#Words to feel this moment upgrade#

And that's something that I missed, but it's something that just makes me happy and all I'm trying to do is just just be happy right now. I do the same things every day when I'm active. I get to the field at the same time every day. 'I love the day-to-day grind of just the monotony of the day-to-day in baseball. That is where I feel like I can almost unleash the pent-up aggression, almost release all of that. 'Other than drinking a coffee and playing with Legos and sitting on the couch with my dogs, the mound is my happy place. But given that these efforts have been able to take place at the ballpark, as opposed to the sterile confines of a haematology/oncology treatment centre, Hendriks retains a sanguine outlook. That aforementioned elbow inflammation forced him onto the injured list just a week after that famous moment, snapping his momentum and forcing him into more rehab. National Cancer Survivors Day, of all days. Just over a month later the White Sox announced that he was being reinstated to the active roster.Ī return to the mound to a standing ovation came in an eventual 6-4 loss to the Los Angeles Angels a few days later, before he went on to get his first win of the season against the Detroit Tigers on June 4. He responded to the treatment as well as could have been reasonably hoped for and needed just four of the usual six cycles before being able to announce that he was in remission in April. The right-hander and his wife Kristi would announce his diagnosis to the world in January, at the same time he was beginning a combined course of immunotherapy and chemotherapy near his home at the Mayo Clinic's facility in Arizona. Thankfully, eight months on, he's able to look back and poke fun at those misassumptions. The persistent fatigue and aches and pains he'd been experiencing throughout the season, meanwhile, were able to be dismissed as signs of wear and tear on an ageing body or related to a pre-existing immune condition.

Given that the lumps across his neck had presented as hard, immovable, and painless, he'd at first estimated they were no big deal, especially after a blood test didn't turn up anything untoward.

Further, his was classified as stage four, which meant that it had spread to one or more tissues or organs outside the lymph system - he says the PET scan that confirmed the diagnosis resembled his dalmatian Olive, such was the spread of black spots indicating cancer on it. He had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer of the body's lymphatic system, which includes the lymph nodes, spleen, thymus gland and bone marrow. But given the road that the 34-year-old West Australian has walked to reach this point, this is a demeanour layered with an important level of perspective.īack in December, Hendriks received confirmation of something that he'd begun to suspect was coming ever since he was finally sent for a needle biopsy of the persistent lumps that had emerged across his neck throughout the previous season. When he makes his way into the dugout to chat - after making a brief diversion to the clubhouse to swap out his sweaty 'Struck Out Cancer' t-shirt, as well slip into some Australian flag-adorned slides - he cuts a much more positive figure than one might expect from a hurler renowned for their aggression and competitiveness that has been forced from the field by a troublesome elbow. In the home bullpen, pitchers from the White Sox are stretching out their arms and getting loose, including Australian-born closer Liam Hendriks, who is rehabbing inflammation in his elbow while on the injured list. Warm-ups are taking place with just a scant flickering of clouds obscuring the bright July sun, and players from both teams are out on the surface performing their warmups fielding grounders, playing catch, and getting loose as an eclectic mix of R&B, pop, Latin, and rock music plays out over the stadium's speakers.

#Words to feel this moment upgrade#

You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browserĪ new lease on life and fresh perspective: how cancer diagnosis changed Liam HendriksĬHICAGO, United States - IT'S JUST MORE than 90 minutes until the first pitch of the first leg of a doubleheader between the Chicago White Sox and Toronto Blue Jays, a washout the night before ensuring that fans will see twice the usual baseball on offer at Guaranteed Rate Field on this Thursday afternoon and evening.įortunately, there are few signs there is any risk of any weather disruptions today.