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ESPN Sunday Conversation: Lester Says His Dad Has Cancer Too
By Administrator | May 25, 2008
Jon Lester was this week’s guest on ESPN’s “Sunday Conversation” — the weekly interview the sports station runs on SportsCenter on Sunday evenings.
In his interview, Lester told the world that his father, John, has been diagnosed with a highly treatable form of lymphoma. The younger Lester, who survived his own battle against non-Hodgkins lymphoma in the second half of 2006, revealed that his father’s diagnosis was pronounced last month.
The Sox southpaw said that his father’s lymphoma is “very different than mine… (it is) slow growing… (it’s) something (he) will die with, not die from”.
On the eve of Boston’s first trip of the season to Lester’s home state of Washington (the Red Sox start a three-game series in Seattle on Memorial Day), he said he went public with his father’s illness because he didn’t want folks in his hometown whispering about his father’s hair loss (from the cancer treatments). He said of his dad: “He’s doing really well. He has to go through the treatments… but at the same time, (the treatments are) going to knock (the cancer) down to where he can live a normal, healthy life”.
He said his dad had already started treatments and has just two more remaining.
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Lester was told of his father’s condition during the Red Sox first homestand in early April… he hasn’t seen his father since. He is planning to meet his parents tonight, in Oakland, after his start against the A’s. When they meet up, Jon (son) is bringing a special gift for John (dad): a brand new Red Sox World Series hat to cover his now-bald head.
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None of Lester’s Red Sox teammates knew of his father’s diagnosis, but manager Terry Francona had been told what was going on. About this circumstance Francona said: “I think (Lester) is handling it, and (his father’s) prognosis is great. You don’t have a choice. What are you going to do? You go do your job. There are a lot of things that happen… either you handle (them) or you don’t”.
Topics: Miscellaneous |
