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Major League Umpire Calls Out Cancer |
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Mike Max
Reporting - wcco.com (WCCO) Jeff Nelson grew up in Cottage Grove, Minn. with a big-league dream. It came true 10 years ago when he made it to the Major League as a baseball umpire. He enjoyed a rewarding career but this spring that was all put on hold.
Four months ago Nelson learned that he had testicular cancer, which took him away from his vocation and love.
"It means I am one of the lucky ones that got to turn my hobby into my career," Nelson said.
 MLB Umpire Jeff Nelson
"I realize that I'm a baseball umpire," said Nelson. "It doesn't make me special or anything like that. That's what I do and now I'm able to get back and do that and I'm excited about that."
Nelson works and waits for word on continuing checkups, but the news in broad terms is good.
"Nowadays with our current treatment plans, chemotherapy that we have available, the success rate, the cure rate is probably around 95 percent," said Dr. Mark Wilkowski, a director of Oncology at Park Nicollet. "I think that the most important message to give to patients when they're about to start treatment is that there is an excellent prognosis here."
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