By Jennifer L. Boen, The News-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Ind.
Aug. 13–Walter Payton’s professional life as a running back for the Chicago Bears centered on being part of a team. He rushed for 16,726 yards, caught 492 passes for 4,538 yards and scored 15 touchdowns during his career.
In February 1999, 12 years into retirement, he announced he had a rare liver disease that would later turn to cancer. In doing so, he became part of a new kind of team with a new goal.
“We formed our own team, with family and friends,” said Connie Payton, his widow. “I would be lying if I said there weren’t days when I got upset or angry. When given a diagnosis of cancer, it affects everyone involved. I learned a lot about patience, about the real understanding of unconditional love.”
On Oct. 4, Connie Payton will be in Fort Wayne to speak at a fundraiser for Cancer Services of Northeast Indiana. She will share her story of hope, faith and lessons of unconditional love while being a part of Walter Payton’s cheer team throughout his life and his death.
Connie Norwood and Walter Payton met when she was a high school senior and he a member of the Jackson State University football team in Jackson, Miss.
“To be honest, it wasn’t love at first sight.” On their first date, “he talked about another girl,” Payton said during a phone interview from Montreal, where she was watching their son, Jarrett, play for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League.
But a few weeks later, he called Connie again, and they married in 1976, a year after he graduated and was drafted by the Bears.
“Walter was pretty much the same everywhere. He was funny, always full of surprises,” Payton said. “He always had the right attitude. He was so positive. Even when the Bears were really bad, he was so positive. He’d say he felt like he was doing fine,” she said.
That attitude and perseverance played out in his life off the field too, particularly after he was diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis, a disease that in some cases leads to cancerous tumors on the liver.
“His disease could not be contained, even with a transplant,” Payton said, recalling his public plea on television for people to consider organ donation. Although his cancer was too widespread for a liver transplant, he helped draw attention to the need for organ donors.
“It made a big difference in the state of Illinois, which rose to No. 1 in people signing up to be tissue and organ donors,” Payton said.
Her husband approached death the same way he approached football, Payton said, with a goal in mind.
“We really believed in the power of prayer, meditating on the Word,” she said. “I believe in traditional medicines. They work well, but there is only so much they can do.”
After Walter’s death at age 45 on Nov. 1, 1999, the Payton family established the Walter Payton Cancer Fund, which allows donors to pick areas of research they want to support, including how religion and faith intersect with cancer outcomes, nutrition issues and the effects of exercise.
“Everybody has a passion,” Payton said.
When she researched the work of Cancer Services of Northeast Indiana, she found its mission to provide direct support to patients through medical supplies and equipment, education and transportation aligned with her desire to help families living with cancer get resources they need to fight and cope with the disease.
“It is my hope and my dream that there will someday be a cure for cancer, but meanwhile, I want to help people live with dignity,” she said.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The News-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Ind.
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