Everyone goes through tests.  These challenges are there to build character and strengthen ones faith.  Kelly Williams went through the mother of all tests, one that made his will more resilient than it ever was.

During the 2009 All Star week, the North and the South squads were to challenge the Powerade Team Pilipinas with former Rookie of the Year and MVP Kelly Williams proudly donning the national colors.  But he was feeling queasy, his stomach cramping during the first of the 3-game, week-long schedule.

“It was like I drank bad water”, recalled Williams who shared that he could not even carry his own bag the next day.  From the Davao Airport enroute to Panabo, he asked to be brought to the hotel because his condition was worsening.  He was throwing up and could not keep anything down.

“I thought I was going to die,” he said.

It was ironic that when he was going through all this, his wife Erica broke the news that she was pregnant with their first child.  But despite his extreme bliss, the malady was consuming him.  The next day, April 24, he was flown back to Manila and was taken straight to the Asian Hospital.

“They checked my blood and that’s when they found out about my condition”.  Kelly was diagnosed with ITP (idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura) a condition of having low platelet count in the blood.  Kelly’s platelet count was at 6,000 when the normal count is between 150,000 to 450,000.  Platelets or thrombocytes are responsible for formation of blood clots, causing the bleeding process to stop.

“I didn’t understand what the doctors were talking about.  I could not understand the severity of this condition”.  He was ready to rip off the IV and leave the hospital because he was feeling better.  But what the doctor told him hit close to home and made him realize that he was in a life-and-death situation.  That if he pushed himself to play ball, and God forbid meet an accident on the court, it could be life-threatening.  

He stayed in the hospital for four days, receiving fluids, steroids and all sorts of medication to boost his immune system and had a blood transfusion to stabilize his condition.  It was a daunting experience, the least to say, “It was scary”.  But he was able to cope with Erica at his side and with all their friends and family showing support and uplifting his spirit.

Williams was in the hospital every week, with his platelet count going up and down. He was also battling fears of not being able to play anymore, with the doctors outlining the possibilities.

All throughout, he was watching the Sta. Lucia Realtors and their predicaments being short handed.  He wanted nothing more than to help the team get back on its championship track, so watching them struggle and lose big games was difficult to swallow.

“What was hard is that I had no control over (the disease).  It’s not like an injury.  And it also came out of nowhere,” he explained.

His mother who was a nurse in the US and is working as a Home Health Care provider came for over a month helping him search for answers on how to best battle this disease.  His mother in-law also came and his family from Pampanga was regularly there to give support.  He needed all that could get especially because of Erica’s early stages of pregnancy.

“Luckily Lamont’s there,” Kelly revealed.

Lamont Waters, Erica’s brother, is the second round, 17th overall pick this year of the Realtors.  He was a United States service man for six years.  He was with the US Air Force communications and was even a combat communications officer in Iraq.  He’s also one of Kelly’s constant supporters, not just because they’re in-laws, but because they were already friends when they were younger, sharing a dream of playing together in the PBA back when they were balling in Fil-Am tourneys in Detroit.

With a great support system, Kelly “just got to the point where (he) just needed to NOT worry“.  But he was still struggling to get some semblance of normalcy in his life.

“I was restricted to the house, couldn’t go to crowded places since my immune system was down.  I would just go to the mall very early when no one’s there”, he explained.

Fervent in winning over the illness, Kelly went through the lengthy treatment that tested his resolve.  But all the sacrifice yielded positive results.  His platelet count is now on the normal range and they’re slowly tapering off the medicines.

The faith of friends and family helped him and Erica stay optimistic.  It was all weighing heavily on him, but he learned that they “just have to hold on to the truth of it – that everything is going to be fine and God has a plan”.

When asked how all this has changed him, he says it slowed him down.  Since he got in the league, everything was so fast-paced. But with the situation he endured, he was able to slow down and reprioritize things.

Kelly made his first public appearance in the PBA during the Draft last August 2 and went to practice the very next day.

Lamont shared: “He dunked on somebody the second week of practice so he’s not far from where he needs to be.”  

“I’m not 100% but I’m in a good playing condition.  I’m getting my coordination, timing and I’m dropping weight.  I’m getting strong” relayed the 2007-08 MVP.  Though he thinks Kelly’s far from where he was, Lamont thinks he can go farther than where he was at before the illness.  

“He can be greater than how he was,” Waters said.

“I just hope the team sees the hard work (Kelly) has put in.  If anybody’s going to slack, he has the ultimate excuse.  But he works so hard,” according to Lamont.

Up until now though, it’s a mental and emotional battle, most especially physically.  Not everything is “peaches and cream” and it’s still a daily decision in line with his faith to work hard and focus not on where he is but where he is going.

Friday last week, Kelly suited up in his very first official PBA game six months and two weeks after his last in Victorias City with Powerade Team Piipinas in during All-Star Week. He was all over the court and was his usual awesome self, finishing with 14 points, nine rebounds, two assists, two steals and three shotblocks in 37 minutes of action as Sta. Lucia started the season with a 95-76 massacre of Coca-Cola. He could not have been happier being back to the thing he loves doing most.

Kelly Williams shares that the last four months have been a test.  He’s able to see things more clearly now.

“Now it’s all for God.  He’s given me this to do.  I will remember what he brought me through,” he said.

By Patricia Bermudez-Hizon