Dodgers’ Dustin May Opens Up on Near Death Experience Last Year
Last year was expected to be a turning point for Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Dustin May.
After undergoing flexor tendon surgery and a Tommy John revision, he had been recovering steadily since midway through 2023. By early July, he was just a week away from starting a minor-league rehab assignment and only a month from returning to the Dodgers’ roster.
But then, an unexpected setback occurred — one that came from something as simple as a bite of salad and then arguing about getting in the ambulance.
May and his wife, Millie, opened up on his near-death experience with Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register.
“Dustin is like, ‘My wife can drive me. I don’t need to go in the ambulance,’” Dustin’s wife said about the events that put his life in jeopardy. “We can laugh about it now. I don’t think Dustin and I realized how serious it was. We were just so blind-sided and in shock.
“I remember the ER doctor looked at Dustin and said, ‘This is life or death. You have to get in the ambulance or you could die if you’re not hooked up to the antibiotics.’ The doctor looked at me and said, ‘You guys had about four more hours.’ I said, ‘Four more hours or what?’ And he said, ‘Four more hours and things could get really bad.’”
May spent 11 days in the hospital. He couldn’t eat or drink and the nutrition he got was through an IV.
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“A lot of the time when you tear it, it’s not really a tear,” Dustin said. “It’s a pinpoint prick and you have a little hole. You take oral medication, kind of lather up your throat, stay on soft foods for like two weeks and it closes on its own.
“But mine fully ruptured in an ‘L’ shape, an inch by an inch. It was really bad.”
The right-hander lost 40 pounds and has gained half of it back so far. He feels good and is ready to compete for a rotation spot this spring.
“I feel really strong,” he said. “I feel really confident. Everything feels good right now.”
May is competing for the No. 5 spot in the Dodgers’ starting rotation along with Tony Gonsolin and Bobby Miller, that latter of which is in concussion protocol after taking a 105.5 mph line drive to his head in Thursday’s Cactus League opener.
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Photo Credit: Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images
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