Patchwork of Hope Network^TM

About LaTroy

When LaTroy Hawkins was diagnosed with shingles, he didn’t even remember having chicken pox as a child. In fact, his mother had to remind him that he had chicken pox when he was about eight years old. Twenty-eight years later, shingles, which is actually a reactivation of the chicken pox virus, appeared—starting with a stiff pain in the middle of his back, which he first noticed on his way to a baseball game.

The pain he felt got progressively worse, but because there were no visible signs, it was treated as a muscle strain for a number of days. When a rash finally appeared on his back his doctors realized it was actually shingles and treated it with anti-viral medication. “Unfortunately for me,” LaTroy explains, “my doctor explained that the virus was too far along for the anti-virals to really work. The damage was already done.”

After his shingles rash healed, LaTroy’s pain persisted, which lead to another visit to his doctor, who diagnosed him with postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), also known as after-shingles pain, an often debilitating condition resulting from the nerve damage caused by the shingles virus.

“As a professional pitcher, back and shoulder pain is something you deal with on a regular basis, but this was no ordinary pain,” describes LaTroy. In fact, after-shingles pain put him on the 15-day disabled list at one point and the burning sensitivity of his skin meant he couldn’t even be covered when lying in bed. “Hugs,” he says, “were completely out of the question.” The pain even got in the way of his favorite down-time activities, such as hunting, fishing and helping people in his community. But for the most part, he was playing through his pain.

Through his doctor’s care and a prescription treatment plan, LaTroy was able to get back in the game. Now, to help shingles and PHN sufferers understand that they are not alone, LaTroy has joined the Patchwork of Hope Network, an educational campaign led by the National Council on Aging (NCOA) that aims to raise awareness of PHN and shingles.

Born in Gary, Indiana, Hawkins was 22 years old when he made his first appearance as a big league pitcher in 1995. Since then he has had a fortunate career, including an unbelievable 23 consecutive saves in 2001 and a 1.86 ERA in 2003. In 753 career games Hawkins has a 4.51 ERA and has posted a 1.71 ERA over the past two seasons.