CHICAGO (670 The Score) — When those unimaginable words were told to White Sox closer Liam Hendriks – you have cancer – he was ready to meet the looming battle with the sheer determination and relentless spirit that has carried him through life.
“OK,” Hendriks said after learning of his diagnosis. “How can I beat it?”
Hendriks had been suspicious of his swollen lymph nodes late in 2022 and began researching a possibility that he suspected. He met with a White Sox team doctor in early December before undergoing a CT scan and then a biopsy that confirmed his diagnosis: stage-4 Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
On April 20, just shy of four months after Hendriks received his diagnosis, he announced that he was in remission and had a clean bill of health. Hendriks will report to the Triple-A Charlotte Knights this Friday, and the plan for him is to have four or five outings there before returning to his role as White Sox closer.
When doctors told Hendriks he would need either four or six 28-day cycles of treatment, he told them it would be four. That timeline would put him in line to play early in the 2023 season. Sure enough, after four cycles, Hendriks' PET scan revealed he could ring the bell for the completion of chemotherapy. He celebrated that milestone on April 5, less than a week after MLB Opening Day.
As he underwent treatment, Hendriks had been getting work in on the baseball field as well. Hendriks reported to the White Sox for spring training in late February and began a throwing program while juggling treatment. Not only was Hendriks driven to beat cancer, but he was also preparing himself to be at All-Star form as early as possible.
“It was pretty stunning news, but he was the one that kind of injected confidence that he was going to get through it and he was going to be just fine,” White Sox right-hander Lucas Giolito said. “I mean, he was carrying that all through spring training. He was coming in for bullpens throwing 90 miles per hour. He would be making jokes. He would be always positive despite what he was going through, which I can’t even imagine.
“No matter what we do as a team, this is the best news of the year. He beat cancer. He’s back. He’s going to compete at a very, very high level. It’s amazing to see, and I can’t wait to have him back.”
Hendriks publicly announced his diagnosis on the night of Jan. 8 before starting his first round of treatment the next morning. In the month prior, he had sought clarity on the form of cancer, evaluated the most effective treatment options and spoke privately with teammates about the news.
After revealing his battle to the world, Hendriks found himself flooded with phone calls, text messages and letters from White Sox teammates, fellow MLB players and complete strangers who simply wanted to lend their support.
A message on Jan. 30 from Cubs right-hander Jameson Taillon – a survivor of testicular cancer – stuck with Hendriks as he went through treatment.
“It’s your journey,” Taillon told Hendriks. “Nobody can tell you what to feel or what to do baseball-wise. Do whatever you feel right.”
Hendriks kept those messages in mind on the days of treatment in which his strength was most tested and he struggled to get out of bed.
One day after Taillon’s text, Hendriks stepped onto the mound and threw a bullpen session. He was present with the White Sox at their spring training site in Glendale, Arizona, cracking jokes and being part of the team. The camaraderie was what he missed the most.
As Hendriks addressed his battle Wednesday afternoon in a Guaranteed Rate Field conference room, his White Sox teammates and coaches stood in the back of the room.
“He lifts us all up,” said White Sox manager Pedro Grifol, who was bench coach with the Royals during Hendriks’ time in Kansas City late in the 2014 season. “He's an inspiration to us all. Just the way he went about it was incredible.
“It’s bigger than baseball. What he went through is bigger than baseball. The way he went through it, it’s truly an inspiration.”
Hendriks is already pushing Grifol and the White Sox to allow his rehab stint in Charlotte to be four appearances instead of five. Once Hendriks has completed his work at Triple-A, he'll return to his place as the White Sox's closer, Grifol said. It's a role in the bullpen that hasn't been filled without Hendriks this season.
The goal all along for Hendriks, a three-time All-Star who owns a 2.66 ERA in two seasons with the White Sox, has been to take the mound at his best.
“I don’t plan on regressing,” Hendriks said. “That’s been my mindset. There’s no taking it easy. If I go out there and I give up a hit, I'm going to be pissed. If I go out there and walk somebody, I'm still going to be pissed. It’s going to be the same mentality I've had.
“There are extremely high expectations. It’s not going to change because, ‘Oh, I've been through this, so I'm allowed to give up a hit.’ No, there’s going to be none of that. It’s going to be I'm going out there to do a job, my job is to get this done, and if I don’t do it, I'm going to be mad.”
Before the White Sox hosted the second game of a three-game series against the Twins on Wednesday, Hendriks stepped out of the clubhouse wearing a black T-shirt that reminded of his strength: Struckout Cancer. He was looking forward to heading off for his rehab assignment and toeing the rubber in a game once again.
Having closed out his own battle with cancer, Hendriks continues to help others fight. He has privately made donations to those affected by the disease – even supplying wigs to patients during his own treatment – and he plans to keep lending a hand to the cause.
“I never self-involved and looked into it as a ‘Why me?’ thing,” Hendriks said. “I looked at it as a ‘Why not me?’ I tend to have a little rosier perspective on life than gen pub. So, that was my process behind it. Look, I got this. This is my next challenge. And we started looking into ways that we could make good of this.
“There’s always a silver lining for absolutely everything. I think that is something that I’ve tried to ingrain in everything around me. No matter how bad, how bleak, no matter how soulless something looks, there's always a silver lining. There’s always something you can gain. There’s always something positive that can come from it.”
Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago’s sports scene and more for 670TheScore.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670.
Listen live to 670 The Score via:
Audacy App | Online Stream | Smart Speaker