Mile High Sports’ own Vanessa Hughes has chatted with plenty of professional athletes in the Denver area, but perhaps none provided her as sincere of an interview as Colorado Rockies pitcher Chad Bettis. Hughes joined Joe Rico & Alex Ramirez of The Final Word on Mile High Sports Radio to discuss her upcoming story on Bettis for Mile High Sports Magazine.
After being diagnosed with testicular cancer last November, Bettis is getting back into the swing of things in Spring Training after being declared cancer-free in February. Pressure to perform as a professional is already a heavy burden; cancer only added to Bettis’ troubles.
“You can imagine how that really shook up his life; you know, 27 years old, a healthy professional athlete, and all of the sudden that just kind of is a major curveball, if you will,” said Hughes.
With the worst behind him, Bettis’ life is starting to get back on track. Now, he now gets the opportunity to partake in one of life’s biggest joys: fatherhood.
“It’s certainly been an emotional rollercoaster for him,” said Hughes. “Also, his wife is pregnant, and she is due with their first child, a girl, at the end of this month, so it’s just been a huge range of emotions for him.”
Hughes was touched by the interview, and hopes to provide readers a look into what Bettis was going through these last couple months.
“It was very special, meaningful, very heartfelt and emotional and I hope that we were able to kind of capture that essence through the story that’ll be coming out in a few weeks,” said Hughes.
Be sure to check out Hughes’ feature story on Bettis in the April edition of Mile High Sports Magazine, and head down to Coors Field April 7 for the Rockies’ opening day matchup against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
To listen to the full interview with Vanessa Hughes, including her thoughts on her involvement with the Big Brother Big Sister program, listen to the podcast below.
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Catch The Final Word with Joe Rico and Alex Ramirez every Sunday from 10AM-12PM on Mile High Sports Radio AM 1340 | FM 104.7 or stream live any time for the best local coverage of Colorado sports from Denver’s biggest sports talk lineup.
