Hugh Freeze admits he 'struggles believing' he has cancer, opens up on treatments

It still doesn’t seem real to Auburn coach Hugh Freeze. Despite receiving a diagnosis for prostate cancer late last month, he doesn’t feel any different physically.

The mental side is another story. Freeze opened up about how the diagnosis has impacted him in that regard during a press conference at the Tigers’ first spring practice on Tuesday. He called the past month “a battle” as he awaits the next steps from his doctors, pondering what the future might hold.

“I struggle believing that I actually have cancer because I feel great and am probably in better shape than I’ve ever been in 10 years,” Freeze said. “So it’s a battle for me mentally. I don’t want to be cut on. I don’t want to alter my body, but yet you have this mental knowledge of they say you have some cancer cells in your body. So that is the struggle that you have.

“Then you have the struggle of, ‘All right, if I choose to go with this procedure, I’m still a young man. It changes this and it changes that.’ And you’re like, ‘Oh my god, I might have to wear a diaper for a while?’ I mean, that doesn’t really excite me. So it’s a challenge.”

Freeze said that he is still awaiting the results of testing that he had done about two weeks ago. Once they are in, it will determine how aggressive the cancer cells are and he will be able to decide what the next steps in his recovery are.

The unknown has been weighing on him, but he’s still been attempting to keep a positive attitude. Part of that was coming to spring practice and understanding that he could be an example to his players of how to handle difficult times.

“I had my 30 minutes to an hour of self-pity and anger probably and then, truthfully, I flipped a switch and said, ‘I get a chance to practice what I’ve preached for 33 years of how to walk through another challenge or a gut-punch that you get or news that you get that you don’t like,'” Freeze said. “I get to model that for our kids and staff. So right now, the challenge for Jill and I is really just, what is the right next step?

“People at every clinic in America have been very kind to reach out and give me their opinion. I’m waiting on one more test to come back that really tells you the aggressiveness of these cells. That will kind of help me make the decision on, ‘Do we approach this with just prayer and diet and monitor it? Or do we think we need to be more aggressive in some of the procedures that are out there?’ They said that test will take 3-4 weeks and it’s probably been two weeks. So they should be hearing something here shortly.”

Hugh Freeze said he expects to hear back from doctors in one to two more weeks regarding the results of the test. Until then, he’s going to continue finding ways to stay positive and being around the team will hopefully help him in doing that.