Tollesboro, KY (WKRC) – Inside the Tollesboro Christian Church, David Iery talked to Local 12’s Duane Pohlman about receiving the devastating news from doctors that he had cancer.
“They said, ‘You know, we’re sorry to be the ones to tell you the news, but you’ve got a tumor on your right lung,'” Irey said.
In 2024, Local 12 introduced viewers to David Iery, who was paralyzed at 17 following a slide at home plate. The story, titled “The Save,” detailed how a Major League Baseball player helped save his life. Now, Iery is facing a new challenge: Stage 4 cancer. (WKRC, provided media)
A biopsy confirmed the diagnosis: non-small cell carcinoma. For Irey, who said he has never smoked a day in his life, the news was shocking. But it would get more dire. Doctors found more than just a tumor in his lung.
“Stage 4,” Pohlman asked during his interview with Iery. “Is it in three different spots?”
Iery confirmed it. The cancer has spread to his hip and, in a cruel twist of fate, to two spots on his spine, the same one he severed nearly 37 years ago on a baseball field when he was just 17 years old.
“The Save:”
In 1989, Iery slid headfirst into home plate and never got up. The catastrophic injury resulted in paralysis and plunged him into a deep depression.
“It’s not what I would call my field of dreams,” Iery said, returning to the Kentucky ballfield in 2024 with Pohlman for the first time since the accident. “I don’t think I ever made it to the plate. I tried, and I remember everything going numb.”
Iery admitted back then that in the dark days following his accident, he contemplated suicide because “there is no cure for spinal cord injury.”
But Iery’s life changed when Al Oliver, a former Major League Baseball star who had just retired and become a minister, felt led by God to visit Iery’s hospital room.
In 2024, Local 12 introduced viewers to David Iery, who was paralyzed at 17 following a slide at home plate. The story, titled “The Save,” detailed how a Major League Baseball player helped save his life. Now, Iery is facing a new challenge: Stage 4 cancer.{ } (WKRC, provided media)
“Al Oliver said, ‘Never give up,'” Iery said. “So, that kind of helped me push on.”
That visit sparked a lifelong friendship and a mission. The two work together on Iery’s foundation to warn young players about the dangers of headfirst slides.
The remarkable story, chronicled in Pohlman’s special report called “The Save,” received an Emmy and other awards.
In May 2024, Iery was made an honorary captain by the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park, with Oliver throwing out the first pitch during a game.
The New Battle:
A year and a half after rolling onto the major league field to applause, Iery is facing a new battle for his life.
“I haven’t struck out yet,” Iery said.
When asked if he questioned why he must endure this new trial after already suffering so much, Iery remained pragmatic.
“I guess we don’t get to pick and choose what we get in life,” Iery said. “We just have to pick and choose how we’re going to go fight it. I’m fighting it.”
That fight has been physically devastating. Iery’s sister, Carol Cunningham, said, telling us the first round of chemotherapy nearly killed him.
“He was down for the count,” Cunningham said.
Due to the severity of the reaction, full chemotherapy is now off the table. Iery is treating cancer with medication instead.
Faith and Community:
As he faces an uncertain prognosis, Iery has leaned heavily into his faith. Paralysis had previously prevented him from undergoing a full baptism by immersion.
Late last year, that changed when a hundred people gathered at a local YMCA pool to help lower him into the water.
When Pohlman asked if Iery is preparing for the end, Iery answered, “You always pray for the best, and, you know, you always have to be aware of the worst.”
In 2024, Local 12 introduced viewers to David Iery, who was paralyzed at 17 following a slide at home plate. The story, titled “The Save,” detailed how a Major League Baseball player helped save his life. Now, Iery is facing a new challenge: Stage 4 cancer.{ } (WKRC, provided media)
The community has rallied around him as well. A recent fundraiser featuring an auction drew friends and supporters raising money for his medical care. Though Iery attended and stopped to thank the crowd, he was too sick to stay for the duration of the event.
As he left the fundraiser, rolling toward his van, lots of people stopped to say goodbye and wish him well.
Pohlman asked him if he was ready for another “Save.”
“I pray there’s a ‘Save,’ you know, pray the Lord will give me another chance where I can do more work here on earth,” Iery said.
Then, with a slight smile, he added, “We’ll go from the save to the win.”
If you would like to help Iery with a donation, you can contact The David Iery Foundation by clicking here.