Roman Reigns describes feeling leukemia symptoms when he relapsed in 2018. At the time, he thought he was just fatigued by the WWE schedule.
Currently, Roman Reigns is not on WWE television. As the world is reeling from the Coronavirus pandemic, Roman Reigns has elected to sit out of the current WWE tapings at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, citing that he would like to do what is best for his family. Roman is well known to have twice battled leukemia and therefore has a compromised immune system.
Speaking on Good Day Orlando, Roman Reigns described what it was like when he first was diagnosed with leukemia back in 2007 and what it felt like to relapse in 2018, shortly after he had defeated Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship at SummerSlam.
“You know, I was first diagnosed in 2007. I went to a Minnesota Vikings rookie camp. We did a blood lab for, you know, as a part of our physical, and it came back that I had between 70 and 80 thousand white blood cells. As a young twenty-one/twenty-two-year-old, it knocked me on my butt, to be honest,” he began. “That was over a decade ago. Going forward, I was still able to live my life. I was able to put it in remission even all the way up until 2018 when I relapsed and fell out of remission. We were able to get it under control and still continue to live life. I think that's important that people understand that it doesn't have to be a death sentence. You can continue to live your life, chase your dreams, and fulfill goals. That's what I've been able to do with proper treatment and the right support.”
He continued, “I mean, yeah, you go through symptoms. But at the same time, fatigue was really my main symptom. But at the time, I was, you know, a 300-pound college athlete. So through football games, I thought, 'you're bigger than you should be playing defensive lines.' So I figured, I'm supposed to be tired. [Also,] recently, I'm a WWE superstar. I'm on the road, you know, almost 250, 300 nights a year, and with my schedule, late nights, early mornings, traveling nonstop, it just felt like it was just supposed to be a part of the process. That's what it is when you're on top in the WWE. But little did I know, I had relapsed and leukemia was back in my blood and had taken its effect.”
Fightful Select recently broke the news that Roman is welcomed back in WWE at his own leisure, but is currently written out of all future WWE plans as a precautionary measure.
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