Stuart Scott: 'Trying to stay alive for my daughters'

Michael Hiestand, USA TODAY Sports | USATODAY

Put aside whatever you might think of ESPN's Stuart Scott as a sports TV announcer and listen to this person.

"I'm not going to lie, it's scary. It's a very scary thing," Scott told USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday about a recurrence of cancer. "The immediate thought is I'm going to die."

Scott, who did a SportsCenter on Monday, learned last month the cancer had returned -- he would prefer not to specify what type -- that was diagnosed in 2007 and first recurred in 2010.

"My immediate thought was my two daughters. I've got to be around for them," he says. "There have been a lot of people who've said I'm courageous. I'm not. I'm scared. I've got to be around for them."

At least those daughters -- Taelor, 17, and Sydni, 13 -- can be absolutely sure of this: Their dad is motivated.

He already has had three rounds of chemotherapy, which he has every other Monday. "People associate it with nausea and fatigue. I find it's queasiness, not nausea," he says. "It drains you. ... But what are you going to do?"

Scott does do something specific: He works out right after treatments.

"That's my mental and physical way of standing up to cancer," says Scott, adding he has done mixed-martial arts the past three years "more for my mind than my body. It makes me feel like I can battle with something that gets in my way."

That's why he also says that whatever Lance Armstrong says in his Oprah Winfrey interview, he's "very grateful" for Armstrong's anti-cancer efforts: "I don't care about a bike race. I'm fighting cancer and trying to stay alive for my daughters. ... (Armstrong's) efforts that affected millions of people with cancer is his legacy. And you're not going to argue me off that."

The only ESPN work days Scott misses are the chemo Mondays -- although, he says, it's not like anybody is making him show up at the office.

"I don't want to sound like a company man, but I swear on my daughters that I've never seen or heard of a company that's as compassionate as ESPN when it comes to something like this," Scott says. "I've had high-level executives want to bring over food. I've had bosses say, 'Dude, stay home.' It's always about me getting better."

In this respect, Scott is a lucky man. He says, sounding truly sincere: "It blows my mind how amazing my company is."

But that's a sideshow to his bigger picture -- coping with cancer.

When Scott goes for his chemo treatment and then on to his workout, he says he has extra motivation from the other cancer patients he sees being treated: "I can take this, deal with it easier than some people I see. So I think for the ones who can't punch a heavy bag, can't spar, who can't do any of that. I'll do it for you."