Trent Williams feels blessed. The San Francisco 49ers tackle recently battled COVID-19, is healthy again, and is back at work with his teammates. He even played in last weekend's game against the Los Angeles Rams without the benefit of practicing. Williams was one of several 49ers players removed from the reserve/COVID-19 list fewer than 24 hours before kickoff.
Williams feels blessed because his situation turned out much better than some others who have struggled to overcome the virus. The veteran offensive lineman spoke with reporters via Zoom on Saturday, as his team prepares for a prime-time matchup against the Buffalo Bills on Monday.
"It was the toughest thing I ever had to do in my career," Williams said of his battle with COVID-19. "Not only did I have 14 days of literally nothing, but I spent that time battling COVID. I wasn't just sitting on the couch and just having ice lemonade and just enjoying the newspaper. It was a stressful time because you just never know how that's going to affect you, and nobody knows until it actually runs its course.
"The time it took just to try to mentally prepare for what was going to happen, and then to get my body over it, that in itself took about seven to eight days. And then they told me I had a chance to play, I think (that) Thursday, I believe. And they told me that I probably would be able to play on, I think it was (that) Saturday.
"I didn't have much warning. I honestly didn't expect to play. I knew I wanted to, and I knew that if it was possible, I was going to give it a go, but with all the protocols and the things that they had us going though, I definitely didn't think that it was possible."
Williams admits that it was difficult to get back in the swing of things against the Los Angeles Rams due to respiratory issues. That wasn't even the worst of it, though. Williams is considered high-risk when it comes to COVID-19. In April of last year, the offensive lineman had a growth removed from his head that was diagnosed as dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP), which is a rare type of cancer. That's why Williams saying his bout with COVID-19 being the toughest thing he has dealt with throughout his career is so telling of what he endured battling the virus.
Williams was asked if returning was a concern given his medical history.
"Being asthmatic and having a history of asthma, and then the cancer on top of it, yeah," he responded. "... The first week, it was more taxing on me mentally than it was physically, just not knowing the depths that it could go to, and just coming off of the year I had in '19, where things didn't really go my way. I was kind of expecting this COVID deal to take the same turn. But luckily, I'm blessed. I got through it with little to [no] effects from it now.
"And I'm just thankful because I know there's a lot of people out there who battled this virus, and it didn't end so well for them. So, I never want to overlook that."
