Darryl Strawberry Says Cancer Is Back

July 29 -- New York Yankee outfielder Darryl Strawberry, who was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1998 and underwent chemotherapy, said Friday his cancer has resurfaced.

“Right now, I have some physical issues that I have to deal with,” Strawberry told reporters when leaving a meeting with his probation officer in Florida. When asked whether he meant his cancer had returned, Strawberry said, “Yes.”

Strawberry was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1998 and underwentsurgery and chemotherapy. In January, he said a test showed hiscolon was free of cancer.

Now a CT scan suggests the cancer has spread to lymph nodes, andStrawberry will undergo more tests next week, said his agent, EricGrossman.

“I’m in for another battle,” Strawberry told WABC-TV. “I’m in a pretty good place now in my head, and I think that’s the most important thing. … I really don’t feel disturbed about the situation as much as I was before.”

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Yankee manager Joe Torre told a hushed clubhouse the news.

“I’m sick to my stomach. You know it’s always there, that danger or potential of it coming back. It’s just very sad,” saidTorre, who successfully battled prostate cancer. “Thank Godthere are just so many other ways to treat cancers today.”

Dr. Peter Wiernick, a cancer specialist at Our Lady of Mercy Hospital in the Bronx section of New York said a recurrence is common in one-third to one half of patients in situations similar to Strawberry’s. He insists there is hope for recovery.

“There’s a lot of progress in a relatively short period of time. There’s even more hope today than there has been in the past.”

Probation Concerns

The news came days after Strawberry, who is currently banned from baseball after testing positive for cocaine, had reportedly left a Florida drug clinic one month early to earn money to support his family. Sports Illustrated also reported that Strawberry had visited a South Florida swingers’ club which allows alcohol consumption.