Steve Lavin Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer, St. John’s Announces

St. John’s head coach Steve Lavin has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and will begin undergoing treatment immediately, the school announced Friday. The cancer’s still in the early stages, and not expected to be life threatening.

Lavin has consulted with multiple medical experts, and they have all cleared him to continue coaching while treatment occurs in the coming weeks. In fact, Lavin has known about this diagnosis since the fall.

“My family feels fortunate that through annual health exams, we detected my condition at an early stage,” Lavin said of his condition in the school’s official press release. “This past fall I didn’t want to distract our team, but with the season behind us, we are now working with medical experts and taking the proper steps to tackle this health challenge head on.”

“Through early detection we determined Coach Lavin’s condition as a relatively low-grade cancer,” his doctor added, “and one that could wait for treatment until the conclusion of the basketball season.”

For Lavin, just 46 years-old, it’s a lucky break to have caught it so early. And while prostate cancer can never be taken lightly, it appears this is sort of a “best case scenario” as far as cancer detection’s concerned. With that in mind, here’s to hoping it stays that way, and that a successful round of treatment this summers gives way to a swift recovery in time for next basketball season.