Trent Williams details conversation with oncologist when death was a very real outcome

Trent Williams vividly remembers the moment he discovered the doctor he was scheduled to see was an oncologist. It was around January 2019 when the now San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle had surgery scheduled to remove a mass on his head that began to develop in 2013, just a few years into his career with the Washington Football Team.

There was hope going in that the tumor could be benign, but Williams soon discovered he was up against much more. After examining the mass, doctors referred him to an oncologist who diagnosed him with Dermatofibrosarcoma Protuberans, a rare form of cancer that develops deep in the skin and was creeping toward his brain.

Two years later, the offensive tackle is beginning to open up publicly about his battle with cancer. Trent Williams recently joined the “I Am Athlete” podcast with Adam Schefter, where he detailed the conversation he had with an oncologist back in 2019.

“I told (my mom) and she was like, ‘What doctor are you going to see?’ I was like, ‘I don’t know. They told me to be at this place and see this man at 3 o’clock on Wednesday,'” Williams said. “She’s like, ‘Go Google it. That’ll tell you everything.’ So I go in my room and Google it and it’s an oncologist — a cancer doctor. I didn’t even tell my mom. I just closed the door and sat in there and cried myself to sleep. I didn’t come out until noon the next day.

“We go by and they plan the surgery for Thursday. (The doctor) called me on Wednesday at 3:30 like, ‘Hey, we need you to come in.’ I’m like, ‘I won’t be able to be there until like 6.’ He was like, ‘I don’t care what time you get here. We’re gonna be here. We’re gonna wait for you.’ As soon as he said that, I knew something was wrong. I walk in and the office was dark. They walked me right back there to see the room. The main doctor hadn’t come in yet, but the nurse she’s already got tears in her eyes. So I’m like, ‘It’s over with.’ I’m thinking my career is over. I felt like I had a lot more to prove. I ain’t ready to walk away right now.

“The main doctor comes in and he’s kind of beating around the bush like, ‘Man, this ain’t ever easy. This is the hardest part about being a doctor.’ So I just cut him off and was like, ‘What is it? I can’t play ball no more? Just put it on me, man.’ He was like, ‘Football I think is the least of your worries right now.’ When he said that, I just kind of sat back. He was like, ‘You got kids?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’ve got two daughters.’ He was like, ‘You just need to get close to them, get close to the people that are important so you can get your affairs in order.’ Once he said that, I was shocked.”

Although that day brought uncertainty and worry, good news would soon follow. Williams had successful surgery to remove the cancerous tumor in February 2019. Doctors advised him to take the next season off from football, and he did. He decided he was ready to return to the field the following year in 2020, and Washington agreed to trade him to the 49ers.

Williams picked up right where he left off. After making seven consecutive Pro Bowl from 2012-18, the offensive tackle made the Pro Bowl in both 2020 and 2021 and received the highest grade of any offensive lineman this past according to Pro Football Focus. San Francisco advanced all the way to the NFC Championship, where it lost to eventual the Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams.

Schefter’s full interview with Williams will be released Monday on the I Am Athlete YouTube channel.