Article by Andrew Feldman

I've been thinking about this column for a couple days, and the only thing I really was sure about was how to start it. I've read the first line numerous times in Gary Wise's pieces when we've discussed topics like this in the past, and it just seems fitting …

In a game in which every player is out for himself, it's great to see what happens when poker players come together to support a cause.

No, this wasn't another charity tournament or initiative to raise money for a cause, but a message of solidarity to one member of the poker community, Thuy Doan. Only 23 years old, Doan had taken the step toward becoming a full-time poker player in 2009. In August, she was diagnosed with a tumor behind her left knee (soft-tissue sarcoma), and her world was turned upside down.

"2009 was a year for me to become many things: college graduate, full-time poker player, California resident," Doan said in her blog on PokerRoad.com. "Never did I expect to become a cancer fighter."

As the weeks passed since her initial diagnosis, Doan has fought cancer through chemotherapy and has dealt with the enormous challenge facing her by trying to stay optimistic.

"It's been really tough," Doan said in an interview Wednesday morning. "I had no idea it would be as difficult as it was. It's physically grueling and mentally difficult. My mind wants to think negatively, but I try to keep the focus on the idea that things are going to get better and that this will pass."

After three months of chemo, Doan has been tested to an extent far beyond anything she'd experience on the felt. The tumor has gotten smaller, but as she said, "not to the point that I can begin to celebrate."

As 2009 comes to a close, the final major tournament of the year is taking place at the Bellagio. Barry Greenstein called Doan and persuaded her to come to Las Vegas. Many became aware of Doan's condition through a thread on popular poker forum "2+2," and as the word spread, so did the support.

"I got a phone call from Barry, and he told me that he wanted to put together a head-shaving event at the tournament in Las Vegas," she said. "I didn't know how many people or what to expect. I thought it would be a fun trip, and in all, it was remarkable to see."

With her hair falling out because of the treatment, Doan decided to shave her head, and never did she expect other poker professionals to follow suit. Greenstein wanted to shave his head as a sign of support of Doan's battle against cancer and recruited Phil Ivey to donate his "palace" (as Doan called it) for the event. With a barber ready with the clippers in hand, Greenstein, Eli Elezra and Doyle Brunson were the first to take the chair.

"Eli looked really good," Doan said. "He had a clean look."

One by one the players took the chair until finally it was Doan's turn to turn the clippers on the barber himself. Doan was emotionally moved by the actions of these players, especially from those whom she had never met before.

"It was remarkable how sweet and supporting [the players] were -- even if we never met! It's rare to see people get together and support someone else, and it shows that poker players are capable of having the biggest hearts ever."

At the end of the night, the Bellagio was filled with 17 head-shaved poker players and a reminder to everyone of how important it is to be there for a friend.

It's a constant battle for Doan, one that will continue as she travels to Oklahoma next week for another treatment alternative. While she is a week and a half out of her latest therapy cycle, she acknowledged that the effects are starting to wear off and that she's feeling better. Doan knows she still has a long ways to go, but no matter what, she'll have friends and family by her side at all times.