“I couldn’t think of just think ofespecially just not not playing, “ I couldn’t playing, especially because I because I just had given just had given everything up. ” everything up.” tests on her tumor were malignant. “I really needed to know what was going on,” she said. Trillo said she pleaded with the doctor to give her the serious diagnosis. “I’m a strong person. I can take anything you are about to tell me,” she said. Once the doctor diagnosed her, Trillo started treatments, but continued to go to classes and attend practices. “For three hours, I would shut out my sickness to focus on softball,” she said. Trillo said she feels she is still in denial that she has cancer, but she said it hits her in the oddest times. “I start crying, and I say, ‘What am I crying about?’” Trillo said. “I’m doing what I want to do. I would be sad if I tore my ACL.”
Trillo said she hid her illness from head softball coach Jaime Long and her teammates for as long as she could. “I was scared for my teammates to see me that way,” she said. She finally mustered the courage to tell Coach Long and eventually her teammates. Trillo said her cancer never interfered with playing softball throughout the season until the end of the season game against Central Arizona. She said her intense migraines started to act up, and she was “slam dunking” the ball into the ground. Her vision was fading, and she couldn’t see at all. It was the first time in the season she had to sit out of a game. >> 9