?
05:50There were ten texts.
05:51They go, oh.
05:52They were staring at your groin pole.
05:54Oh.
05:55They were talking about the groin pole, the significant groin pole you had.
05:59Okay.
05:59There's a lesson there.
06:00There's a lesson there.
06:01What do you do after that?
06:01There's a lesson there.
06:02Do you just go like, all right, we're taking that vacation we always want to take.
06:06At that point, it's like you got to felt like you were almost like, you know, in the jaws of
06:10a shark.
06:11Yeah.
06:11And then somehow you got out.
06:13Yeah.
06:13Free.
06:14I could see.
06:14I'd be.
06:15My brain would have gone to the same thing.
06:16But they're all just pointing at Charlie's groin.
06:19Look at that groin.
06:20Look at that.
06:20Look at all the blood there.
06:22The muscle tears.
06:23Not the cancer, the groin.
06:25So what did you.
06:26This is such a dumb question.
06:27But what did you do like right after that?
06:29Like when someone tells you that and you went through such a mood swing.
06:32Like from being, I'm in the worst position ever to, oh, my God.
06:37I can't believe this is.
06:38It was.
06:39I'm clean.
06:41I think for the initial moment, it was, I get some time.
06:45It's not immediate, you know, because I was still thinking there's a chance of reoccurrence.
06:50You know, so you still got to get past the first year and the second year, really.
06:53And after the second year, the chances of reoccurrence dramatically drop.
06:56But for the moment, I was like, I still have some time.
06:59Yeah.
07:00This plan.
07:00And by the way, we got to go back to the hospital to see the boys anyways.
07:04Yeah.
07:04You know, you're still you're still in this survival mode.
07:07Yeah.
07:07But man, what a relief.
07:09Yeah.
07:09What a relief.
07:10I was filled with outside of joy.
07:13There was a gratitude, but it was more of an appreciation for how thoughtful the doctors
07:19were in that situation.
07:20Because it's so easy to say, all right, your scan's Friday.
07:23We'll get to you on Monday.
07:24We'll give you a call.
07:24Yeah.
07:25Yeah.
07:25But for that, I don't want you to stress.
07:28I want you to know that that's something that has happened with my wife.
07:31We've gotten that before.
07:32Like, you know, she like got a call.
07:34Matter of fact, she got a call on Thanksgiving Eve when everyone's like pretty much leaving.
07:40And she had taken a scan and was terrified.
07:42It was like, I want you to know immediately.
07:43And by the way, her doctor called her from the airport.
07:45He was about to go on vacation, but he got the results when he was at the airport and
07:49called her to let her know.
07:50Think about that dedication.
07:51And Ted, to even bring more context to the situation.
07:55So my wife was treated by the Jimmy Fund in seventh grade.
07:57She had Hodgkin's lymphoma, stage four, did the chemo and radiation six months, still
08:03would go to school and never wanted to talk about it.
08:07It was so scarring for her.
08:08And so now I have to call her while I get the news.
08:11While I was on my way to practice, the doctor called me and told me that it actually came
08:16back as cancerous on the biopsy that, hey, I know you're at the hospital with the boys,
08:20but here's the news.
08:22So that was the added, the pain in that whole situation.
08:27I'm sure there's people I want to know the boys when they're, you know, came early.
08:33How are they now?
08:34They're 10 years old.
08:35And how are they doing now?
08:37They're thriving.
08:3910 years old.
08:41They're little soccer and lacrosse players who play for L'Axachusetts.
08:45They play for the club.
08:47I coached New England Forest down in the South Shore.
08:50And they are happy-go-lucky boys.
08:54We couldn't be more fortunate and blessed.
08:57Your life is a movie.
08:58You know that, right?
08:59It really is.
08:59Yeah.
09:00I always, you know, I got the opportunity to write this summer, I'd say for six months
09:06at least, for the New York Times and The Athletic.
09:08Yeah.
09:08So I'm writing all these articles.
09:10I'm like, I never thought in a million years I'd be writing articles.
09:13And I'm like, I got to write a book.
09:15Yeah.
09:15But I feel like my life's always changing and there's curveballs.
09:19It hasn't ended.
09:20The story hasn't ended yet.
09:21When does the story go?
09:21It doesn't have to end.
09:22Like, up to this point, there's enough.
09:24Trust me, there's enough, dude.
09:26You've lived enough.
09:27I can relate to that, though.
09:29I understand how he's thinking there.
09:31That is, the story's still going.
09:33It's still going.
09:33When do you write a book where the story feels like there's not a natural ending yet?
09:37I know I've told you the same thing.
09:38I don't throw that out easy.
09:40I don't.
09:40But, like, literally, I'm sitting next to two people whose lives could both be books.
09:44You're still running your race.
09:45Yeah, yeah.
09:45Still running my race.
09:46Still running your race.
09:47Let's write our books, though.
09:48Well, Charlie, thank you for coming on and telling that story.
09:51I mean, I know that that is like, and I knew your backstory, but to be honest, it's like hearing
09:56it again is just, it really, it does go to show just how sometimes, you know, you can go through
10:04these things.
10:05And I love the way that you put it.
10:06You know, your boys saved your life.
10:08A hundred percent.
10:09And I have to thank the community because it was a number of little instances of support that allow you
10:17to get over it.
10:17So right when the diagnosis happened, the first phone call I received was Mr. Kraft.
10:22So Robert Kraft called me, then Jonathan Kraft, right?
10:25And then, you know, it starts trickling down of who finds out.
10:29And then, you know, my teammates, the New England Revolution supporters, just sports fans in general in this area were
10:36there for me.
10:36And it really makes a difference.
10:39That's awesome.
10:40So Robert Kraft, first one to call you.
10:41Yeah.
10:41That's great.
10:42Can you call him back and tell him to get this Gonzalez contract?
10:45Yeah.
10:47For sure.
10:47I kind of want a good corner this year.
10:49I mean, they did go to the Super Bowl last year.
10:51They are a good team.
10:52All right.
10:52Charlie Davies, great stuff.
10:53Thanks, buddy.
10:54You can hear him, obviously, doing the calls for the Revolution.
10:56And we love having you on.
10:57We got to have you on more often.
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