MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The pros may be taking on TPC Southwind this weekend at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, but earlier this week, a former St. Jude patient got to try his hand at the course.
Perfecting his golf swing isn’t half as hard as battling his cancer was.
Cross Kubik took it all in as he walked off the course at TPC Southwind during Wednesday’s golf tournament pro-am.
"It was awesome, this course is beautiful and obviously, I have a whole different connection with Memphis and St. Jude," Kubik said.
Kubik was a patient at St. Jude Children’s Hospital for the first time at two years old. He was diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma, a tumor on his adrenal gland. After a successful 12-hour surgery, he lived over a decade healthy before cancer reared its ugly head again at 16.
This time, it was acute myeloid leukemia, a form of leukemia seeping into his bone marrow that was actually a complication from previous cancer treatment.
"My darkest moment was probably when I heard my initial diagnosis on the phone. Tears were shed, but then I knew it was time to get to work and get this horrible thing out of my body," Kubik said.
Kubik's own sister became his bone marrow donor. Once an avid baseball player, he chose a different kind of swing while rehabbing at St. Jude - golf.
"I would hit hundreds of golf balls into the Mississippi River every day kind of for therapy. It’s shown its support throughout this whole thing, for sure," Kubik said.
Kubik became so good at golf, in fact, he will play golf on scholarship at Rockhurst University in Missouri. This week, he played in the pro-am during the FedEx St. Jude Championship and hung out with golf stars like Colin Morikowa and Lucas Herbert.
"I had a whole different connection with Lucas, one of his buddies passed away from Leukemia. It was cool to have a connection like that," Kubik said. He gave me a head cover of his foundation called Leuk the Duck and it was kind of based on his buddy, so it was really amazing."
It's an experience he’ll surely take into his next stronger, healthier stage of life.
Kubik will use his golf scholarship to pursue a career in medicine. He said he wants to be an orthopedic surgeon, helping children undergoing cancer treatment just like he did.