Dan Bellmore has already renewed his Detroit Pistons season tickets for next year. When asked if that reflects his optimism about the team, he doesn't hesitate.

"Are you kidding? Just look at the team we have—they're a shoo-in," says Bellmore, a 63-year-old East Lansing resident and lifelong Pistons fan.

It takes a gentle nudge to remind him of the other thing. Bellmore is dying.

"Oh," he says, realizing the intent of the question. "Personally? Every game I can go to and make it to, I'm there."

Six years ago, doctors sat him down after he suffered a stroke. "The only time doctors say that is to give you a bill or give you a death sentence," Bellmore recalls telling them. "Do you have a bill?"

Bellmore has Fahr's Syndrome, a rare degenerative neurological disorder that causes the brain to calcify—essentially creating bone where there should be soft tissue. He calls it "Parkinson's on steroids." There is no cure, only management of symptoms before it becomes terminal.

The disease has already taken its toll. Bellmore has no sight in his left eye and no hearing in his left ear. He speaks with a stutter and struggles with words ending in "-ed" or "-ing." He calls them "slight disabilities" he can work around, always picking his seats at Little Caesars Arena so he can see and hear the full game.

But Bellmore knows it's possible he may not be around to use those tickets next year. He's facing that reality the same way he faces everything else: full speed ahead.

"My enthusiasm for the game and the team will never end," he says. "I can overcome it—or be the first to try."

It's not that Bellmore forgets he's dying. His brain is still working well enough for that. He just doesn't dwell on it. And in true sports fan fashion, he'd rather talk about the game than his prognosis—because for fans like him, hope isn't just for the season. It's a way of life.