Auburn recruit Tashawn Manning battling cancer

Defensive tackle Tashawn Manning, an Auburn commit, has been diagnosed with Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APML).

Manning, who was slated to graduate this month and enroll early at Auburn, learned he had the disease on Thanksgiving morning. The week before, Manning’s parents, Buck and Nakia Manning, took their son to the doctor after he complained of weakness and fatigue. Their family physician thought it was pneumonia and Manning was placed on antibiotics.

However, the family became increasingly worried when, after a few days on antibiotics, Manning seemed to be getting worse. The Mannings went back to the doctor and were ultimately referred to Florida Hospital North in downtown Orlando. Doctors took Manning's blood and bone marrow and made the diagnosis.

“We weren’t thinking anything like that. We were just thinking it was something more with the pneumonia,” Buck Manning told the Orlando Sentinel. “Leukemia or anything like that never entered my mind. It was hard.

“He has a 90 percent chance of it being cured, which is very, very good.”

Manning already has undergone his first round of chemotherapy and is readying for more.

His plans to go to Auburn have been put on hold, but Buck Manning told the Orlando Sentinel that the school has been accommodating, and that coach Gus Malzahn said Manning’s scholarship will be waiting for him whenever he’s able to join the program.

For more Auburn news, visit AuburnSports.com.

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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday

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