Family says 'Not again' to cancer

There was a change in Erica Nichols. She wasn’t herself. She was always tired. Parents notice these things.

But what Eric and Shanna noticed in their little girl, they didn’t want to believe. Couldn’t believe.

Life can’t be that cruel, can it?

Only a year earlier — March 5, 2006 — Erica’s twin sister Kaitlyn died from leukemia. She was 2 1/2.

On March 27, 2007, Erica was diagnosed with leukemia.

“That was . . . yeah,” Eric Nichols said.

He returned from the hospital and tore apart the garage in his Las Vegas home.

“I was so angry,” Eric said.

And determined.

Leukemia wasn’t going two-for-two in the Nichols house.

Eric and Shanna searched the country for the best cancer treatment centers and settled on MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Shanna and Erica moved there for what would be nine months of treatments.

Eric stayed home with their other two children, Cole, 9, and Amy, 4. He channeled his anger into the house, sort of remodeled the place.

While driving to work one morning, Eric heard Dick Vitale on the radio talking about the V Foundation for Cancer Research and Vitale’s own quest to rid the world of cancer.

How many times had Eric Nichols heard Jimmy Valvano’s famous speech? The one where Jimmy V, his body filled with tumors, talked about what it’s like to have cancer and what it’s like to live?

“A million times,” Eric said, “but until then it didn’t hit home.”

Eric e-mailed Vitale. He told his story to the ESPN college baseball analyst who lives in Lakewood Ranch.

Vitale, moved to tears, called Eric and asked if he could retell the story on air whenever he talked about the V Foundation and his own fundraiser, which is often.

“Of course,” Eric said. “Anything to help the cause.”

An obsession

The annual Dick Vitale Gala for Cancer Research is Friday night at the Ritz-Carlton in Sarasota. All 750 seats have been sold at $1,000 each.

Florida coach Billy Donovan and Louisville coach Rick Pitino will be toasted for their achievements on the basketball court.

Vitale has assembled quite a list of celebrities.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Raheem Morris, former Super Bowl MVP quarterback Doug Williams, former Bucs star Mike Alstott, golfer Paul Azinger and a who’s-who of college basketball: John Calipari, Tom Izzo, Tubby Smith, Tommy Penders, Anthony Grant and Digger Phelps will be on hand.

Florida football coach Urban Meyer will introduce Donovan. ESPN sideline reporter Erin Andrews is on the guest list.

So is NBA Hall of Famer Bob Lanier, who played for Vitale when Vitale coached the Detroit Pistons.

“It’s like unbelievable,” Vitale said.

But the real honored guests are those who have gone head-to-head with pediatric cancer.

Like 13-year-old Andrew Giddens, of Bradenton, who battled Hodgkin’s lymphoma last year.

And Tim Berg, the 16-year-old Cardinal Mooney junior who has beaten rhabdomyosarcoma.