Philadelphia Eagles head athletic trainer Rick Burkholder spoke to the media this evening to give some background on WR Jeremy Maclin's condition and his prognosis going forward. Earlier this evening, it was revealed that Maclin had spent the entire summer undergoing tests for a form of cancer known as lymphoma, however after a summer of testing he was finally given a clean bill of health today. Burkholder spoke extensively about the timeline and procedures Maclin has undergone, but the important takeaway here is that Maclin is experiencing no symptoms, his weight is back, he is in good shape and will likely return to practice within 7-10 days. He has been cleared to start running and conditioning as soon as he rejoins the team.
In mid Februrary/early March, Maclin was having weight loss, night sweats, fever and generally what you might see as flu like symptoms. Burkholder said that the Eagles did not know about the situation initially because of the lockout. In fact, Burkholder heard about Maclin looking noticeably thin and mentioning an illness through a media report. at that point he got Dr Dorsheimer, the Eagles physician who was on the scene for the Mike Patterson incident, to get in contact with Jeremy. Dr Dorsheimer and Maclin's father, who is a urologist, began treating him in Philadelphia and putting him through a battery of tests to rule out a number of different diseases.
They did discover that he had enlarged lymph nodes and had abnormal blood tests, but could not come to a conclusion on what the cause was. He then returned to St. Louis and basically went through the tests again and got essentially the same inconclusive results. When he did report to the Eagles, Burkholder said he was in great shape and his only request was that the Eagles not disclose what he was going through.
From the point he came into camp, the Eagles knew he had a laproscopic surgery scheduled back in St. Louis to finally rule out cancer or any other life threatening illnesses. That was why he left for St Louis prior to the first preseason game.
He says Maclin does have some inflammation in his system, which they will treat, but he displays no symptoms. He has been cleared to resume running and working out. If all goes well, he will likely be cleared to return to full practice in 7-10 days.