Health scare moves UBC baseball director McKaig to raise awareness

A skin cancer diagnosis this past summer has moved UBC director of baseball Terry McKaig to raise awareness about the condition. Photo: UBC Athletics

*This article was originally published on the UBC website on October 14, 2020. You can read the original article here.

December 7, 2020

By Stu Walters

UBC Communications

VANCOUVER - Over a lifetime spent on the diamond, UBC Director of Baseball Terry McKaig has stood in and dealt with his fair share of changeups, but nothing compares to the curveball that came through the zone and buckled his knees this past summer.

In early September, McKaig, just 49 years young, found out he had a form of skin cancer after a biopsy came back positive for a concerning growth that had seemingly come out of nowhere and developed on his face in mid-August.

"I had honestly prepared myself to possibly hear it was cancer," said McKaig of being informed of the diagnosis. "In saying that, it's still very jarring to hear that word come out of a doctor's mouth. Then you immediately become scared of the unknowns: how serious is this, has it spread, your family, all of it."

The emotional roller-coaster that followed for the former member of the Canadian senior men's national team ranged from fear, reflection, gratitude and further education of just how harmful the sun is. McKaig, who grew up in Vernon, BC was an active kid, playing many sports including golf and baseball. As he matured into a standout baseball player, who would eventually pursue opportunities to play at colleges south of the border, he would continue to spend countless hours under the sun, the majority of the time without much more than a ball cap and sunglasses protecting his face from harmful rays.

"The dangers of the sun start when we are kids," added McKaig. "It's a lifetime of exposure that leads to skin cancer. So, as a kid playing baseball and other sports to my adult life being the head coach and director of the UBC Baseball program over the past 23 years, it all adds up. I've been outdoors most of my life doing what I love. If you are outdoors a lot, you are at risk."

Awareness of the potential risks from sun exposure of any kind has been much more front and centre over the last 25 years with protective measures now a part of most people's daily routine. However, 30 to 40 years ago those dangers weren't as highlighted in everyday life and the messaging not very strong unless spending the day at the beach.

"What really stood out to me was the difference between what our perception is of sun protection and what the professionals will tell you," McKaig stated, following some daunting conversations with his dermatologist. "They recommended to me as someone who is outdoors a lot to be wearing 50+ spf sunscreen on all body parts exposed to the sun, reapply at a minimum every two hours, seek shade when you can and wear something on your head. This applies year-round as UV rays can damage our skin even when its cloudy. Let's just say although I thought I was protecting myself, the reality is that I wasn't even close to protecting myself properly."

After first learning of the skin Cancer diagnosis McKaig was placed on a waiting list and he tried to prepare himself for what he thought would be an unnerving couple months ahead. But to his surprise, he was called for surgery just one week after his diagnosis.

"I was very lucky to get the surgery so quickly," continued McKaig. "It didn't give me much time to worry too much. I feel very fortunate to have access to great doctors. My family physician Dr. Eric Cattoni, my dermatologist, Dr. Gurbir Dhadwal, and my surgeon, Dr. Bryce Cowan all were amazing in getting this taken care of very quickly. They got it all and all three of them are true professionals. I'm very grateful for that."

Post-surgery, McKaig felt the obligation to inform others about his recent scare, wanting to remind them of the consequences of the sun while also messaging that it's never too late to be more active in protecting yourself. He began with a note to his many fellow colleagues within the UBC Athletics and Recreation department. The flood of supportive response he received was a convincing sign that he needed to share his story more broadly given his profile on the local and national baseball stage.

McKaig, the chief architect of Canada's premier college program, which attracts players from across Canada, restarted UBC baseball in 1997. Since then he's overseen 23 players drafted to the Major Leagues. Over the last five years alone he's done the heavy lifting in raising significant funds for the construction of state-of-the-art facilities, in both the Rose Indoor Training Centre followed by Tourmaline West Baseball Stadium on the Point Grey campus. Furthermore, over the last decade McKaig has repeatedly been named to Baseball Hall of Fame writer Bob Elliot's annual list of the 100 most influential Canadians in Baseball.

"It's two-fold," reflected McKaig. "First off, the support I received from my colleagues, the A&R staff when I announced, it was overwhelmingly supportive and honestly gave me the confidence in wanting to tell my story to a bigger audience. I've chosen to share my story and speak up. I'm fortunate to have a platform in the sporting world and I want to use it to prevent this from happening to others if I can. I truly believe we all have good intentions when it comes to taking care of ourselves and in this instance, protecting ourselves against the sun. If by hearing my story at a young age or learning what extra measures we should be taking helps people be more diligent about sun protection then everybody wins."

This is just the beginning for McKaig who feels invigorated in sharing the message of sun safety to those who've spent a lifetime outdoors like he has. Whether it's city workers, farmers, little leaguers, his own children or the Thunderbird student-athletes and future leaders he helps mentor as the Director of Baseball at UBC.

"Skin cancer, like all cancers is no joke. With skin cancer, we know our opponent is the sun. Let's come up with a game plan and strategy to win this game. It's an important game to win."