Baseball: after beating stage 4 cancer, this pitcher will play at the AAA level this weekend

BET À DAY

In remission from Stage 4 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma since April 20, Chicago White Sox reliever Liam Hendriks is about to take a big step toward returning to major league baseball and says he's in debt immeasurable towards his wife who supports him in his obstacle course.

The 34-year-old Australian held a press conference on Wednesday to share the latest details on his progress. The one who revealed on January 9 to be battling cancer has gotten better since then, because he will evolve with Charlotte's AAA training from the weekend as part of a fitness program aimed at returning to the big leagues. baseball leagues. 

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“I can never say enough about everything she has done for me, he mentioned about his wife Kristi, as reported by the Sox website. She was there every day, especially for the first treatment sessions, since they were the most difficult for me physically. She was a wife alongside her husband lying in a hospital bed in pain and unable to accomplish anything. If the roles were reversed, I don't think I would understand this side.” 

Still, a few months ago, he could have let himself down, even if he possibly threw with tumors in his body last year. “If I had bumps in my neck in June and the ones on my hips were bigger, chances are good that I spent the whole year with lymphoma in the system,” he confessed.  

Liam Hendriks is always going to try to push the limits. 💚

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) May 5, 2023

Encouragement from outside

However, Hendriks was able to draw inspiration from a few other pro players' victory over cancer . Thus, he recently spoke with Gunner Jameson Taillon, who faced the disease in 2017. He wanted to publicly read some words he received from him at the end of January. 

“This is your adventure. No one can tell you how to feel or what to accomplish in baseball. Do what you think is appropriate,” Taillon said in his text message to Hendriks.  

“I think the next day I pitched in the bullpen, right here [at the Sox stadium]. I told myself that we had to win and I wanted to push hard, insisted this one. This is one of the messages that really touched me and it jumped out at me. You talk about quick fitness, because I threw in the bullpen. But that encouragement made me dig deeper and say to myself, “Here's what I've been doing all my career. So we're going to do this by pushing the limits and seeing how far I can go. “.” 

A former Toronto Blue Jays, Hendriks has made 75 saves in the past two campaigns, making 38 in 2021 and another 37 the following year. Previously, he wore the Oakland Athletics uniform for five seasons.