A second opinion to be thankful for. A second opportunity at life that has taught him to cherish and love everything that much more. Last month, Jerry Carlyle's 17-year coaching career came to an end. He spent numerous years in charge of the Cougars, a summer select baseball team based out of Warrenton, until directing the Warrenton Post 122 Legion program over the last few seasons. Five years ago, it nearly came to an early end when he was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer, or worse, given only a 40 percent chance of making it alive over the next three years. "When I had cancer, I didn't think I was going to coach again," Carlyle said. "A lot changes with the way you look at things when that happens. When I came back to coach, I wasn't nearly as strict." Carlyle can rattle off the date his life changed with ease. June 12, 2003, will forever be etched into his memory. While it was the day his life nearly ended, it was also the beginning of change to never take anything for granted. On vacation with friends, Carlyle woke up one summer morning and a lump the size of a golf ball was pointed out to him. Carlyle returned home and had the lump looked at by his primary physician, who ruled it wasn't anything serious. With a history of cancer in his family, Carlyle's sister urged him to get a second opinion. In December of 2003, Carlyle was on the operating table, having a radical neck dissection to clean the affected area and scrape every bone. Chemotherapy and radiation treatments followed. From there, Carlyle, his family and doctors prayed the cancer hadn't spread. To this day, he hasn't had any setbacks though a few scares have reminded him to seek yearly checkups. "There's God - and there's my surgeon," Carlyle said. "He was just awesome and still is." Due to the radiation treatments, Carlyle lost the use of half of his saliva glands. To compensate and still be able to eat solid foods, such as chicken, beef, pork and bread, Carlyle must keep the food moist at all times so he can swallow properly. In what he describes as having terminal cottonmouth, it's rare for him to not be chewing gum or have a water bottle nearby. After his surgery in 2003, Carlyle spent seven months away from work, including the first couple of months on a feeding tube. Unhappy and bored from sitting around the house, Carlyle made a decision to head back to his job as an insurance agent. Coaching would soon follow. "I never thought I would be able to do it," Carlyle said. "I would sit at home watching tapes of Little League football and look through pictures. It would tear me up." While Carlyle's health scare forced him to take a summer off, he wasn't about to let it keep him down. Carlyle craved a return to the dugout so he spent the past four summers coaching at various levels with the Warrenton Post 122 Legion baseball program. It began in 2005 when Carlyle helped form the very first Freshmen Legion squad at Warrenton. He spent the next summer up a level with the Junior squad until climbing the ladder to the Senior level where he coached the past two seasons. Carlyle's final season in charge of Warrenton Post 122 this summer ended on a much more positive note. One summer after going 9-18 and watching a team more interested in bickering and causing unneeded stress, Post 122 rebounded by resolving past differences and compiling a 15-15 record. Coaching also gave Carlyle an opportunity to spend extra time with his two sons. Brian, 24, was the reason his dad got into coaching in the first place. This summer marked the end of a playing career for Darren, 18. "It's a time you would otherwise wouldn't get," Carlyle said. "Besides spending time with them, you're spending time with their friends. You see other parents drop off their kids and go, they don't realize what they're missing." Carlyle plans on enjoying his time away from the diamond, with spending more time with his family and checking out some fishing holes high on his list. While he won't rule out a return to coaching entirely - an opportunity to develop a 10-year-old might rejuvenate him, he said - he's anxious to see what the rest of his life entails. Through all the battles and games won on the field, nothing will beat what transpired off it. In a small way, coaching motivated Carlyle to regain his health. "It meant everything for me to get back onto the field," Carlyle said. "It wasn't easy."