Everything’s Gonna Be Alright
Posted By startswithanx on February 7, 2010
*** So, Jake and I got some news a couple weeks ago. The kind of news that prompted my man of few words to write this here tribute. Check out Jake’s second guest post.

I met BMuttz at the bus stop during my first day at a new elementary school in fourth grade. He didn’t hesitate to say hi to the “new kid” while all the other kids looked at me like I had a booger dangling from my face. He made that first ride to school less frightening and somewhat tolerable.
From that point on I knew him as the nice guy from the neighborhood.
We didn’t really start the BMuttz-Jake torrid love affair until sophomore year of high school. That’s when we started playing on the same sports teams. By senior year, our math teacher separated our desks. A few weeks later, we were kicked out of the class entirely and demoted to remedial math. We both got a kick out of our antics. Our parents, eh, not so much …

BMuttz was accepted into Michigan State University and started rocking MSU gear in the hallways. I was mulling over my college options and nervous about rooming blind. But then it came, the acceptance letter I was waiting for. BMuttz would be my roommate freshman year.
From that point forward we were an inseparable duo, a Starsky and Hutch, so to speak. He was Hutch because he was the smooth, carefree, ladies man. I filled the role of Starsky, a nervous, fidgety, pragmatic dude who always thought about every little problem way too much. Neither of us wore leather jackets. But we could both grow afros like the best of them, mine with a distinct Latin flair, his, traditional-Jew style.
During the next five years Bmuttz and I shared hazy nights in the dorm listening to Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Californication.” We sweated off the previous night’s hangover as we battled it out on basketball courts. We held each other’s legs doing keg stands while the other sucked on God’s sweet nectar. We celebrated a basketball national championship with about 15,000 of our closet friends at the off-campus party spot. Oh yeah, and there was some studying thrown in there, too.

There was even one time when we were hooping and happened to piss of a ripped Asian guy. He took exception to the ass-whooping our team gave his team and decided to ambush me with a full sprint and unexpected Bruce Lee kick to my mid-section. As I tried to gather my breath, I ducked punches in what seemed to be slow-mo, “The Matrix” style. Next thing I know BMuttz was on the kid’s back before the guy could swing a fourth time. A two against one fight was not fair. The kid was better off accepting the loss and going home.
I couldn’t sleep that night because the pain in my ribs was unbearable. But I’ll never forget the first person who rushed to my defense. To this day, I’ve never taken a punch square on the face. I have BMuttz to thank for that.
Fast-forward 10 years and BMuttz has a law degree, a beautiful wife and cute dog named “Bear.” They live in Michigan. I’m in Las Vegas doing my thing in journalism and have two amazing ladies I come home to every night. We text like we’re still hanging out every night in college, but we only see each other two times a year at best.
That’s why the news X recently gave me was so unexpected and for a short while, devastating: BMuttz has cancer.
She said he didn’t want to tell me himself. It was probably too hard for him. I heard her words but didn’t process them. I even said, what? BMuttz? and then said his last name out loud —as if she didn’t know it — hoping she was mistaken. Tears welled up in my eyes. I felt like punching the wall. I texted him almost immediately afterwards and told him I would do anything I can to help him and his wife. He shrugged off the ordeal like it was no big deal. He didn’t really want to talk about it or make anyone worry. BMuttz has cancer, and he was more worried about others worrying about him. …
The next two weeks were difficult. I got a few e-mails from him and his wife updating me and others on his condition. I wondered how he was coping. I knew he was spending a lot of time seeing doctors. I texted him every few days with words of encouragement.
I broke down a few more times, especially after a mid-afternoon trip to a bar. Alcohol makes me sentimental. I texted my brother, and he told me I have to be strong for BMuttz. My 24-year-old brother couldn’t have given me better advice.
BMuttz has been more than strong throughout this ordeal. He’s been positive and almost stubborn about changing his life. I recently spoke with him on the phone, and he said he’s continuing to work, and continuing to stay active, even rolling in a bowling league. BMuttz is treating cancer like the government does terrorism, not changing a damn thing or else Al-Qaeda wins. And I couldn’t respect him more for that.

BMuttz still doesn’t know what type of cancer he has. Doctors are working to learn. But he has been greatly affected. He has a tumor near a nerve in his hip that is so painful he has to sleep sitting up. He struggles to walk at times. He is constipated a lot. His medicine cabinet looks like Eminem’s wet dream.
The good news is that he recently began radiation for the tumor in his hip. So, in less than two weeks it should be reduced in size and his pain should subside. He also has a tumor in his lung, and doctors haven’t figured out if it’s from smoking. He wants people to know that might be the cause of his health issues, and people who do smoke, should quit. But don’t take my word for it, get it straight from BMuttz on his new blog right here.
Well, BMuttz, I am taking your advice. And for the second time in consecutive weeks, I’m making a pledge in Cyberworld to better myself. Although I don’t smoke a lot, maybe three cigarettes a week, every time I light up I can’t help but think I’m disrespecting him. The annoyance of a craving can’t compare to anything he’s going through.
I hope my life is forever changed because of what BMuttz is going through. His life obviously is. While at first I struggled with his cancer, I now realized that I was being weak, the opposite of him. He’s a warrior and if anyone can beat this it’s BMuttz.














