January 18, 2020

By Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

Continue to keep Bob Sebra in your thoughts.

The former Expos pitcher has been in the intensive-care unit at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami since last July, fighting to stay alive.

Sebra's son Ryan told me in a direct message on Twitter today that his father has survived two multi-visceral transplants that took place in 2019.

"The first multi-visceral transplant did not go good and the pancreas failed,'' Ryan said. "So he had to have another multi-visceral transplant. He's been fighting infections and has had dozens and dozens of surgeries since then. But he's still fighting.''

A multi-visceral transplant involves the liver, pancreas, spleen, stomach and the small and large intestines.

Sebra, 58, has been in and out of a coma and on and off a breathing tube for many months, his son said.

"They did a tracheotomy a few months ago. He just seems to always be fighting a new infection,'' Ryan said.

The elder Sebra had told me about eight months ago -- when I last had contact with him -- that blood clots and portal hypertension issues had caused his problems. He said a typical multi-visceral transplant takes up to 16 hours.

"It's going to be a tough year but anybody that knows me knows I'm going to go down fighting. I will fight my ass off,'' Sebra had told me back then.

And it appears that it is what he's doing: he's fighting his ass off.

Sebra was a tough-luck 6-15 with a team-leading 157 strikeouts in 1987 when the Expos almost made the playoffs. He also pitched for the Rangers, Reds, Phillies and Brewers during a big-league career that spanned parts of six major league seasons from 1985 to 1990.