Liam Hendriks accepts Jimmy V Award for Perseverance for beating cancer
CHICAGO (CBS) -- White Sox closer Liam Hendriks was honored Wednesday with the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance at the annual ESPY Awards.
Hendriks was diagnosed with stage four non-Hodgkin lymphoma in December, but returned to a Major League mound cancer-free six months later.
Hendriks shared some of the positive perspective that helped him beat cancer.
"Things are just trivial when you go through something like this. It doesn't matter what's going on. It doesn't matter how it goes. All that matters is that you just live life your way … fly by your own seat, fly by everything you want to do yourself, and that's all that really matters," he said. "Like Jimmy V said, 'Don't give up, don't ever give up,' and I won't."
The award Hendriks received is named after former college basketball coach and sportscaster Jimmy Valvano, who delivered an emotional speech at the 1993 ESPY Awards while suffering from terminal cancer, stressing the importance of hope, including his famous quote, "Don't give up, don't ever give up."
Hendriks told Wednesday night's audience that he pitched much of the 2022 season with non-Hodgkin lymphoma before being diagnosed with an advanced stage of the disease in December.
The 34-year-old Australian was declared cancer-free in late April and returned to the mound a month later.
"That was an eye-opener. I didn't feel too many symptoms but I had some lumps around. It just shows you the power of the mind. When you don't think anything's wrong and you believe that you can do anything, you can do anything," Hendriks said. "I was throwing 100 miles per hour while going through Stage 4 lymphoma and then coming back after doing eight rounds of chemotherapy and four rounds of immunotherapy and was able to get out there and throw 96 miles per hour. That isn't physically who I am. That's all this, that's all mental."
It also was an emotional night for Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, who presented the team's training staff with the Pat Tillman Award for Service for saving his life when he collapsed on the field in January, after suffering a cardiac emergency.