White Sox reliever Liam Hendriks says at ESPYS he pitched 2022 season with cancer

Chicago White Sox reliever Liam Hendriks told The ESPYS audience that he pitched much of the 2022 season with non-Hodgkin lymphoma before being diagnosed with an advanced stage of the disease.

Chicago White Sox reliever Liam Hendriks told The ESPYS audience that he pitched much of the 2022 season with non-Hodgkin lymphoma before being diagnosed with an advanced stage of the disease.

He accepted the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance on Wednesday night at the show honoring the past year's top sports moments and athletes. 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."

Patrick Mahomes was honored as best men's sports athlete, while skier Mikaela Shiffrin received the women's sports honor.

The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback has won two Super Bowls in his five seasons and was named MVP of the game each time, including this past February. He turns 28 in September.

"It was an incredible season. There was many ups, many downs," Mahomes said. "I appreciate my teammates, my coaches, the guys that are here. I go back to camp next Tuesday, so this is a great award. But we're going to do this thing again, we're going to keep this thing rolling."