Posting this merely to share some news of someone who has been covering the Eagles for quite a long time. Some of you don't particularly care for what he writes ... I have always liked him and appreciated the fact that he didn't sugar coat anything, he always offered as much criticism of the team when needed as he did praise. I was a bit surprised that there were no articles following the Commanders game and was wondering what was going on ... now I know (feel free to read below if you feel inclined to do so).

Tommy Update

Posted January 10th, 2026

It is January and the Eagles are in the playoffs, with a legitimate shot to challenge for back-to-back Super Bowls. So why the heck is IgglesBlitz not getting updated with stories?

I was diagnosed with colon cancer last Saturday.

Yeah, that sentence was as tough to type as it was for you to read. The good news is that the doctors (and there are so, so many doctors) think we have a good plan for how to handle this. We’re not all gloom and doom. This isn’t a 3rd & 26 draw play to Will Shipley.

I’ll backtrack to get you caught up on things. I started having stomach issues the weekend before Christmas. Severe constipation is not what I had in mind for a Christmas gift. A simple lump of coal would have sufficed. The issues continued the next week and I finally went to the ER to get it checked out. They did an X-ray and then told me they thought a CT scan was needed. Then the head ER doc spoke to me and dropped the bomb. "Mr. Lawlor, we think you have cancer.”

I’ve never had a serious medical issue in my life. I’ve been blessed with remarkably good health. That changed a week ago with the diagnosis. I went from a guy with no medical history to having just about every procedure you can imagine in 48 hours. It was like they crammed an entire season of House into two days of my life.

I was able to watch part of the Eagles game last Sunday. I was about to get a colonoscopy and the last thing I saw before going under was Jalyx Hunt picking off Josh Johnson. I assumed the Eagles then went on to win 42-7. The first thing I wanted to know when I came out of the procedure was the Eagles score. Didn’t quite go as I’d hoped. The Eagles game, that is. My procedure was great.

I’m now home. I’m not in any pain. I can eat and, thanks to the stint they put in my colon, I can now poop once again. The medical staff has been excellent. I’m in good hands. My friends and family are taking good care of me. I’ll be having surgery at the end of the month to remove the mass from my colon. I’ve got some tests to do before they will know the full extent of things. Once they have all the facts they are going to personalize the treatment as much as possible.

It was funny talking to the doctors and trying to get them to give us a firm answer. It felt like when reporters ask Nick Sirianni what went wrong and he says he needs to study the tape. The docs don’t want to firmly commit to anything until they get every answer from every test. I understand where they are coming from. Just made for some odd discussions.

I’m handling the whole thing pretty well, believe it or not. Worrying isn’t going to help me get better. Nor feeling sorry for myself. I’m doing whatever the doctors tell me and putting myself in the hands of the experts. My sister asked one of them if there was anything I needed to really avoid eating. He said "Raw vegetables.” I almost fell out of my hospital bed when he said that. You mean I can eat spaghetti but not raw carrots? Okay. Done and done. My stomach needs soft foods that are easy to digest. Raw vegetables are off the table for a couple of months.

Now that I am home and trying to get back to some kind of normalcy, I will start writing again. It has helped just to type this up.

Someone let Jalen Hurts and the gang know that an extended playoff run would be greatly appreciated. I’ll be spending a lot of time in and out of the hospital for the next several weeks. It sure would be nice to be able to think about the Eagles as I’m getting poked and prodded from top to bottom.

I will try to post as much as possible, especially if we have winning football to talk about. My apologies for disappearing on you the last couple of weeks. Hopefully that is all in the past and you’ll be stuck with me for a long time to come.

Go Eagles!

https://igglesblitz.com/2026/01/tommy-update/

Prayers to Tommy for a full and speedy recovery! 🙏

Prayers to you, my friend.

Tommy got his start as goeagles99 on the EMB, and was the person who created the first Blog thread in the EMB. He will be in my thoughts even more now than he already was. I’m a regular reader of his igglesblitz.com site.

I'm one of the jerks who has never liked his writing or opinions or the content he puts out.

With that said, I've never met him, so I can't comment negatively on him personally.

Best wishes to you for a long lasting recovery, Tommy. Cancer, as we all know, is horrible.

Tommy,

I've been a long time admirer of your contributions for decades, before you came out from your pseudo name. I especially appreciated the depth to which you researched NFL prospects before it became a whole industry.

Having watched my grandfather slowly slip away from the same diagnosis as you received, I can relate. That was an era when average lifespans for males especially were about 25 years shorter than they are today

In lieu of offering up prayers, please allow me to simply offer encouragement....medicine has made tremendous strides in our lifetimes and we are almost all beneficiaries thereof.

Myself, I've dodged a few bullets over 80 years so far (lung cancer/abdominal aortic aneurysm/positive Cologuard result).

In closing: goeagles99 forever!!!

Carl

P.S. Take a page out of the Eagles playoff strategy...rest up for the big game.

Tommy,

I've read your work for a long long time! I hope you beat this and wish you a speedy recovery!

Fight hard - my prayers are with you