Colorado Rockies pitcher Chad Bettis, who believed he’d vanquished testicular cancer after off-season surgery, announced on Friday that the cancer has unexpectedly spread, and he will begin a regimen of chemotherapy “in the very near future.”
Bettis, 27, who won a team-high 14 games for the Rockies last season, had a testicle surgically removed in November. In a January radio interview, he said he “got an early Christmas present” when doctors called him Dec. 22 and told him he was cancer-free.
 
Chad Bettis to undergo chemotherapy after testicular cancer returns
 
 
But in a message shared Friday on Twitter, Bettis said a routine checkup with an oncologist last week revealed inflamed lymph nodes and that the testicular cancer “has unexpectedly spread
“Although my blood tumor markers remain at normal levels, it's clear that I need to be aggressive in my fight against this illness,” Bettis said in the statement. “ Without being proactive, we wouldn't have caught this.
“I am committed to beating this cancer. My family and I are grateful for the support of the Major League Baseball Players Association, the Rockies organization and the fans.”
The Rockies said in a statement that Bettis’ treatments will occur in Arizona, site of their spring training camp, over the next several weeks.
Bettis is entering his fourth full season with the Rockies.
According to the American Society of Clinical Oncology, testicular cancer afflicts nearly 9,000 American men annually, with an average age of 33 at time of diagnosis.
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