LYNN — North Shore Navigators general manager Bill Terlecky was out on the night of Feb. 8 when he felt a sharp abdominal pain.
“I thought I had the stomach flu,” said Terlecky. “I was doubled over. When it wouldn’t subside, I felt I’d better get to the emergency room.”
Rather than call one of his friends to take him to Salem Hospital, Terlecky got an Uber driver to take him there.
“And,” he said, “I haven’t been home since.”
Those sharp pains were evidence of a tumor on the outside of his colon — something that the normal 5-year intervals of colonoscopies did not pick up.
“I was floored when they told me it was a recurrence of the cancer,” he said.
That was especially true since his last bout with it was more than six years ago.
It’s been a long road for Terlecky since, including a 9-hour surgery during which doctors cleared the obstruction that was causing all the pain. Over the course of his illness thus far, he’s been transferred to Mass. General Hospital — a place he’ll hopefully leave later this week so he can do outpatient chemotherapy and return to his Swampscott home.
In the interim, Lynners Joe Gill and Ashley Laramie will be day-to-day GMs for the Navigators, but make no mistake, Gill said. Terlecky is calling the shots.
“We’re still getting the 3 a.m. emails,” said Gill, who has been with the club in various capacities for five years.
Terlecky may not have been aware of it prior to being stricken ill, but he has since discovered just exactly how many friends and supporters he has on the North Shore.
“I’m overwhelmed,” said Terlecky. “Never in my wildest imagination did I think anything like this could happen.
“I’m just a guy from Youngstown, Ohio, who came here to run a baseball club,” said Terlecky, who is 64. “This is incredible.”
“This” is the support he’s received from the community. Saturday, at Gannon Golf Course’s second-floor function hall, the Lynn Area Chamber of Commerce will host a fundraiser to help Terlecky cope with the medical expenses associated with his illness. The function goes from 7 to 10 p.m. and costs $10. There will be music and raffles, and appetizers will be served.
Gill estimates 125 people will attend, with one of them being Navigators’ owner Patrick Salvi. He said that he and his committee have been planning the event for about a month, “but it’s been made a lot easier by the incredible support we’ve received.
“The response from the community has been unbelievable,” he said.
And though Terlecky has been on a Total Parenteral Nutrition regimen (an intravenous combination of nutrients given to patients who cannot eat or absorb solid food) for more than a month, he’s about to go back to eating solid food.
“Now that I’ll be able to do that,” he said, “the next step is to build up my strength for chemotherapy. So Whole Foods, look out.”
He thinks he might even be able to attend Saturday’s function for a short while.
“I wouldn’t bet against me showing up for maybe 45 minutes to an hour,” he said.
