Mercury star Diamond DeShields knew going into her surgery on Jan. 17, 2020 that there were risks to remove the grape-sized tumor on her spinal cord, she told ESPN’s Holly Rowe.
The biggest risk was possible paralysis because the surgeons were working near her spinal nerves, and the tumor could be intertwined with nerves.
Her surgery was predicted to take three hours, but ended up taking nine hours. In the end, DeShields’s tumor was removed, but her nerves were damaged. When the surgery was over, she had tremors and involuntary spasms and wondered if she would be able to control her body again.