Poker professional Chad Brown was recently diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, known as sarcoma. The cancer occurred in his abdomen as a 10 lb tumor, and days ago, Brown underwent surgery to have the tumor removed. Vanessa Rousso, his fiancé, and also a well-known poker pro herself, has kept the poker community abreast of the changes through her Twitter account.

Doyle Brunson exchanged tweets back and forth with Rousso, expressing his sympathy as a cancer survivor himself. The Godfather of Poker tweeted, “Any news from Chad Brown? Come on man, knock this out. I did it and so can you!!!! I’m a cancer survivor so if you want to talk, I’m your man.”

Brown has made a living for himself first as a poker player, second as a very like-able personality and presenter. His live tournament earnings exceed $3.1 million. His biggest cash came in 2006, where he pulled in a hefty $205,040. In the same event, Brown met his eventual-fiance Rousso. Brown later reminisced, “Not a bad day for me. I won a quarter of a million dollars and met my future fiancée. Does it get any better than that?”

Only a week ago, Brown was competing in a $1k rebuy event at the Commerce Casino in LA. Survival rates with radiation and chemo therapy range between 35% to 70%. Every case has its own aspects, however, and the poker community wishes only the best for Brown and Rousso.

The day after his operation, Brown tweeted, “I want to thank everyone for their tremendous support. It means a lot to me. We got through the 1st hurdle about as good as can be expected.”