This is a wonderful story of Dr.Berger Carlson that I
want to share it with you.
I had the chance to play with a him a way back when
starting out.
This man had pancreatic cancer and he seemed to have
beaten this.12 yrs later.


When I first moved here and this was in the early sixties.
Bought my first car from his dad.
There is a messages to go with this.
Keeping fit,playing tennis,postive thinking.
Love from the family.

Dr. Berger Carlson struck back with the power of one of his forehands.

Pop!

He slammed the prognosis deep into the corner, a winner.

Pop!


He whacked the sorrow and fear he and his family had felt to the opposite corner, another winner.

Pop!

Then he smashed an overhead winner, an exclamation point on his successful battle against pancreatic cancer.

Game, set, match.

"I don't think I've ever bragged about it," Carlson, a retired surgeon, said yesterday in the kitchen of his comfy Concord condo. "Let's make the most of it. I'm grateful as hell, but I'm not crowing and saying, 'Hey, look at me.' I'll keep taking it as long as it will come."

It's been 12 years thus far. Twelve years since Carlson - who owned the car dealership on Manchester Street before his daughter, Holly, inherited it - was diagnosed with a disease that often kills you in a matter of months.

Twelve years since Marilyn, his wife of 49 years, and his children presumed he'd been handed a death sentence. Twelve years since Carlson, weakened by surgery and chemotherapy and radiation treatments, considered a 10-yard walk a marathon run.

"I will never forget that time," Carlson said. "During that period I would get up, shower, shave, eat breakfast, and then I would have an overwhelming desire, and that was to go back to bed."

We featured Carlson seven years ago. We reported that, at age 79, he was leading a full life that included trips around New England to compete on the senior tennis circuit. He was ranked second in New England in his late 70s.

His competitive days on the tour are over. At 87, the player pool in his age bracket is thin, and, besides, Carlson doesn't enjoy the travel anymore.

But ask him about the father-and-son division in last month's Concord City Tennis Tournament, and watch him pull out his composition notebook, the kind kids use in grade school.

"I just happen to have those scores," Carlson said, reaching behind him. "I keep a tennis diary."

He and his son, Kent, a former professional hockey player, won their first match, 6-4, 1-6, 6-0, before falling in the second round, 6-0, 6-2. Carlson conveniently forgot to include those scores.

"You had to ask?" he said.