Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell announced Friday that he has been diagnosed with lymphoma.
WEEI tweeted out the news directly from Farrell:
WHDH-TV in Boston passed along the manager’s full statement:
Per Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald, Farrell will begin chemotherapy Tuesday at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and bench coach Torey Lovullo will manage the team for the remainder of this season.
Farrell described the lymphoma as “localized and highly curable,” per NESN.
“We’re going to give him the support, like he gives to us, always,” said David Ortiz, per the team.
Ortiz added more on Farrell and how he heard the news, per John Tomase of WEEI:
Pretty much all of us were in shock. When they mention the word cancer, it’s something that doesn’t matter what it comes from, it’s going to impact you. We’re going to give John the support that we can give him so he can get through this and be back next year, back to normal.
Hopefully everything goes well for him. We’ve got a big family around here and definitely when it comes down to health issues, you want to make sure that everything goes OK. The organization has taken a lot of responsibility on that, to make sure that John gets through it, the way it’s supposed to be.
Another of Farrell’s players, Dustin Pedroia, added, per the team: “Your heart just stops. Obviously, anybody in that room would do anything for John. We know he’s going to get through this, and we’ll all get through it together, and do anything to help him out.”
Farrell added about his club, “When they show that support, it’s meaningful.”
Earlier in the week, Farrell missed Tuesday’s game against Miami after undergoing hernia surgery. The manager said the lymphoma was first detected during that surgery, according the NESN report.
Farrell started his coaching career as Boston’s pitching coach in 2007, winning a World Series with the club in his first season, before taking over as manager of the Toronto Blue Jays in 2011.
After he spent two years in Toronto, the Boston brass brought Farrell back to the Red Sox as manager prior to the 2013 campaign. He helped lead the franchise to a surprise World Series title in 2013, winning 97 games in the regular season after 69 victories in 2012.
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