GINEBRA star playmaker LA Tenorio has won the biggest fight of his life – this one against the Big C.
to action. INSPIRE SPORTS ACADEMY PHOTO
Tenorio announced yesterday that he is now cancer-free after an eight-month battle with stage 3 colon cancer.
“The past eight months were really challenging for me and my family. (The year) 2023 started off well winning the championship but closed that conference with a groin injury,” Tenorio said in a lengthy Facebook post. “Who would have known that was God’s way of knocking on my door giving me a sign to rest and mind my body. Soon after, I was nursing a tumor in my colon.
“My scan and last test results show no trace of cancer, and that the treatment was effective. I am now in remission. Praise God,” he added.
Tenorio’s record of 744 straight games ended last March, with the wily 5-foot-9 ace later ruled out of the season-ending PBA Governors’ Cup due to an “aggravated sports hernia injury that required surgery.”
It turned out worse after he was diagnosed with the deadly disease where cells have spread to one or more nearby lymph nodes, but have not grown beyond the lymph nodes.
He sought medical treatment that included chemotherapy sessions in Singapore.
Tenorio, 39, who is serving as one of coach Tim Cone’s assistants at Gilas Pilipinas for the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, is set to suit up for the Kings in the import-spiced Commissioner’s Cup kicking off Nov. 5.
“Now, I am returning to basketball for my love of the game. This time with a higher purpose. Not as the old LA, but hopefully with the new and better version of myself,” Tenorio said. “I hope I can help inspire people through the game of basketball–that life, winning battles, winning championships are all more meaningful not because of the end goal but because of the journey.
“I can’t wait to touch a basketball once again. This is my story, and I’m ready to enter the next chapter of my life. And all to His Glory.”
No one is more elated than Cone, with whom Tenorio won seven of his eight titles in the pro league.
“We just got really good news on LA, by the way. His last PET (positron emission tomography) scan he took today in Singapore is cancer-free,” Cone said. “So, he is finished with all his sessions, chemo sessions. He’s been declared cancer-free.
