former VT bball player gets degree

**gcdevil22** · February 8th, 2007, 09:21 PM

If you just looked at Allen Calloway, you'd have no idea anything was wrong.

He's a bit thin, but then again, he was a lean, 6-foot-8, 198-pounder when he first arrived on the Virginia Tech basketball scene in 2002. He was a great leaper, a terrific shot blocker, and an outstanding athlete, but never one of those thick, burly guys anyway.

If you just looked at Calloway today, you'd see that same smile he's always had. Gleaming white teeth that reflect that jovial personality.

He's a happy guy. He'll never complain. You'd never know.

You'd never know that this 23-year-old from Gretna, Va., continues to battle alveolar soft part carcinoma, as he has since 2001 when he first noticed 'something wasn't right.' You'd never know that this cancer has metastasized to his lungs. He now has stage 4 lung cancer.

You'd never know it's also metastasized to his brain. Calloway has had three brain surgeries in the past 10 months.

What you'd know is that Allen Calloway, despite battling this brutal cancer, has focused on getting his Virginia Tech degree. He finished his academic work in Blacksburg this past Wednesday (Jan. 31st).

"I had to finish a project on real estate appraisal and I finished it," a proud Calloway said this past week upon his return to Blacksburg. "It was important to me to get that diploma, and I'm done."

Calloway would've been done sooner, of course, but he's spent much of the past year in the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem. He spent two full months there last spring following emergency brain surgery.

"I had developed these brain lesions, which busted," Calloway explains. "In April, I had to go in for emergency surgery."

He stayed at the hospital in Winston-Salem for eight weeks.

"I had to learn how to walk and talk again," he said. "They (doctors) were scared that I wouldn't be able to do either."

Calloway recovered, but in July, doctors found three more tumors, which required more brain surgery. Then this past December, they found two more, which meant even more brain surgery.

"They use what's called a gamma knife," Calloway explained. "It's a procedure that's basically laser surgery."

Nobody knows what will happen next.

"It's a very rare cancer," Calloway explained. "The doctors don't know where it's going to go. I have a check-up every three months and my next one is February 26th."

But when he goes back for his next check-up, Calloway will be a proud Virginia Tech graduate, with a degree in Residential Property Management.

"I talk with Shawn Harris (a former Hokie teammate) a lot," Calloway said. "He was always telling me that I had to get that degree. Had to finish. I had to."

And so through the brain scans, blood tests, MRI's, and brain surgeries, Calloway has maintained his mental toughness, his discipline and his desire to graduate.

And he's still a Hokie, make no mistake. Calloway watches the Hokies play from his mom's house in North Carolina.

"Oh, I miss it a lot," Calloway admitted. "Even the practices. Even getting yelled at by coach. Yeah, I miss that, too."

As a freshman, Calloway came off the bench and grabbed four rebounds in Tech's win over No. 18 Connecticut. As a sophomore for the Hokies in 2004, he played in all 29 games, including a big game at Georgetown. Calloway scored nine points, had four rebounds and blocked three shots in the Hokies' win over the Hoyas. Then he scored seven points and had five rebounds in the Big East tournament win over Rutgers.

He was diagnosed with his cancer a year later, and by the fall of 2005, it had worsened to the point where it was clear his playing career was over.

"At first it was real scary. But now, I deal with it in stride," he said.

While he was honored at senior day last year at Cassell Coliseum, he really felt even more proud this past Wednesday when he officially turned in his final paper and thus finally earned his Tech degree.

He attended Tech's practice last week and was able to visit with his former teammates. He also plans to return for the Hokies' game with Clemson later this season.

Calloway has stayed in contact with Harris, Tech trainer Keith Doolan, and academic coordinator Katie Ammons. He credits his grandmother, Shirley Clements of Gretna, as one of the more inspirational people in his life.

"She is about 70, but still works 40-plus hours per week," Calloway said. "My grandma - that's one strong-willed woman."

And her grandson is one strong-willed kid.

There are a lot of people who get dealt a bad hand in life. That certainly applies here.

But you'd never know it by looking at Allen Calloway - a young man who has us shown that a great spirit and a terrific attitude can overcome even the greatest of obstacles.

**89bluedevil** · February 8th, 2007, 09:29 PM

Very strong indeed. If I had been diagnosed with this condition I don't know that finishing my academic degree would even matter. I don't know how someone can continue to try and lead a somewhat normal life through such circumstances.

Wherever that article came from I hope many people read it and take a minute to think about Allen Calloway.