On Wednesday, the family of Texas Longhorns guard Andrew Jones announced that the sophomore had been diagnosed with leukemia. In fact, they released the following statement through the school:
"After undergoing a number of tests and evaluations over the past week, Andrew has been diagnosed with leukemia. He has begun treatments, and we hope everyone will keep him in your thoughts and prayers. This is obviously a difficult situation for our family, and we hope everyone will respect our privacy at this time."
Due to the previously unidentified illness, Jones had logged just 20 minutes on the floor for the Longhorns since early December (when he was originally out with a wrist injury).
In addition to the above statement from his family, there was also a statement from his coach, Shaka Smart:
As well as one for the school's new athletic director, Chris Del Conte:
Not to be left out, teammates and fans of several squads all offered their social media condolences:
Just a few years ago, as a high schooler, Jones was a McDonald's All-American. Last season (as a freshman, obviously) Jones averaged 11.4 points per game, and ultimately opted to return to school after he attended the scouting combine. Prior to his December wrist injury he was leading the team in scoring this season.
As noted by ESPN, this is not the first major health-related difficulty that the Jones family has dealt with. Back in 2007, Jones' father was paralyzed after he got into a car accident on an icy road. Andrew, who was in the car at the time, was ejected from the vehicle but somehow (at the age of 7) escaped with only some bruises.
