BELOVED RED SOX ANALYST STEPS UP TO THE PLATE
Remy fighting two-front battle against cancer, depression
When Red Sox broadcaster Jerry Remy was diagnosed with lung cancer for the first time 9 years ago, depression set in. There were days he didn’t want to get out of bed — or go to bed — because he didn’t want to wake up the next morning “feeling as crappy as I did today.”
“I fought it for a long time. It’s an empty hole that you go into,” Remy said yesterday. “With what I’ve been through physically, there have been answers for it. With depression, it was horrible because you never felt like there was a way out.”
Remy, 64, met with reporters yesterday at NESN’s Watertown studios to talk about his latest — his fourth — battle with lung cancer, discovered a week before Christmas. The former Red Sox second baseman also delved deep into another struggle — his depression — and said he’s been treating it with medication since his first cancer diagnosis in 2008.
“It takes a long time to get on the proper medication, one that works for you. There’s a load of them out there,” Remy said. “And then, you know, you’re always like, ‘I don’t need medication. I can get out of this myself.’ Well, you know what? You can’t.”
As he fought with depression after his first cancer diagnosis, his NESN colleagues urged him to go to Fenway Park. When he finally did, Remy received a warm welcome from the fans, who lifted his spirits. “They have no idea of the power of what they gave to me on that particular night,” Remy recalled.
A short while later, he returned to the broadcast booth.
“From that point on, I’ve been good. As we all know, I’ve been through a lot and mentally I’ve been OK and a lot of it I attribute to the medication that they were able to find for me,” Remy said. “Depression’s tough.”
(Remy’s son, Jared, is serving a life sentence after pleading guilty in 2014 to murdering his girlfriend).
There’s one thing Remy knows for sure — he’s never going off his depression medication.
“I’m not going off it. I’m going to be on it the rest of my life,” said Remy, who noted he tried quitting the medication once. “I know I need it.”
Remy went public with his latest cancer diagnosis because he wants people to visit their doctor regularly. A week before Christmas, a routine CAT scan found a suspicious spot on Remy’s lung. He then had a PET scan. “When you take one, cancer lights up and this lit up pretty good,” he said.
He underwent surgery to remove lymph nodes, which were examined and came back negative. A week ago, the spot of cancer on his lung was removed at Massachusetts General Hospital.
“I’m feeling pretty darn good,” Remy said.
Remy, a former longtime smoker, will undergo a follow-up CAT scan on March 1. “I’m looking forward to a full recovery,” Remy said, “and I’m looking forward to a full season in the broadcast booth once again.”