South Carolina baseball: Lymphoma awareness spotlight Justin Row

Highlighting former South Carolina baseball player Justin Row’s battle with cancer.

According to Healthline, Hodgkin’s Lymphoma is a blood cancer that affects the lymphatic system that helps the immune system get rid of waste and fight diseases. Stage 2 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma specifically means that cancer is found in two lymph node regions on one side of the diaphragm or that cancer was found in one lymph node region as well as in a nearby organ.

According to Cancer.org, the survival rates of HD have greatly improved over the last ten years with advances treatments. Cancer.net predicts that over 8,000 people will be diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 2020 with an estimation of 970 deaths.

Former South Carolina baseball player Justin Row was diagnosed with stage 2 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in December of 2019. This past March, he announced that he was in remission through an Instagram post.

Row talked about the process of getting treatments and the fluctuation of his health in an interview with The State:

"“The first couple days is really tough in terms of not eating, weight loss, all the stuff like that. By the time you start to feel normal again, it’s time to go back.“It’s just kind of a vicious cycle.”"

Row was changing a lightbulb when his roommates girlfriend had noticed the bump on his arm. By the time the diagnosis was in, Row had already had already scheduled a flight back home.

Row also spoke on how Gamecock fans gave him some hope when he was struggling with the news:

"“I appreciate all the support I’m getting from the East Coast. When that kind of blew up, I was kind of in a dark spot. It was kind of like a shining light. I just want to say thank you. It means a lot to me.”"

Row had been playing baseball in Australia before the diagnosis.

A tweet from @USC_Mom had announced the news via Twitter in February, where Row confirmed later:

https://twitter.com/USC_Mom/status/1226920873547923456

Several teammates of Row poured out support through Twitter following the news.

The news had come just a month after Row was announced to join the Gamecocks baseball coaching staff as a student assistant coach, reported by 247 Sports.

Row was a middle infielder for the Gamecocks during his tenure at South Carolina and lead the team in hitting as a senior. He batted a .347, which ranked seventh in the SEC that season.

Row ended his career with the Gamecocks with nine home runs and 34 RBIs. He appeared in 86 games at South Carolina and hit .331 for his career.