Orioles center fielder Cedric Mullins posted his best year as a ballplayer during the 2021 season, as he became an All-Star for the first time and was the only player in the majors to put together a 30-30 season. But with baseball on pause for now, Mullins is trying to make his impact felt off the field.
Mullins, 27, recently revealed that he was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and underwent surgery to remove part of his intestines in November 2020. By announcing this, Mullins is trying to encourage people to get checked out if they don’t feel right.
“I think the message is just for people that are used to having perfect health and running into situations that come off as abnormal, but they assume that it’s something relatively small,” Mullins said on Glenn Clark Radio Feb. 3.
That line of thinking is something that Mullins can relate to. He initially thought his symptoms were related to food poisoning. Crohn’s disease causes inflammation of the digestive tract and can lead to abdominal pain and trouble using the bathroom, not unlike what food poisoning can do.
“I thought it was food poisoning. I’ve had food poisoning before and that also could have been related to Crohn’s, I just had no idea,” Mullins said. “I had occasional what, I guess when I think back, would be considered episodes. And I thought that it was just something bad that I have eaten.”
“My stomach reacted a certain way, so I was trying to figure out what it might have been so I could stay away from it,” he continued. “It would always happen roughly once a year, so nothing crazy but then over time it just started to really build up and led to me having to have the surgery.”
Mullins’ symptoms had accelerated by the spring of 2020. He had trouble using the restroom and things began to get very unusual for him. He explained that he observed cloudiness — and eventually blood — in his urine. This caused a lot of concern for Mullins, which led him to act quickly.
The next step was to figure out what was wrong, so Mullins informed the Orioles what was going on. He went through several different scans and tests to try to diagnose the issue. When doctors discovered the severity of the problem, Mullins underwent surgery.
Mullins explained it was really important for him to get help when he did because he had learned that it could have gotten much worse. Luckily, his day-to-day life feels normal again.
“It’s still relatively the same, as if I hadn’t been [diagnosed with Crohn’s disease]. The surgery really helped me get to that point.” Mullins said. “It’s crazy, all the stories I’ve heard coming in. It is not the same for other people, so it’s about me getting more involved with that and getting the understanding for how much worse it could have been had I not decided to get it checked out when I did.”
Mullins still has to have regular checkups and watch his diet to make sure he stays in great shape. He has to get blood work and different scans done on a three-to-four month basis, just to make sure that he continues to remain healthy.
In addition to his experience with Crohn’s disease, Mullins also shared a personal story to add to the importance of getting checked out. There are a lot of people in the world that think they can overcome any illness or weakness they may feel, and Mullins said that his father is the “king” of doing this.
“He’ll literally tell us that he’s feeling bad and won’t do anything about it,” Mullins said. “And we’re sitting there like, ‘What’s your plan, do you plan on going to see somebody? How are you going to gauge it?’ And he will go weeks on end still feeling roughly the same and I’m trying to convince him like it’s not a problem to go get checked out.”
Not only has Mullins been trying to convey this idea to his father, but now he is trying to express this to the world. After experiencing major discomfort, Mullins reacted quickly enough to eliminate any further potential harm and now he is trying to spread that message.
“If it turns out to be nothing then great,” Mullins said. “But if an issue does happen to occur, I think getting on top of it is pretty crucial.”
For more from Mullins, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox