INDIANAPOLIS – Colts striker Rigoberto Sanchez has gone from not knowing his future in the NFL to being a few days away from playing again less than three weeks after retiring from a cancerous tumor.
Sanchez will resume punting and pitching work in Sunday’s game against the Houston Texans, coach Frank Reich said Friday.
“A great training team, working with great doctors and mature guys,” Reich said. “All three things are important and we’re lucky to have the people we do.”
Sanchez, who declined to say what type of cancer he was dealing with, noticed that something was wrong while making some dry changes before starting practice on Nov. 25. An ultrasound and an MRI revealed a tumor. Sanchez still played, though only scored, in the Nov. 29 loss to Tennessee before being operated on Dec. 1.
“I wasn’t going to do that to my team,” Sanchez said earlier this week. “It’s all about the team. At the end of the day, I don’t think they would have been able to get a pointer in time, and it wouldn’t get any worse. It was already the worst case … I was going to fight for the pain, out whatever. “
Sanchez said doctors have told him things look “pretty good” and that his “numbers are definitely lower.” He returned to the facility and practiced this week.
“I’m lucky to move all the time, to use my body in all sorts of ways,” Sanchez said. “It simply came to our notice then [Reich] he mentioned saying that if he did any kind of work at the table, he might not have picked it up right away. I’m lucky to be young and able to do what I do, and that’s playing football here. I was lucky enough to catch him on time and after that the doctors took the lead and I followed him. I’m grateful to have caught him soon. “