Back on Track : Cal State L.A. sprinter Barry Smith is in top form again after a long fight with Hodgkin’s disease.

The odds were against Barry Smith before he entered the starting blocks for the 200 meters in the 1990 State junior college finals.

The East Los Angeles College freshman finished third but was convinced he would have won if not for a tactical mistake.

“I was mad because I should have come off the turn stronger,” Smith said.

No doubt he had the ability.

But he also had Hodgkin’s disease.

Three weeks after the finals Smith took on the most grueling challenge of his life.

He underwent one operation to have a tumor removed from his neck and another to have his spleen removed.

He went for radiation treatment five days a week--137 sessions from July through December. The first sessions focused on his head and neck, and then as the months wore on, his chest and stomach.

“I was throwing up every five minutes because of the radiation, but I never missed a treatment,” said Smith, 23. “I hated it. I was marking the days off the calendar until I would be a free man. You lose your sense of smell and sense of taste and everything tastes like dirt.”

Smith, who finished therapy two days before Christmas, 1990, will have checkups every six months for the rest of his life. But all signs indicate he is in remission.

About 70% to 80% of Hodgkin’s disease patients survive for at least five years after treatment. If the condition is treated successfully at an early stage, like Smith’s, the disease is apparently cured.

Smith said the radiation treatments sent tingling sensations throughout his body for more than a year, but they are gone. The only visible signs are scars on his neck and abdomen from incisions.

“I don’t feel bitter for what happened,” Smith said. “Everything happens for a reason. I guess God wanted to see how strong I was. I learned what life is all about and to take every step with each breath.”

Smith’s first warning came during an athletics physical at East L.A. College in March, 1990. He was cleared to compete in track but was referred to a nose, throat and ear specialist because of a lump on his neck. Smith saw several other physicians before the diagnosis was made more than two months later.

Smith continued to compete, trying to keep his illness a secret from his coaches and teammates. But by the time the State meet rolled around, a growth the size of a golf ball had developed in the left side of his neck.

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“I didn’t practice at all because I was always at the doctor taking tests,” Smith said. “I knew the State meet was my last race of the season and I wasn’t going to compete for a long time. I never worried about dying. The only thing I stressed out about was when I would be back on the track.”

It would be many months and many ordeals later.

Transportation for treatment in Long Beach posed a problem for Smith, who lives in Monterey Park. The effects of the radiation made him too ill to drive. He took the bus until drivers refused to let him on because of his constant vomiting. The American Cancer Society eventually provided Smith with taxi vouchers.

The 5-foot-9 former State high school champion lost his hair and watched his weight drop from 165 pounds to 114.

Smith’s parents, Uera and Thelma, repeatedly asked him to return home to San Francisco while he was undergoing treatment.

“My mom cried when I told her I had cancer, but I told her I could get through it alone,” said Smith, the second-youngest of 10 children. “My parents can’t live with me forever, and I didn’t want to burden my mom to see me the way I was.”

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Hodgkin’s disease is a cancer that attacks the lymph nodes and other lymph tissues. Three new cases per 100,000 people are diagnosed in the United States each year. The disease is more common in men and usually strikes people in their 20s and those between 55 and 77.

Smith’s Hodgkin’s disease was classified as “A-1,” the least dangerous form.

The cause of Hodgkin’s disease is unknown. Smith’s grandmother died of cancer and he speculates the cause may have been hereditary.

“I was saying my prayers,” Smith said.

“If I died, I thought at least I accomplished something getting out of the ghettos in San Francisco and going to college.”

A physical education major, Smith did not return to school full time until last year at Long Beach City College. Doctors told Smith he would be able to return to competition in a year. But it turned out to be two.

And it was open for debate whether Smith could return to the form of his senior season at San Francisco Mission High, where he won the 200 in the 1989 State meet and ran a meet record in the 100 meters in the preliminaries.

“I ran in all-comer meets and didn’t do too well,” Smith said. “I was so happy just to run; I could have been last and not been disappointed.”

Smith surpassed those expectations last year.

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He ran a personal best in the 200 of 20.63 seconds and advanced to the semifinals in the event in last June’s USA Track and Field national championships in Eugene, Ore., competing in a heat that included Carl Lewis, 1992 Olympic champion Mike Marsh and former 100 world record-holder Leroy Burrell.

Smith also ran 10.37 in the 100 last year, just .03 seconds off his best.

In the State junior college championship, Smith finished second in the 100 and the 200 and ran on Long Beach City’s victorious 400-meter relay team to help the Vikings to the state title.

Smith trained occasionally over the last two years at Cal State L.A. but did not take up Coach Kevin McCarthy’s offer to compete for the Golden Eagles until last month.

“I would see him working out and told him he would be always welcome if he needed a school to go to,” McCarthy said. “I left an open door for him and he accepted.”

With the addition of Smith, McCarthy is optimistic about the Golden Eagles’ chances for knocking off four-time defending champion Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. championships in May.

“If Barry does well at (the NCAA Division II) nationals, we’ll do well at nationals, especially the relays,” said McCarthy, who is hoping for a top-five national finish.

Such optimism was evident April 17 at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays. Smith anchored the Golden Eagles’ 400 relay team to a mark of 40.52--the second-fastest college time in the state this season.

“Last year showed me I could run in the low 10s and 20s if I was healthy,” Smith said. “I want to do well at nationals. I feel I can run with anybody when I get in shape.

“When you’ve beaten what I’ve beaten, it’s hard not to think that way.”