Charles Barkley flew 1,000 miles against doctors orders so Craig Sager wouldn’t be alone

Craig Sager wasn’t going to be alone as he underwent his third bone marrow transplant with stem cells. When his wife and full-time caregiver Stacy came down with a cold and weren’t allowed to be by his side during the operation, Charles Barkley flew from Phoenix to Houston.

Barkley was only a month removed from hip replacement surgery and not cleared to travel. But the fellow TNT coworker was going to make sure someone was by Sager’s side when the operation took place. This wonderful AP story describes how Barkley’s doctor was furious to hear him defy orders not to travel, and how Barkley simply told him that it was an emergency.

“We go to see Sager to cheer him up and by the time you leave you’re like, ‘Is anything wrong with him?’” Barkley told the AP. “He has the most positive attitude ... When you go to try and cheer him up his attitude is so upbeat he cheers you up.”

Sager’s goal is to be back on NBA sidelines this season, hopefully by November.

“Man, life is too beautiful, too wonderful, there’s just too many things,” Sager said. “It’s not just you. It’s your family and kids and all. Fight. Fight until the end. Fight as hard as you can.”