And then suddenly, out of nowhere, he was forced to live his nightmare.
[Ads /]
"I was taking a shower and I passed out in the shower. So I called 911 and the ambulance came," Phelan recalled. "I got a CAT scan of my chest and they told me I had a 9-inch mass in my chest."
At 19 years old, Phelan was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a form of cancer. He's in the midst of some pretty intense chemotherapy treatment.
"It's chemotherapy, which goes through a drip in an IV, which goes through a PICC line in my arm. It makes you very tired," says Phelan. "You just sit there in a bed."
Last month, on a break from treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, Phelan visited the Phillies clubhouse at Citi Field when they were in town to face the New York Mets. It provided a much-needed boost.
[Ads /]
"That was one of the best nights ever -- getting to be able to talk with the guys in the locker room, Joe Girardi took me on the field, everyone supportive and nice. The whole Phillies organization has been nothing but amazing to me and my family," said Phelan.
So does that give him a little taste of what's to come when all this is behind him?
"Absolutely, it gave a little motivation, and I can't wait to get up to the big leagues with those guys," Phelan says. "From being at the field and with my friends all day to being in a hospital bed, it's really all I think about: getting back out there in Clearwater. I can't wait."