Cancer-stricken radio legend breaks down in tears discussing cold-blooded layoff

Bay Area broadcaster Greg Papa just gave his first interview after being laid off during a brutal battle with cancer.“I do not want to die,” Papa told NBC Bay Area.“I’m going to fight as hard as I can, fight to stay alive.

I have a lot to live for.”Papa, 63, spoke from his home in Marin County, covering topics including facing the possibility of death and being let go from his job at local radio station KNBR after seven years.Papa was laid off earlier this month alongside his midday co-host Greg Silver, ending their “Papa & Silver” talk show.As the San Francisco 49ers play-by-play announcer, Papa has given voice to some of the most memorable moments in Bay Area sports history.Last summer, Papa he diagnosed with leukemia after he started feeling ill while on vacation in France.“There were many nights there that I felt, you know, I may die,” Papa said during the interview.“Cancer is unfair.

Cancer is sudden.Cancer is cruel.”After that, his younger sister, tried to help him by donating stem cells for a bone marrow transplant.

But the transplant led to serious complications.About a month later, Papa developed pneumonia and his lungs were no longer responding.

He spent 78 days in the ICU and nearly died.“I was put on a ventilator,” Papa explained.“I was intubated.

I was in an induced coma for about five days.It went from a life-threatening situation for certain to a life-altering one…I’ve made a lot of progress since I’ve been home.

I made a lot progress since late July.”Even with all the suffering, however, Papa said he hopes to make it back on the radio.“I’m cleared, by the way, to go back on the radio show that I had that I no longer have,” he said.“I was fully preparing to return to work.There was never discussion that that would not be the case.

And then one day you get a phone call and I thought it was a return-to-work plan…I was cleared, my hematologist cleared me [for the radio show] and they went the other...