For the last decade, Guna Kunjan has been the golf pro at Harbor Links Golf Course in Port Washington – but he was recently rendered physically unable to play the game.
In February, Kunjan was diagnosed with stage 4 soft tissue sarcoma, a cancer that originated in his thigh and spread throughout his body, causing him pain when he swings.
“I can hit a little chip and a little putt, but 30 yards kills me,” he said.
Kunjan said one of his biggest concerns was that he lacked a support group while he received treatment for the disease, which has included various stages of chemotherapy and surgeries to remove smaller tumors that have developed. But those concerns, he said, proved unfounded thanks to members and staff at the Harbor Links Golf Course.
“It scared me, that I’d be alone, because I’m not married and don’t really have family here. I thought this would be my struggle,” said Kunjan, a Bellerose resident who came to the United States from Malaysia in 1981. “But there were people from the golf course who wanted to drive me around, buy my groceries for me. There’s just been a great response.”
The response extended to the golf course’s annual member-guest event on Aug. 19, in which the club’s 40 members and their guests donated more than $3,000 for Kunjan’s treatment as part of their $20,000 fundraising effort for Arnold Palmer Golf, which runs Harbor Links.
The event featured a day’s worth of golf plus raffles and auctions for merchandise provided by various North Shore businesses.
“I brought the idea to the board of directors here at Harbor Links and as soon as they heard about what we wanted to do, they wanted to assist in our efforts,” said Great Neck resident Larry Fox, who co-chaired the event.
Added co-chair Ben Merzark, “This event had about 80 people, many of whom do not know Guna, because they were the guests of our members, and they really stepped up. It really speaks to their character for them to think this was important and help him out like this.”
Kunjan said he is still undergoing weekly treatments, and that tumors that had formed in his lungs have shrunk by as much as 50 percent since beginning chemotherapy.
He’s also continued to train golfers that use Harbor Links, though now he does more talking than shooting.
“My activities haven’t changed, even though the way I go about them has,” Kunjan said. “In the meantime, I’m just chugging along.”
