A bite of salad nearly cost Dustin May his life.
The Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher shared that a salad he ate was the reason for his season-ending esophagus surgery in July.
“It was definitely a life-altering event,” May told the Los Angeles Times. “It was definitely very serious. It’s not a very common surgery. It was definitely an emergency.
“I probably wouldn’t have made it through the night if I didn’t have it,” May added.
Initially, the 27-year-old felt a “mega-painful” sensation after swallowing a bite of lettuce for 15 minutes, feeling the pain in his throat that eventually subsided. While May brushed aside any concern once the pain went away, his wife, Millie, urged him to go to the emergency room.
That’s when he found out that the rupture of his esophagus was severe enough that he needed to undergo emergency surgery.
May described the surgery as “essentially a full abdominal surgery.”
At the time, May was set to commence a rehab stint in the minors, as he was working his way back to the majors after undergoing a Tommy John revision and surgery for a flexor tendon injury.
Instead of making a comeback for the eventual World Series champions, though, May had to start at square one with his rehab. He couldn’t begin light throwing again until November and was advised not to lift anything heavier than 10 pounds for six months.
The whole situation caused May to view life in a greater sense.
“It just kind of gives me a different viewpoint on a lot of things in life,” May told the Los Angeles Times. “Just seeing how something so non-baseball-related can just be like — it can be gone in a second. And the stuff it put my wife through, it definitely gave me [a feeling] of, ‘Wow, stuff can change like that.’ It was definitely very scary.”
May was cleared to begin full-strength training in January. He’s hoping to play a role in the Dodgers’ loaded rotation that could include the likes of Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Rori Sasaki when the season opens.
But May, who was one of the Dodgers’ top prospects when he made his MLB debut in 2019, has only made 46 appearances since 2019, with 2020 being the only time he’s started at least 10 games in a season. He’s 12-9 with a 3.10 ERA over his career.
“If I’m healthy, I feel like I have a spot on this rotation,” May said. “I just have to go out and prove that.”
Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.
Get more from Major League Baseball Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
