Chicago White Sox’s Liam Hendriks to be honored at ESPYs with the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance – The Denver Post

Liam Hendriks has listened to Jim Valvano’s moving “don’t give up”’ speech from the first ESPYs in 1993.

“To make that profound of a statement in that situation in his diagnosis and everything he went through, it’s something that’s mind-boggling to have the wherewithal about going through that,” Hendriks said Wednesday afternoon at Angel Stadium.

The Chicago White Sox reliever showed strength and resilience as he inspired the baseball world and beyond by returning to the mound after battling stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

He will receive the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance during the 2023 ESPYs.

“To be honored in something like this, it’s really really cool,” Hendriks said. “Not only that, but reading up on Jimmy V and everything he went through, that speech is still eliciting tears from a lot of people while listening to it. That’s something that is really really cool.

“It’s not something I ever thought I would be a part of.”

The 2023 ESPYs will take place July 12 in Los Angeles and air live at 7 p.m. on ABC-7.

“I’m excited to soak it all in and be able to get out there to L.A. during the All-Star break,” Hendriks said. “It works out, time-wise, great for us. I’m honored to be a part of it and thought of in recognition of anything. But to win something like this is huge and hopefully it can raise some more awareness.

“People can see I’m going through something similar, that’s all we are trying to attain, trying to push forward to is raising awareness and potentially funding for research and hopefully somebody who is going through it currently can look upon this and say ‘He’s doing it, now I can do it.’”

The honor is “a symbol of (Hendriks’) strength and resilience in his fight against non-Hodgkin lymphoma,” according to a news release.

“To receive that honor is a really big deal,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “I’m proud of him. It’s a special honor and he’s the right guy for it. The way he went about this rehab and what he went through was just incredible.”

Hendriks disclosed in an Instagram post in January he was beginning treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, later detailing it was stage 4. He completed treatment on April 3 and announced he was cancer-free on April 20.

Hendriks made his first relief appearance of the season on May 29 against the Los Angeles Angels at Guaranteed Rate Field. He received multiple standing ovations during the evening, and members of both teams stood and clapped when he entered the game in the eighth inning.

A ceremony before that game recognized the more than $100,000 raised in the “Close Out Cancer” T-shirt campaign. The Sox partnered with the Lymphoma Research Foundation, and the funds raised provided financial assistance to lymphoma patients.

The New York Yankees recognized Hendriks before a June 8 doubleheader at Yankee Stadium, with the team donating $10,000 to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in his honor. Hendriks announced he would match the donation.

Now the three-time All-Star and two-time reliever of the year — who made five appearances this season before landing on the injured list with right elbow inflammation — will be honored at the ESPYs.

“There’s silver linings to absolutely everything and this is something that you take the positives where it comes from, something like this,” Hendriks said. “It’s been my motto from Day 1: Move forward and make a positive out of this. And this is hopefully contributing to that factor.”

Past recipients of the Jimmy V Award include Dick Vitale (2022), Chris Nikic (2021), Craig Sager (2016), and Stuart Scott (2014).

The ESPYs helps raise awareness and funds for the V Foundation for Cancer Research, the charity founded by ESPN and the late basketball coach at the first ESPYs. According to the release, ESPN has helped raise more than $195 million for the V Foundation over the past 30 years.

“The individual award is not just for me,” Hendriks said. “It’s for everybody who is going through something like this. It’s for everybody who has overcome something like this. Everybody who has succumbed to something like this. It’s for everyone going through it and also caretakers and family members. It’s not just a singular person going through this. It’s an entire family, and an entire unit. An entire organization. It’s not just a solo thing.

“It may be given to me but it’s more for everyone else who goes through it because, you know what, I said this to every survivor and everyone I’ve met: It’s a lot harder on our family and friends than it is on us. We have a goal and a way to beat things. They have to sit by and kind of watch us go through it. It’s for everybody not just the individual.”

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