…known that,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “My cancer right now is at an absolute minimum.”
The 70-year-old Abdul-Jabbar, a six-time NBA Most Valuable Player, was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia in 2008. He spoke Thursday at Science Park High School, after the screening of his new full-length documentary about the Harlem Rens basketball team, “On the Shoulders of Giants.”
“It’s not life-threatening,” he said, “at this point in my life.”
Abdul-Jabbar said when he was first diagnosed with leukemia, he didn’t know what to think. He feared the worst.
“I thought I might be dead in a few months,” he said. “I had a good friend [actor Bruno Kirby] who was diagnosed with leukemia and was dead within 30 days. I really had no understanding of what I was dealing with.”