We've seen the picture before.
The photo was a shot of Boston Celtics' team captain Reggie Lewis, who died Tuesday of cardiac arrest while shooting baskets at Brandeis University, sitting on the floor after collapsing during a playoff game against Charlotte in April.
Lewis looked dazed and confused with a "how could this be happening to me?" expression on his face.
The picture was splashed across the sports section of every Boston newspaper with the story of the star's fate: he would never play basketball again.
Every article, it seemed, described his illness as the heart disease that killed Loyola-Marymount star Hank Gathers in 1990.
The pictures were alike, too.
The Celtics, under pressure because they allowed Lewis to reenter the Charlotte game for a short time, assembled a team of doctors, which Celtics' Senior Executive Vice President and Dave Gavitt '59 likened to the dream team of cardiology, who ran a diverse battery of tests on the 27-year old All-Star.
Their prognosis confirmed that Lewis indeed had cardiomyopathy, a disease that damages the heart and causes it to beat irregularly. The condition, they said, was life-threatening.
If Lewis and Gathers had a heroic flaw, it was not in their damaged hearts, rather it was in their heads. Their flaw was denial, and both died of a lethal dose. Tragically, they had convinced themselves that heart disease doesn't kill healthy twenty-somethings in prime physical condition.
Gathers complained his medication made him sluggish and would either not take it, or jump rope to work it off before games.
Lewis bolted from New England Baptist Hospital in the middle of the night and transferred to Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital for an ill-advised second opinion.
There, Dr. Gilbert Mudge came up with a different diagnosis. Lewis, he said, had neurocardiogenic syncope, a disorder that causes nerves to send the heart confused signals about speeding up or slowing down. Although a serious condition if left untreated, it is completely correctable with medication.
That was all Lewis needed to hear. That same day he announced he would play basketball again this coming season. The staff of 11 cardiologists shook their heads, but their dissent was washed out by a chorus of cheers from Boston fans.
You can't blame the Celtics. After the first mistake of allowing Lewis back onto the floor against Charlotte, the Celtics learned their lesson and played it safe. They gave Lewis the best medical care available and were none too happy when Lewis decided the doctor's dream team wasn't telling him what he wanted.
Obviously, Lewis is ultimately to blame for his decision to play again. But before we shake our heads and try to imagine the grief that the Lewis' family and the Celtics are feeling right now, we have to realize that we, the fans, are also partially responsible when they applaud athletes who play with injuries with little regard for their health.
Reggie Lewis was described by Gavitt as being a tremendous human being. His legacy will hopefully prevent other athletes from believing in their own invincibility.
