Dustin May is grateful he didn’t strike out for good.
The Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher recently recounted a “complete freak accident” that kept him from returning to the baseball diamond for an extra season.
The 27-year-old—who spent the 2023 season on the injured list following successful hand and arm surgeries—suffered a major setback in 2024 after a piece of lettuce from a salad got lodged in his throat. The accident led to an esophagus tear and required immediate surgery.
“It was definitely a life-altering event,” Dustin told The Los Angeles Times in an interview published Feb. 14. “It was definitely very serious. It’s not a very common surgery. It was definitely an emergency.”
In fact, the situation was so dire that he could have died, as he explained, “I probably wouldn’t have made it through the night if I didn’t have it.”
Despite the “mega-painful” feeling of the esophagus tear—which only occurs in about .003 percent of people and can cause life-threatening complications due to food and bacteria from one’s GI tract entering the chest, according to Cleveland Clinic—Dustin continued about his night and almost didn’t seek medical help.
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