Baltimore Orioles first baseman Trey Mancini started the pandemic by being diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer. After surgery and six months of chemotherapy, Mancini’s cancer went in remission and he was able to come back to play baseball.
While Mancini was rather transparent about his cancer diagnosis and treatment, he chose not to reveal certain things. One thing Mancini recently opened up about was the fact that he had a cancer scare in June that led to concerns that his cancer came back.
In an article from The Athletic, Mancini revealed that he was “freaked out” when a blood test turned up elevated protein levels, which could indicate cancer. Mancini kept that info close, only telling the medical people working with him, his girlfriend, his manager, and his parents.
During this scare, Mancini fell into a slump on the field. He was 2 for 25 with 11 strikeouts since that test and after mixing in media obligations and talking to others who have colon cancer, Mancini let out his frustrations on the center console of his girlfriend’s car, damaging it.
The good news was that two weeks later, Mancini took more tests and cancer was ruled out. After that, Mancini had a great July, getting hits in 15 of his next 16 games and appearing in the MLB All-Star Game. Four months later, Mancini wanted to reveal what happened so cancer patients can feel better about what they might be experiencing and to not expect the worst when they get a cancer scare.
“Maybe this can put their minds at ease because there’s a number of reasons why this marker can be elevated. And you don’t have to spend weeks and weeks with it racing through your head,” Mancini said. “Above all, listen to your doctors and health professionals. They know what they’re talking about.”
It’s important for someone like Trey Mancini to be this transparent. He certainly didn’t have to reveal all this but he knows he has the platform and he can maybe help reassure others. Mancini playing pro baseball after undergoing cancer treatment is inspirational and might make him some sort of superhero but he’s human and him being human is how someone else with cancer can relate to him and maybe believe they can get through this too.
