Texas Rangers
Rangers’ Edwards, wife find miracle after cancer scare
The news came right in the heart of the holidays, 10 days before Christmas.
Texas Rangers pitcher and 2006 Keller High School graduate Jon Edwards was told he had testicular cancer.
“It was kind of a long day that Monday,” Edwards said Sunday, as he recalled the moment from a few months ago.
Suddenly, Edwards and his wife, Katelyn, were confronted with a barrage of questions that needed answers and quick action. His doctor recommended surgery to remove the cancer. Not much waiting, either. This was Monday.
The surgery needed to be Thursday. Edwards, 27, and his wife had no kids but hoped to start a family soon. The doctor advised them to seriously consider visiting a sperm bank in case infertility became an issue post-surgery.
“I told them where I was coming from, that we are Christians and we were going to trust the Lord with it,” Edwards said.
The doctor explained why he thought it was necessary. Fertility, although not definite, can be an issue after some testicular surgeries.
“I told him, ‘Well, with all due respect, Abraham had kids in his 90s so we’re just going to walk it out,” Edwards said. “My wife and I and family prayed about it and felt at peace about moving forward with a procedure that Thursday.”
Said Katelyn: “It’s not that Christians are against it, but what we endeavored to do as believers in every situation that is specific to us, is to be led by the spirit and what we need to do. We just didn’t have any peace about doing that. We just decided to trust God in that area.”
So Edwards had the procedure a week before Christmas, putting his trust in God, keeping the faith that it wouldn’t take away his hope to start a family.
“Those four days we weren’t overwhelmed with fear because we knew more importantly how much God wanted him well,” Katelyn said. “We just believed that. We knew God’s report was bigger than the doctor’s report. We know God is greater than cancer.”
The next day, a CAT scan showed he was clean of cancer. Tests nearly every week monitored his blood markers until they hit zero, the last few coming in Surprise after he had arrived for spring training in mid-February.
Testicular cancer is sometimes called a “young man’s disease,” because it is the most common form of cancer found in men ages 20 to 40, according to the American Cancer Society. About 8,430 new cases are reported each year, including 380 deaths.
The ordeal — which not only included Edwards confronting his mortality for the first time, but wondering if he’d be able to have children, and the potential setback it posed to his baseball career — swirled in his head. But instead of wallowing in fear, he became resolute. To be grateful, appreciative, to be happy.
“During that time there was something the Lord really put on my heart and that was to be joyful,” he said. “I just remember thinking that morning I wasn’t ready to go yet, there were so many things left undone, that I wanted to tell my wife and really saw how much of my day I spend concerned about something unimportant.”
That transformative clarity has remained with him during spring training. Edwards is one of the leading candidates to earn a spot in the Rangers’ bullpen after holding opposing teams to two runs on five hits in 10 2/3 innings.
Not bad for a converted outfielder who turned to pitching a few years ago with the hopes of staying in the game he loves.
“It was surprising how quickly the doctors wanted to move on it and the urgency of it kind of showed the concern the doctor felt,” Katelyn said. But the couple isn’t averse to moving fast. They met in January 2013, got engaged that February and married in November.
Their faith was rewarded in early March, just a few months after Jon’s surgery.
Katelyn is nearly nine weeks pregnant, and expecting their first child in October.
“It was kind of surreal, like really? We’re pregnant?” she said. “I did end up taking a second test, if the way I was feeling didn’t confirm it enough.”
It has reaffirmed their faith and given Jon Edwards a peace in life and on the mound a week away from making the roster for his hometown team.
“Absolutely, I think it’s a God thing,” he said. “I’m so blessed to have family there and all the support I have. There’s a lot of people around me there who have encouraged me and just kind of been in my corner. It was nothing short of a miracle because [the doctor] was anticipating a lot worse.”
The life-changing crisis helped focus his mind and find joy in each day, especially through the long slog of spring when a major league job is on the line each day.
“I came into camp in conjunction with trusting my stuff, trusting in the Lord, being joyful and enjoying this time,” he said.
Stefan Stevenson, 817-390-7760
Twitter: @StevensonFWST
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