Editor's note: This story originally ran when Hendriks returned to the majors on May 29, 2023. The White Sox reliever will receive the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance at the 2023 ESPYS on July 12 (8 p.m. ET on ABC).
IN MID-DECEMBER, when Liam Hendriks squinted at the PET scan of his body and saw hundreds of spots illuminated by radioactive dye, his first thought was that he looked like his dalmatian, Olive. Hendriks was diagnosed earlier that month with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a blood cancer, and he had figured it was Stage 1, maybe Stage 2, easily treatable.