MINNEAPOLIS — This Mother’s Day is a special one for Cubs right-hander Hayden Wesneski’s family. His mom, Lisa, was scheduled to finish her last round of pills Sunday, marking the end of her leukemia treatment, Hayden said.
“It’s a really good Mother’s Day gift,” he said in a conversation with the Sun-Times.
Wesneski and his teammates donned Mother’s Day-themed caps with pink -details, and jerseys bearing breast cancer awareness ribbons before their 16-3 loss to the Twins on Sunday. Some added pink cleats or high socks to their ensemble or swung pink bats.
For Wesneski, the real celebration would come Sunday night, highlighting a fight against a different kind of cancer.
After the game Sunday, the Cubs were set to fly to Houston, where they’ll play a three-game series against the Astros. That meant a trip home for Wesneski, who is from Cypress, on the northeast side of Houston. His parents planned to pick him up and head to their family home for an evening together.
“I’m just glad I get to see my mom today,” Wesneski said.
He lit up when asked about her.
“She’s the best,” he said. “Everybody loves my mom. She gets along with everybody.”
Hayden described Lisa as “selfless.” She’s rarely in photos because she’s the one taking them.
She works as a business analyst for the FBI, Wesneski said, which made for especially cool Bring Your Child to Work Days for Hayden and his brother. Hayden remembers getting his fingerprints taken and seeing his name in different languages.
“She’s not the ‘cool mom,’ ” he said. “She has an iron fist. She runs our family, if she likes it or not. And she does a good job.”
Lisa made it to most of Hayden’s football and baseball games growing up. But she couldn’t make it to Wesneski’s first 12 major-league appearances.
Hayden’s parents put off telling him about Lisa’s leukemia diagnosis last year.
“They were afraid I was going to come home,” he said. “I was in Triple-A when they found out. And then they were about to tell me, and then I got pulled up.”
They waited another couple of weeks after Hayden’s MLB debut, as he settled into the big leagues, before breaking the news to him.
Lisa’s prognosis was good. It was a treatable type of leukemia, and Hayden adopted his parents’ optimism.
“My mom has been so strong,” he said. “It’s incredible. She’s endured a lot.”
Hayden’s dad and brother took Lisa to her treatment sessions. Their family friends would drop off meals.
“It’s one of those things where you go through a battle together and it makes you stronger or it beats you,” Hayden said. “And we beat this thing, so it made us a lot stronger.”
Lisa finished radiation therapy recently and traveled to Chicago to see Hayden start against the Marlins a week ago. It was her first time watching him pitch in a major-league game in person. And it was her first time at Wrigley Field.
“It was a lot of firsts that day,” Hayden said. “It was really cool.”
Now, she’s reached another milestone in her battle.
“We’re pumped,” Hayden said. “Wesneskis are trending up.”
