As a free agent, tight end Foster Moreau was ready to visit different NFL teams to see where he could end up next in his career.
I didn’t expect to hear that I had cancer.
Moreau announced that he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma last week and said he is leaving the NFL to treat it.
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Las Vegas Raiders tight end Foster Moreau warms up before a game against the New England Patriots at Allegiant Stadium on December 18, 2022 in Las Vegas. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Speaking in ESPN’s «The Adam Schefter Podcast» Moreau explained to the NFL insider how he learned of the «terrifying» diagnosis during a visit to the New Orleans Saints.
«It’s like a normal family doctor checkup. [The doctor] He puts his hands on me, and the first thing he touches, I swear, he touches my left lymph node system up here on my clavicle. And it’s shocking to him how swollen this thing is,» Moreau said. “It’s like, ‘We have to check this thing out. It’s about the size of a golf ball.'»
Moreau added that he was watching highlights from March Madness after undergoing a CT scan awaiting the results of what doctors believed could be cancer.
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When he returned, it was news Moreau did not want to hear.
«Obviously, I’m in shock,» he explained. «Stoick, trying to take it the best I could. They do a biopsy on the spot where they cut little two-centimeter incisions and take some pore samples from my lymph node there.»
His initial thought?
«Scared. It’s a term I don’t quite understand. Cancer is a scary word. Cancer is an extremely scary word. I had no history of cancer on my mom or dad’s side of the family. I was terrified. I did a lot of research on that, but only the unknowns of what you’re about to go through.People can tell you what it is, but they can’t tell you what you’re going to experience.
Las Vegas Raiders’ Foster Moreau (87) runs with the ball during a game against the New England Patriots at Allegiant Stadium on December 18, 2022 in Las Vegas. (Michael Owens/Getty Images)
The results of those samples confirmed Hodgkin lymphoma, and the reality of the situation began to sink in for Moreau. Being from New Orleans, he was close to his mom and dad, and the 25-year-old said it was much easier than if he had found out during a visit to the Cincinnati Bengals 24 hours before traveling to New Orleans. Orleans.
Moreau will learn the stage of his cancer, but doctors believe it was caught early.
“They think it caught me at an early stage because I didn’t show any of the ‘B’ symptoms. So the exhaustion, the night sweats, the weight loss. None of it had turned up,” she said.
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Moreau has been receiving a lot of support from his teammates, coaches and even a friend from high school who also went through the same cancer treatment. He said classmates shaved their heads in support.
Moreau is confident that she will fight her cancer every day with ferocity.
Foster Moreau of the Las Vegas Raiders walks off the field after a win over the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium on January 2, 2022 in Indianapolis. (Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
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«I tend to play by percentages, and I’ve beaten a lot of odds in my life, Adam. If I can beat those odds, I would have loved it. But I’ve also kicked a lot of–. If I couldn’t beat the odds, then I just have to dealing with it. It was hard and scary. Every day goes by, and my mind seems to settle down a bit. By the time the first chemo session starts, it will be like waking up on a Sunday morning and getting ready to kick someone’s butt. someone».