Team roper Gabe Gwaltney has a busy schedule next week.
He’s set to compete in the Super Series semifinals Thursday at Reliant Stadium — two days after a third round of chemotherapy for a rare form of sinus cancer at MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Gwaltney and partner Aaron Tsinigine were the top earners in Super Series IV, finishing with the best three-head time of 25.2 seconds on Saturday and moving on with $10,000 in their pockets.
“It’s a pretty neat deal to be able to come down here to one of the largest rodeos of the year and compete,” Gwaltney said. “When I first found out about this deal, and I knew coming into this I was up in this series, I told the doctor ‘Hey, whatever we do, I want to be here for RodeoHouston.’
“I don’t know if they actually worked my schedule around it, but it worked out pretty good.”
Doctors discovered the cancer in January after Gwaltney, 34, went in for sinus surgery related to problems he’s had breathing his whole life. He’s scheduled for a checkup in April to see where he’s at.
“When anybody says the word cancer, it really scares you,” Gwaltney said. “I’m a pretty big, stout guy (6-4, 240), and you don’t think that stuff will happen to you, and it goes to show that there’s no discrimination with cancer.
“You’ve just got to be positive.”
‘Just keep going’
The first thing he asked his doctor after his diagnosis was whether he’d be able to compete in Denver.
Missing RodeoHouston wasn’t even an option.
“A lot of people want to slow up and quit going, but I’ve taken the opposite approach — just keep going, enjoy life and have fun,” Gwaltney said.
Last year was the Missouri native’s first competing in Houston. He didn’t advance out of his series. (read more)
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