Tuesday morning was a special one. It marked the return of Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper to the Murph and Mac Show after a one month hiatus.
Kuip has stepped out of the spotlight in recent weeks as he receives chemotherapy treatment. In addition to not doing his weekly hits with the morning show, Kuiper also hasn’t been calling Giants games on television or radio. He’s hoping that’s going to change very soon, and told Murph and Mac that he’s targeting the weekend series with the A’s for his return while giving an overall update on his health.
“Pretty good,” Kuiper said when asked about how he’s feeling. “I am new at this whole chemo thing. You read about it, you have friends that go through it, you don’t real details about it until you jump in the water, and then the water can be a little weird. You really don’t know what to expect from day-to-day how you’re going to feel.
“So far I’ve had a month’s worth of treatments, three more months to go. The original schedule was every Friday, but that got kicked back last week, so this week it’s going to be Thursday, which is giving me a lot of hope that I can do the weekend series.”
Kuiper was careful to temper expectations, knowing full well that how he feels will be hard to predict, and that he will conceede to the medical professionals if they determine he needs to wait a little longer. The fact that Oracle Park will be completely open to the public for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic also complicates things.
That said, Kuiper feels more than ready to be broadcast into millions of fans’ homes once again.
“That’s primarily what I want to do, but as we found out over the course of this, it doesn’t take more than one or two or three nurses or doctor’s opinions to change that in an instant. But so far we’re on track, but it’s important. I know my voice is going to be weak and it’s going to be a little bit different, but I’m ready for that, and I’m sure our fans are ready for that too.”
Listen to the full interview below.