Wheeling umpire plows ahead, fights cancer
Dave Pluda wants to be on a baseball field this June for the high school summer league, with perfectly manicured grass and temperatures in the 70s. Pluda will be umpiring behind home plate, just as he's done for the past 21 years.
Coaches can yell and scream and complain all they want. Perhaps a player or two as well,k and even the fans.
“Ten coaches could yell at me about my strike zone,” Pluda said, laughing.
Problem is, he said this in late December while wearing a hospital patient gown, with a tube across his face to aid his breathing and pillows under his feet to keep them elevated to speed recovery.
Pluda, 59, a Wheeling resident and fixture on the local baseball scene for more than two decades, has faced a painful challenge since June, when he went to a local emergency room after his wife of 32 years, Sandie, basically dragged him there.
Pluda thought he had a bladder infection. But, by the end of the day, after a series of tests, he was told the three words no one wants to hear:
You have cancer.
A few days later, Pluda had a baseball-sized tumor removed from his colon.
After the surgery, Pluda learned he had Stage IV cancer — the disease had metastasized, spread to his liver and lungs.
In early August he started chemotherapy. And during that time, his feet became infected. He has endured excruciating pain in his feet and had three surgeries on his feet within a week. They are healing, but it's a slow process, he said.
Pluda is now a patient at Holy Family Medical Center in Des Plaines, where he prefers to talk about baseball as opposed to cancer, as he lays under a white blanket, his feet bandaged. He's been there since early November, hopes to be released in mid-January, and then will be rehabilitating at a facility in Buffalo Grove.
“Thankfully, it's all now moving in a positive direction,” said Pluda, who has umpired countless high school state tournament games and the American Legion state tournament finals five times. “The markers for the cancer have diminished significantly, meaning the therapy is doing its job. The prognosis is good, favorable.”
But he still will need a series of skin grafts on his feet.
“After an undetermined amount of time, I should be just fine,” said Pluda, who is an estimator for Hillside Lumber Company and father of two grown sons, Aaron (31) and Josh (29). “My goal is to get back to work, and then back on the field for summer ball.”
Pluda said the most frustrating part of his rehabilitation and recovery is the unknown.
“There is no fixed timeline,” said Pluda, who noted the chemotherapy for the cancer also has impacted how quickly his feet heal.
“When I heard (it was) cancer, it was almost disbelief,” Pluda said. “Those are three pretty tough words to hear: You have cancer.
“Right away, you think the worst. I immediately started thinking, ‘Why me?' But then I quickly looked at it that I only have one choice: to fight it. The alternative isn't so good.
“Right then I knew that my whole life changed forever.”
After all, until last June, Pluda had not been to, or needed, a doctor in 30 years. He was one of those fortunate few who just never got sick or injured.
“Now my whole life is trying to figure out how many doctors appointments I can get to in one week,” he said with a laugh.
“My life is completely upside down (from what it was), but I am determined to beat it. My grandson, Ethan, turned 1 on Christmas Day and I'd like to be around to watch him take his first swing,” in a baseball game.
Pluda said his employer couldn't be any better. His boss has said that his job is safe; it will be there when he returns.
“That really says something given the lumber business is struggling,” he said.
Pluda has received an abundance of get-well wishes from umpires throughout the area. One veteran umpire prays with Pluda over the phone.
He's also been supported by local coaches, athletic directors and other athletic personnel. Pluda received a prayer card from Maine South coach Bill Milano and others on his staff, get-well wishes from Mike Napoleon at New Trier, encouragement from Kevin LeFevre, the locker room attendant at Deerfield, and support from athletic personnel at Maine West, among others area schools.
“While we don't exactly hug each other on the field, it's nice to know that there's a caring, a mutual respect for one another,” Pluda said of the animosity that often simmers between umpires and coaches. “People don't often express that (love and support) until something like this comes along, but then you realize that you've touched a lot of people.
“This has been a real eye-opener.”
Pluda received a standing ovation from fellow umpires last fall after speaking to them for about two minutes at an annual end-of-the-season get-together.
Their response to Pluda was, “totally unexpected, straight out of left field,” he said. “It was wonderful, heartwarming.”
After all, Pluda has been an umpire trainer for 15 years for Umpires Metropolitan Professional Services (UMPS), a local baseball umpiring association — and he trained many in attendance that night.
“When they told me that I have cancer, my goal was to lead my life as normally as I can, which is why I wanted to get back to work as quickly as possible,” Pluda said. “And, (umpiring) local baseball in the spring and summer is normal for me.”