Liam Hendriks has listened to Jim Valvano’s shifting “don’t give up”’ speech from the primary ESPYs in 1993.
“To make that profound of a statement in that situation in his diagnosis and everything he went through, it’s something that’s mind-boggling to have the wherewithal about going through that,” Hendriks stated Wednesday afternoon at Angel Stadium.
The Chicago White Sox reliever confirmed energy and resilience as he impressed the baseball world and past by returning to the mound after battling stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
He will obtain the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance throughout the 2023 ESPYs.
“To be honored in something like this, it’s really really cool,” Hendriks stated. “Not solely that, however studying up on Jimmy V and every part he went by way of, that speech remains to be eliciting tears from lots of people whereas listening to it. That’s one thing that’s actually actually cool.
“It’s not something I ever thought I would be a part of.”
The 2023 ESPYs will happen July 12 in Los Angeles and air dwell at 7 p.m. on ABC-7.
“I’m excited to soak it all in and be able to get out there to L.A. during the All-Star break,” Hendriks stated. “It works out, time-wise, nice for us. I’m honored to be part of it and considered in recognition of something. But to win one thing like that is large and hopefully it may well elevate some extra consciousness.
“People can see I’m going through something similar, that’s all we are trying to attain, trying to push forward to is raising awareness and potentially funding for research and hopefully somebody who is going through it currently can look upon this and say ‘He’s doing it, now I can do it.’”
The honor is “a symbol of (Hendriks’) strength and resilience in his fight against non-Hodgkin lymphoma,” based on a information launch.
“To receive that honor is a really big deal,” supervisor Pedro Grifol stated. “I’m proud of him. It’s a special honor and he’s the right guy for it. The way he went about this rehab and what he went through was just incredible.”
Hendriks disclosed in an Instagram put up in January he was starting therapy for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, later detailing it was stage 4. He accomplished therapy on April 3 and introduced he was cancer-free on April 20.
Hendriks made his first reduction look of the season on May 29 in opposition to the Los Angeles Angels at Guaranteed Rate Field. He obtained a number of standing ovations throughout the night, and members of each groups stood and clapped when he entered the sport within the eighth inning.
A ceremony earlier than that recreation recognized the more than $100,000 raised within the “Close Out Cancer” T-shirt marketing campaign. The Sox partnered with the Lymphoma Research Foundation, and the funds raised supplied monetary help to lymphoma sufferers.
The New York Yankees acknowledged Hendriks earlier than a June 8 doubleheader at Yankee Stadium, with the workforce donating $10,000 to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in his honor. Hendriks introduced he would match the donation.
Now the three-time All-Star and two-time reliever of the yr — who made 5 appearances this season earlier than touchdown on the injured listing with proper elbow irritation — will likely be honored on the ESPYs.
“There’s silver linings to absolutely everything and this is something that you take the positives where it comes from, something like this,” Hendriks stated. “It’s been my motto from Day 1: Move forward and make a positive out of this. And this is hopefully contributing to that factor.”
Past recipients of the Jimmy V Award embrace Dick Vitale (2022), Chris Nikic (2021), Craig Sager (2016), and Stuart Scott (2014).
The ESPYs helps elevate consciousness and funds for the V Foundation for Cancer Research, the charity based by ESPN and the late basketball coach on the first ESPYs. According to the discharge, ESPN has helped elevate greater than $195 million for the V Foundation over the previous 30 years.
“The individual award is not just for me,” Hendriks stated. “It’s for everyone who’s going by way of one thing like this. It’s for everyone who has overcome one thing like this. Everybody who has succumbed to one thing like this. It’s for everybody going by way of it and in addition caretakers and members of the family. It’s not only a singular particular person going by way of this. It’s a complete household, and a complete unit. An total group. It’s not only a solo factor.
“It may be given to me but it’s more for everyone else who goes through it because, you know what, I said this to every survivor and everyone I’ve met: It’s a lot harder on our family and friends than it is on us. We have a goal and a way to beat things. They have to sit by and kind of watch us go through it. It’s for everybody not just the individual.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com