BALTIMORE – Orioles Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. has made a complete recovery from prostate cancer, he said Thursday.
On a Zoom call with reporters, Ripken, who turns 60 next week, said he was diagnosed at a routine check-up in February and underwent surgery in March.
“I do not know if I am the only one who has ever done it in and out that same day with this type of surgery,” Ripken told reporters. “But the good news is that it has a really happy ending. The cancer was all contained in the prostate. They then submitted a pathology report and confirmed that was the case. I have been doing a test for three months now to see as my PSA [prostate-specific antigen] was undetectable, and it was that we could make a case that contained all the cancer and it’s all out now. “
Because of his age, Ripken said he was not afraid when his PSA was high at the first doctor’s visit. As a precaution, a biopsy was performed, and the results “came back asphyxiated,” he said.
Ripken got the news in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, and he wanted to get the surgery before the hospitals were exaggerated.
“The strange part is, when it first happens to you, I kept thinking, ‘I don’t want to tell anyone,'” Ripken said. “It’s almost like there’s something wrong with you. I would not say the Iron Man [nickname] contributes to that, but I was the kind of person who thought, ‘OK, I’ll just keep this a secret.’
“But the longer you deal with it and you understand that the outcome has been favorable and positive, the reason I slipped it out now is that I want to take the opportunity to help other people who are struggling with that decision and other people. encourage them to go get their regular exams, get their tests. “
Ripken, who holds the Premier League record for most consecutive games played, retired in 2001 and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007, his first year of eligibility.
His announcement came on a call with local media in preparation for Ripken’s 25th anniversary next month crossing Lou Gehrig’s successive striker line.
“We all know people who have different cancers, and you ask yourself, ‘How would you feel if that happened to you?’ Said Ripken, whose father, Cal Ripken sr., Died of lung cancer in 1999. ” I know how that feels now. “
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