26-year-old Hanshin Tigers catcher Haraguchi Fumihito announces he has cancer

When Hanshin Tigers catcher Haraguchi Fumihito (26) created his own Twitter account, many thought it would be a Haraguchi preparing for a wonderful new season.

But fans were shocked when the first post from Haraguchi was that he had colorectal cancer:

pic.twitter.com/vwopGazUxf

— 原口文仁 (@fumihit94) January 24, 2019

Haraguchi wrote:

I thank everyone for your continued support. I have an important announcement to make. At the end of last year, heading into my tenth year as a pro baseball player, I went for a complete medical checkup and was told that I have cancer. When I heard that word, I was shocked and shaken.

As a professional baseball player, I feel that this illness is now part of my mission and I will work hard to come back from this and provide more dreams to others who are suffering from the same disease. As far as the future goes, I plan on having surgery done in days to come and will work hard in returning back to baseball as quickly as I can.

I have my family, my fans and other fellow cancer patients by my side. I’m just going to keep looking ahead and move forward. I hope you will continue to support me and cheer me on.

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