INDIANAPOLIS -- NCAA president Myles Brand says he's fighting advanced pancreatic cancer "as hard as I can" with aggressive chemotherapy that has left him fatigued.<br />
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The 66-year-old Brand told USA Today he learned of his diagnosis Christmas Eve. A few days later his doctors told him his cancer had reached the fourth and final stage by spreading beyond the pancreas, making surgical removal of the cancer impossible.<br />
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Brand said his doctors at the Indiana University Simon Cancer Center in Indianapolis have not given him a medical timetable.<br />
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"It depends upon your individual biology. It could be short. It could be long. But I have signed up for aggressive treatment. I'm going to fight it as hard as I can," he told the newspaper.<br />
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Brand is receiving chemotherapy every two weeks. He appeared thinner during an 80-minute interview Monday in Indianapolis. He recalled how stunned he was when he learned of his dire prognosis.<br />
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"Peg and I were looking forward to another 20, maybe 25, years of a good marriage," he said. "And so that's a real shocker."<br />
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Brand said he still makes it to his office regularly but no longer works full days. He also works from his home by phone and e-mail.<br />
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After logging up to 150 days a year on the road, he's now unable to fly. But he plans to attend the men's Final Four in Detroit, which is less than a five-hour drive from Indianapolis.<br />
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Brand said he'll stay on the job as long as he's able to "contribute in a full-blown way, as long as I'm able to add some value to the position and help the NCAA stay on course."<br />
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Brand was president of Indiana University from 1994 to 2002. He is perhaps best known for his dismissal of basketball coach Bob Knight in 2000 for violating a zero-tolerance policy for misbehavior.<br />
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Brand has forged a legacy of academic comprehensive reform at the NCAA. In the last five years, university presidents have regained a stronger control of athletic programs. An Academic Progress Report has created a scorecard that punishes teams whose athletes consistently fail to keep up in the classroom.<br />
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His illness hit as he was beginning an initiative to let schools know that it's not wrong for them - or the NCAA - to capitalize on marketing and other commercial opportunities as long as they meet the decorum of higher education.<br />
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Brand, a former philosophy professor, said some have asked him why he doesn't seem angrier about his diagnosis.<br />
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"I'm not angry at anybody," he said. "This is biologically determined. It's not even clear what role your genetic makeup plays in it. These things happen."
