Ahead of the Dodgers 2024 World Series run, starting pitcher Dustin May was in the final stages of his elbow rehab, getting ready to join the team last summer. However, this all came to a halt when a freak accident occurred.
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That is, on July 10, May was out at a restaurant and eating a salad, when all of the sudden a piece of lettuce got stuck in his throat, which caused a serious tear in his esophagus (per Los Angeles Times).
Upon feeling excruciating pain for 15 minutes, May said he went home and thought everything would be okay.
"I'm not a big panicker," he said. "It kind of chilled out. So I was like, 'I'm fine. I don't need to do anything.'"
However, his wife Millie stepped in and made the final call of going to the ER.
Luckily so, as soon as arriving at the hospital, doctors discovered the lettuce had perforated his esophagus tube and caused a bad tear, requiring emergency surgery.
"It was definitely a life-altering event," May said. "It was definitely very serious. It's not a very common surgery. It was definitely an emergency."
The 27-year-old even noted that it was life-saving.
"I probably wouldn't have made it through the night if I didn't have it."
May said this all resulted in "basically a full abdominal surgery," and he had the scar to show for it, which ranges from his lower chest to his stomach.
"It just kind of gives me a different viewpoint on a lot of things in life," May said. "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."
After going through a six-month recovery program, where he couldn't lift any weights heavier than 10 pounds, the five-year pitcher has since been able to get back to full strength.
All in all, as of now May is competing to make the 2025 Dodgers starting pitching rotation, as they prepare for their Opening Day series vs. the Chicago Cubs on March 18 & 19 in Tokyo, Japan.
Since making his debut in 2019, May has proven to be a valuable member of the team, posting a 12-9 record in 34 starts; he has accumulated a 3.10 earned-run average and 1.05 WHIP and 174 strikeouts.
