Marcus Smart Reveals Mother’s Cancer Diagnosis, Request For Son In Playoffs

Marcus Smart has a very good reason to expedite his rehab process.

The Boston Celtics guard revealed Tuesday his 63-year-old mother, Camellia, has been diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, a form of bone marrow cancer. Smart’s mother told her son of her diagnosis last week when he visited her in Texas, and the prognosis apparently isn’t good.

“At this point, from what they told me, they’re just trying to preserve life right now,” Smart told reporters at TD Garden before Boston’s Game 2 win over the Milwaukee Bucks in their first-round playoff series, via The Boston Globe. “You can’t fix it. Would have to get a whole transplant, and at her age that’s tough. Transplant would probably be more harmful than good.”

Smart said his mother will continue to fight, though, and has a simple request for her son: Get back on the court. Smart, who’s been out since March 11 with a right thumb injury, said his mother urged him to return to the team and continue rehabbing rather than stay with her in Texas so he can return to game action as soon as possible.

“She told me she’d rather I was here than back there, doing what I love to do,” Smart said, “because she loves to watch me play, because that would put a smile on her face if I got back healthy and back on the court.”

The Celtics are targeting an April 27 return date for Smart, which could fall on a potential Game 7 against Milwaukee or Game 1 of a second-round series should the C’s advance.

Smart’s mother isn’t the first family member to battle cancer; the Celtics guard’s older brother, Todd Westbrook, died from the disease at age 33 in 2004, when Smart was just 9 years old.

We’d forgive Smart if basketball was the last thing on his mind right now, but it appears the family is turning to the Celtics’ playoff run as a source of hope.