Tennis Player Back on Court After Leukemia

July 23 -- Bald, frail, and terribly sick from debilitating chemotherapy, Corina Morariu stayed in a hospital bed for much of the summer of 2001.

Her friends couldn't touch her for risk of infection, and at times she was too weak to walk.

Just six months earlier, she had been a vibrant athlete, a champion tennis player, winning the mixed doubles at the Australian Open. In 1999, she won the Wimbledon doubles title with Lindsay Davenport.

But then she was diagnosed with leukemia. Morariu heard the devastating news of her illness from her own father, a neurologist.

Close to Dying

"It was a major hurdle that I had to overcome to go to her and tell her what the diagnosis is," her father, Dr. Albin Morariu said.

He had conferred with her doctors and then told Corina that she had a rare form of leukemia.

"My husband was sitting next to me, and my father came in and told me that they had made the diagnosis of acute promyelocytic leukemia," Corina Morariu, 24, said.

Her brother, Dr. Mircea Morariu, recalled the horrible condition his sister had been in after the diagnosis.

"When she was admitted ... she was as close to basically dying as you can get," he said.

The tennis champion started chemotherapy two days later. She had to deal with extreme weakness, complications with her breathing and fevers as she waited for her blood count to return to normal.

Because of great strides made in the 1990s for this type of leukemia, Morariu's prognosis was described as hopeful. Based on her age, physical condition and her response to chemotherapy, doctors described her odds of beating the disease as upwards of 80 percent.

‘A Fighter, a Competitor’

"I knew she was very tough," Corina's brother said. "She was a fighter, a competitor. And it just all came out."

Corina Morariu said her first thought was her life, not her career.

"As far as playing tennis again, that was … the furthest thought from my mind," she said.