Martin Crowe Consumed Marijuana to Ease Cancer Pain: Mike Selvey

Martin Crowe, who died on Thursday after a prolonged battle with cancer, took liquid marijuana to ease his pain, according to Mike Selvey, his close friend and former England cricketer. (Former New Zealand Cricket Captain Martin Crowe Dies at 53)

In a tribute to the former New Zealand captain, Selvey wrote in Guardian that Crowe, who led the Blackcaps to 1992 World Cup semifinal, had a very painful experience during the latter stages of his second bout of lymphoma.

Even for someone who toiled hard for more than a decade to make New Zealand cricket flourish, this pain was unberable. Crowe thus self-medicated himself and took cannabis oil rather than undergoing chemotherapy.

The result was that Crowe slept for 15 hours a day, however while he was awake, the hours were 'happy', writes Selvey, who met Crowe during the 2015 ICC World Cup.

"He had been diagnosed with follicular lymphoma a couple of years previously but appeared to be in remission, cleared, until the cancer returned, in the virulent terminal form of double-hit lymphoma," Selvey wrote. (Martin Crowe Paid Tribute by Marylebone Cricket Club, Lord's Flag Flies at Half Mast)

"The apparently hale nature of his condition was a camouflage. When he was awake, he said, he did indeed feel good, but rather than undergoing yet more chemotherapy he was by then self-medicating with liquid marijuana and sleeping 15 hours a day. Happy hours though, he said.

"That day, he had told me that he had been given a 5 per cent chance of living for a further year. The odds were correct: he was 13 days shy of that 12 months when he passed away peacefully." (Martin Crowe's Demise Sad Day For Cricket: Mahendra Singh Dhoni)

Selvey also highlighted an email exchange between Crowe and cricket writer Dileep Premachandran, to give a glimpse of how Crowe was dealing with his plight.

"It was late last September, the occasion of his 53rd birthday, and Crowe was making sense of his condition, about how he felt of facing the imminent prospect of death. 'It's a fine line mentally,' Crowe writes, ' do I judge my life as a joy or as sitting in death row?' (Martin Crowe Was Exceptional Throughout His Career: Dave Richardson)

"It is both philosophical and rhetorical: I don't think I have ever come across someone who has faced their demise with more rational fortitude and acceptance," Selvey wrote.

Crowe, a veteran of 77 Tests and 143 ODIs, died at the age of 53. He scored 5444 Test runs and 4704 ODI runs.