An incredible story of Adversity and Success!
An incredible story of Adversity and Success!
Hi, I’m Mel Sole, Director of Instruction at the Mel Sole Golf School, headquartered at Pawleys Plantation Golf and Country Club in Pawleys Island, SC. We conduct 1, 2, and 3-day golf schools, hourly golf lessons, and senior golf schools—any golf instruction program your heart desires. Give us a call at 800-624-4653 or 843-237-4993. We will be happy to book a commuter school or a package that contains accommodations, golf, and golf school.
Golf Blog by the Mel Sole Golf School.
This is the story of James Dourin and his battle with cancer. Occasionally, as I do my research for my posts, I encounter an incredible story of courage and perseverance. People who beat adversity and from being "down and out" lifted their lives and create success! This is one of those stories. But it is much more than that. Read this inspiring story brought to you by Geoff Bryant of the USGTF! Thanks, Geoff!
James Douris is known to USGTF members as a fourtime champion of the United States Golf Teachers Cup and the 2011 World Golf Teachers Cup, but his life involves more than merely winning golf tournaments.
Douris also won a much more important battle – a battle with cancer.
In March of 2012, Douris was set to compete at the Port City Open in Bainbridge, Georgia, when he awoke the morning of the first round with a swollen neck. Douris had been plagued by this problem for several weeks prior, and both times he went to see a doctor he was told it was an infection and was given antibiotics. Douris was rooming during the tournament with USGTF national course director Mark Harman, and Harman took Douris to another doctor in Tallahassee, Florida, where they had been staying.
He was told he had Lymphoma Cancer.
After a two-hour examination, Douris was informed he did not have an infection but instead had lymphoma cancer…at the age of 31. The next day, Douris was on a plane back to his native Australia to seek full medical care.
A round of chemotherapy didn’t entirely clear the cancer from his body, so Douris underwent a second round along with a bone marrow transplant. Thankfully, the second round of treatment worked, and Douris is cancer-free as of this writing.
Douris earned his USGTF certification in 2005, shooting a 65 during the playing ability test. He entered the US Golf Teachers Cup that year in San Antonio, and although he did not win, it was a precursor for things to come. He won the title in 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2011. In January 2012, Douris competed along with several other USGTF members in a pro-am in Tobago. The competition included such former PGA Tour players such as Dave Rummells, Jim Thorpe, Jim Chancey, and Dick Mast. Current star player Patrick Reed also competed and wound up winning the four-round event, but Douris scored lower than Reed over the final three rounds. Thorpe was on record as saying Douris’s game “had no weaknesses,” and he was ready to take his game to the next level.
Except, life intervened with the cancer scare…and a double whammy.
First, while he was in the hospital, Douris lost his father to cancer. Just a week later, his beloved mother told him she had been stricken with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, and had one year to live.
“It’s one of the worst diseases imaginable,” said Douris. “My nightmare had come true. She became completely paralyzed over the nine-month period as I watched, and had lost all hope for happiness. When she passed away, I was alone and never wanting to play golf again.”
To read the rest of this incredible story, go here!
Source: Geoff Bryant Mel Sole Golf School
Pictures: Geoff Bryant
Thanks for reading - An incredible story of Adversity and Success!
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