Broadcast personality Carson gets good news in cancer fight
By Greg Douglas,
Vancouver Sun
July 31, 2010  
                                              
                                                         Paul Carson
                                                                        courtesy Vancouver Broadcasters

Paul Carson now admits that he was given four to six months to live when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on Feb. 1. He refers to tomorrow -- Sunday, Aug. 1 -- as "my sixth-month anniversary."

"Chemotherapy treatments have been so successful that I am now scheduled for surgery to remove the tumour from my pancreas," the popular radio and television personality was saying Friday. "This news comes after doctors discovered that my liver is healthy; the tumours are benign. It looks like I'm going to make it to my 60th birthday in November and hopefully, years beyond. I've been feeling great the last few months, putting on weight, sleeping well, walking, doing yoga, golfing and working on regaining my fitness level after half a year of inactivity."

Carson has no idea how many people throughout British Columbia will be applauding his news.

But it was news of another nature that was dominating Carson's thoughts this week when word came down that Tom Larscheid was stepping aside as the Canucks radio colour commentator after 33 years.

As co-founder of Team 1040 Radio in 2001, Carson still has a keen interest in the station. And he was touched when, between chemo treatments Thursday, he heard from the guy who's replacing Larscheid: Dave Tomlinson.

"During all the media frenzy on the day his big story broke," Carson says, "Dave took the time to track me down and thank me for my efforts in getting him started in the business. There he was fielding media inquiries from across Canada to discuss his dream job and he went out of his way to pass along his debt of gratitude to me. He will never know how much that meant to me."

Or, maybe he did.

HERE 'N' THERE: Larscheid didn't want any full-throttle publicity but after 33 years in the NHL broadcast booth, he couldn't avoid it. Accolades came from everywhere, including the south of France where former CKNW football play-by-play man J.P. McConnell now lives. McConnell and Larscheid worked the Lions broadcasts together for years. They were not unlike the Odd Couple. Witness one night when an on-air disagreement led to an argument that led to Larscheid wrestling McConnell to the floor in a lively, old-fashioned dustup. Just being around Larscheid made life exciting.