HOUSTON – The business of football took a back seat Monday at the Texans facility.
Second-year offensive lineman David Quessenberry has been diagnosed with lymphoma and is away from the team receiving treatment.
Quessenberry, a sixth-round draft pick from San Jose State, saw his season end last September with a broken foot.
He was being counted on to battle for a starting slot at right tackle before this setback.
He had been battling a persistent cough and fatigue over the past 10 days. Quessenberry underwent evaluation to determine the cause. He was diagnosed with lymphoma and is being treated at MD Anderson. He and his family are asking for privacy.
Head coach Bill O'Brien offered this statement:
"We are very much in David and his family's corner during this process and we have had the chance to visit with him. We look forward to the day he can beat this and returns to the Houston Texans."
Martha Mims is a professor at the Baylor College of Medicine and is the chief of the hematology and oncology section. She is not Quessenberry's doctor but said his overall good health could play a role in his recovery.
"He could tolerate whatever needed to be done from him," Mims said.
Mims said symptoms usually could include fever, fatigue and weight loss. Treatment for lymphoma is usually chemotherapy.
"Some people have no symptoms at all," Mims said. "Some people could notice a lump or bump. Some people notice shortness of breath if they have a mass in the chest.
"Tumors that grow rapidly also tend to be the tumors that respond most rapidly to chemo because they have the largest number of cells that are not dividing and it's those dividing cells that make it most sensitive to chemo."
Billie Sue Parris, the executive director of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Texas Gulf Coast Chapter. The group's goal is to end blood cancers through research
"Blood cancers are not preventative," she said. "So we have to just find a cure. We've had so many drugs come into the forefront that people are able to live longer and healthier lives because of that."
Dr. Mims and Parris agree that Quessenberry has the best treatment in the world available at the Texas Medical Center.