Two years removed from cancer diagnosis, Don Werner embraces each birthday

SARASOTA, Fla. - Don Werner is celebrating his 63rd birthday today and it's unfortunate if the name brings little or no recognition to fans.

He's a valued behind-the-scenes member of the Orioles organization, a roving catching instructor also known for his skills at throwing batting practice. He's a former major leaguer who's highly respected in the industry. But he's something much more important.

Don Werner is a cancer survivor.

I'm hanging the label on him despite his diagnosis coming only two years ago. He may not be out of the woods, but he's no longer subjected to chemotherapy and radiation treatments. He's no longer so weak that he can't step outside of his Arlington home, at risk of infection or worse due to a low white cell count. He's no longer a prisoner. He's no longer separated from the Orioles and a job he loves.

Cancer survivor works just fine.

Werner was told in March 2014, after taking his yearly physical with the Orioles, that he had Stage 3 breast cancer. The lump on the right side of his chest wasn't the byproduct of all those years in the game.

About 2,600 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in men this year, according to The American Cancer Society. About 440 men will die from it. These are chilling statistics that grow colder when a face is attached to them.

Werner missed the 2014 season while receiving his treatments, returning for the fall instructional league. He was back in camp last spring. He's never looked better in this one.

"I feel good," he said last week before heading over to Twin Lakes Park. "I've got a lot more energy this year. The side effects from the chemo and radiation have lessened quite a bit, so I've got a lot more energy now."

Werner goes in for a checkup every six months and takes Tamoxife daily - a drug intended to keep his estrogen level down.

"I guess the cancer was feeding off the estrogen," he said. "They call it the 'final knockout blow.' I've got to take it for five years, and after that I can stop as long as everything is going all right."

The diagnosis floored Werner, who had no idea what was happening inside his body or that he could be a candidate for a disease so commonly associated with women.

"I'll always remember the day because I was out here, I was running around," he said. "I do my running in the morning. I threw batting practice and worked with the catchers and I went to see the doctor and he goes, 'By the way, you've got Stage 3 breast cancer.' I went, 'What? Wait a minute. I feel good.'

"I had that lump, geez, I want to say three years, but I never really thought anything of it because I didn't even know men got breast cancer, so I just thought throwing batting practice and stuff, maybe it's just a cyst. I had been taking physicals all those years, but I had never brought it up to the doctors, but in 2014 I finally did and then, boom, boom, boom, one thing led to another. Stage 3 breast cancer."

Werner never felt more a part of a team. Prayers and assistance came in all directions, including head athletic trainer Richie Bancells, a man especially sensitive to Werner's plight after losing friends to cervical and lung cancer who worked in the organization.

"I was just in shock," Werner said. "I just couldn't believe it. It was a total shock to me. Richie and the guys really sent me to a good doctor down here. He did the surgeries and then I went back home for the treatment of the chemo and the radiation."

Three surgeries in Sarasota and two in Arlington to install and remove a portal used to inject the chemo. His final treatment came on Sept. 1, 2014. Two weeks later, he was in fall instructional league.

Werner's energy level was low last spring training, his fatigue countered by the rush of being back in camp. And the news keeps getting better.

"Every time I go in to see the doctors, they tell me that I'm all clear and if that continues to five years, they say you're out of the woods and it probably won't come back," he said.

"There are so many people who would call you and pray for you. Looking at that, you just get so much support from everybody. It was unbelievable, all the people who called, the people in the front office in Baltimore, the coaching staff, the players. They would all stay in touch.

"Brian Graham, because I lost all my hair, he sent me a bunch of hats from the minor leagues to wear around. All little things like that."

This story can't be told without Graham, the Orioles director of player development who pushed Werner to get the lump checked out, and Dave Walker, the minor league medical coordinator who brought the issue to Graham's attention. They did everything except carry Werner to the hospital, and that may have been the next course of action.

"Dave Walker came to me and said 'Donnie Werner has a situation and it's a lump on his breast and he needs to go have it checked,'" Graham recalled. "Actually, Donnie said, 'Oh, I'll take care of it at the end of spring training. When Dave Walker came to me and said, 'Brian, you need to talk to him,' I sat down with him and said, 'Donnie, you need to have this checked. Do it tomorrow.' I literally made him go have it checked.

"I told him, 'If you don't go and have it checked, we're going to call your wife and we're going to move forward with this thing.' I did push him and he went and had it checked, and then he said he was going to attend to it after spring training. I said, 'No, you're going in to get the biopsy.' He did and it wasn't good news and things progressed from there."

If any good came out of this, it's how Werner no longer resists examinations. No one has to coax him into a doctor's office.

"When you get older, you get all these little aches and pains once in a while, and now it's like you're kind of paranoid, like, is this stuff coming back or is it just that you're a little older now?" Werner said. "You go through that. I had a little thing on my neck and I go to the dermatologist. You're so paranoid about everything."

Panic swept through the organization when the diagnosis was relayed. There's no Stage 5. Stage 3 means the cancer has extended beyond the immediate region of the tumor and may have invaded nearby lymph nodes and muscles.

"When I heard the initial report, it wasn't good," Graham said. "It was breast cancer, and when you look up the statistics on male breast cancer, they're below average. Luckily, he made it through and things are great. But 'luck' is a big word.

"It's extremely relieving now. This is a quality person and a great baseball guy. And most important is him as a person and secondly as a baseball guy in our organization. It was a lot more serious than I think people realized, and the battle he went through with his chemotherapy and radiation. He was watching games every night on the computer and following up with me and talking to me about catchers. And to see him back in the condition he's in right now is unbelievable, it's great.

"He's a stabilizing factor in our minor league clubhouse. He's that guy down there who brings experience. His locker is actually next to mine the last eight years and he's the guy I go to when I want that mature voice to help me make decisions. I have a lot of respect for him."

The feeling permeates every sector of the franchise.

"We all stayed in contact with him," said manager Buck Showalter. "He's probably in the best shape of anybody in camp, including some players. And Donnie was always such a robust, healthy guy and he took it on just like he takes on everything. He does such a great job with our catchers. He loves the Orioles.

"I remember when they talked to me about it, it's like you could knock me over with a feather. When it started, I think everybody was calling him and he took it on just like he took on everything else. He said, 'I'm going to beat it.'

"Donnie hasn't had to change anything about the way he treats people or the way he looks at life and that's a real tribute to him. Some people kind of have a 'come to Jesus' moment when something like that happens. Donnie was already there. He's a guy who's always had everything in order, whether it be his family, his wife, everything. He's always had his priorities. To us, on the outside, nothing changed other than, 'OK, I've got an obstacle here, I've got a challenge and I'm going to beat it and let's go forward. I'll be back as soon as I can.' But we all know it was a lot more serious than that."

Perhaps no player took the news harder than backup catcher Caleb Joseph, who formed an immediate bond with Werner in the minors. Werner was the guy who kept insisting that Joseph could play the position in the majors. Joseph was the guy who wanted so badly for Werner to be able to watch him in 2014, after the Orioles called him up as a 28-year-old rookie and the team had a series in Arlington.

"He always told me, 'When you make your debut, I'm going to be there,' and then he couldn't make it because he was too sick," Joseph said. "The really sad part was we went to Texas pretty early two years ago and he was literally like two minutes away in Arlington and he was so sick that he couldn't even get outside.

"But on the flip side, last year was super cool. He got to see me catch a major league game in Arlington. He was doing the roving, but he had a couple days off. It just worked out. So him and his son and grandson were there. It was just like full circle. I was trying to hold it in. It was emotional because it was something we talked about. He's a good man."

Joseph said he was blindsided when told that Werner had cancer.

"It was a very tough day," he said. "It was shocking, really. Especially now, but even at that point, he was one of the best in-shape coaches, you could say. You didn't see it coming. You hear the C word and you can't help but think of so many people who aren't with us because of that. It's been incredible to see him back and what seems to be back to a normal schedule, a very normal routine here with throwing batting practice and working with catchers. This is really great to see him in uniform and doing what he loves doing.

"I know he never did take it for granted before, but he's such a good man, a good guy, just a good human. I know there are so many people here in the Orioles organization who are excited that he's an Oriole and glad that he's on our side. He's an inspiration, you know? If I looked and acted and felt as great as he does at his age, I'll be ecstatic.

"I can't say enough good things about him. He's a big supporter of mine, too. I was way down in the minor leagues, so it kind of felt like being able to give back. I cared about him a lot. He's like a father figure. We spent a lot of time sitting there and talking and he's helped me out with a lot of stuff. He's like a mentor, so when I heard the news, it was devastating at first. But then knowing Donnie and how he works out, he was super positive. 'Hey, I'm going to beat this,' and so far he has. It's been awesome to be able to come to work with him again every day"

Werner will take a break from his instruction and batting practice throws on April 1, the date of his next checkup.

"Hopefully, it will be all clear again," he said. "Let's see, I've got one year down. I've got four more to go."

Don Werner has another birthday today. He's another year older. He won't be the only one celebrating it.