Former Blue Jays pitcher announces he is cancer free

Back in January of 2023, ex-Blue Jays pitcher Liam Hendriks, who currently pitches for the Chicago White Sox in the American League, announced that he had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a disease within the human immune system (in particular, the lymphatic system) in which malignant cancer cells are formed. Hendriks indicated that he would have to undergo chemotherapy treatment in the proceeding months, putting his career suddenly on hold.

Today, Hendriks had made an important announcement update, indicating that he was now officially cancer free.

Hendriks was a member of the Toronto Blue Jays for two stints, back in 2014 and 2015. He excelled in his second stint with the Jays, playing in 58 games, going 5-0 with a 2.92 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP, striking out 71 batters over 64.2 innings pitched. Despite the impressive performance, he was traded in the offseason to the Oakland Athletics for Jesse Chavez due to the Jays’ desperate need to shore up their starting rotation with pitching depth.

Hendriks would then go on to further develop and become one of MLB’s premium closers in the game, making three All-Star appearances, four postseason appearances, and finishing in the top ten in the Cy Young voting in two of the three most recent years while playing for the Athletics and White Sox.

Sometimes there is more to the game than just baseball in which players need to win a hard fought battle. At aged 34, Hendriks faced his toughest challenge yet in his career, in having to battle cancer. With the great news now that he is in remission, he can now go back to focusing on the game that he desperately loved and continue with the excellent career that he had established thus far for all the baseball fans and fellow players to continue to enjoy and behold.