During the offseason, Colorado Rockies pitcher Chad Bettis had his most important battle. Far from the baseball diamond, he was forced to undergo surgery due to testicular cancer. He thought he was in the clear, he thought it was past him. Now, it appears his fight is not yet over.
Bettis revealed on Friday that during a visit with his oncologist last week, his doctor found what he believed to be inflamed lymph nodes. This week, he learned that his cancer had unexpectedly spread. The 27-year-old will begin chemotherapy in the near future.
“It is clear that I need to be aggressive in my fight against this illness,” Bettis said in a statement. “…I am committed to beating this cancer.”
For the moment, Bettis will likely push pause on his career; as baseball should definitely come second to his health. The good news is, as he told Vanessa Hughes during an interview set to be released in the April edition of Mile High Sports Magazine, it is a very curable form of cancer.
“The cancer that it was, pure seminoma, is 99 percent curable. In layman’s terms, 70 percent after surgery you’re cured, and if you go through a round of radiation or chemo, typically you’re 99 percent.”
