Wife’s cancer brings CFL quarterback to his knees
His longevity and his remarkable numbers make Anthony Calvillo one of the greatest quarterbacks in Canadian Football League history.
He is tough, determined and although not as physically gifted as many of the other quarterbacks in the CFL, his heart, his head and his resiliency have combined to make him the number one quarterback in almost every offensive category in the league today.
And yet, on October 22, 2007, the 6-foot-1, 213-pound Calvillo was brought to his knees.
That was the day a large cancerous mass was discovered in the chest of his wife, Alexia Kontolemos. It was the day Anthony and Alexia tested their faith as it had never been tested before.
"The first thing we did when we heard that this tumour had been discovered was get down on our knees and pray," Calvillo said, during a telephone interview with ChristianWeek from the Montreal Alouettes locker room on August 11. "Our faith was going to be the foundation of our journey to deal with Alexia's cancer. We knew right away that Jesus would give us the strength to get through this, to defeat it and to get on with our lives."
Doctors diagnosed Alexia with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. The tumour as discovered in the cavity of Alexia's chest, right between her lungs.
"After the initial shock, as Christians, we weren't going to be beaten by this news," says Calvillo. "We were going to stay in the Word and try to get a better understanding of the illness and our own ability to cope. We have a lot of Christian friends, and with them we stayed by the Book. We had support from outside and by leaning on her own faith, we were all able to get through it and watch her beat it."
Today, Alexia, 34, is only two months away from a magical date: two years of being free from the cancer that almost claimed her life.
In the meantime, her husband, at age 37, is playing the best football of his career. Despite that late season drop-off in 2007 when Alexia was diagnosed, this product of East L.A. and Utah State University has been re-born as a quarterback, turning in a magnificent season in 2008 (he was named the league's most outstanding player).
This year may turn out to be an even better one. Calvillo was named the CFL's offensive player of the month for July as he led the Alouettes to a 4-1 record—the best start of any CFL team—and led the league in both yards passing and completion percentage. He completed 75.6 per cent of his passes for 1,519 yards and seven touchdowns compared with only two interceptions. In his career he has now passed for more than 335 touchdowns and 60,000 yards.
"What happened made me realize how important life was outside of football," Calvillo says. "Alexia was diagnosed one week after our second daughter was born. At the time I came to realize that she and the kids and the rest of our families were so much more important than football.
"Now, when I play, I don't approach the game as being so important anymore. I enjoy playing the game, but I don't take it as seriously as I once did. It's fun and a big part of my life, but it's not as important as my family or my faith."
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