Before becoming a successful doctor known for his role on the TLC reality show My Feet Are Killing Me, Pottstown native Brad Schaeffer played baseball as he struggled to come to terms with his sexuality, according to an essay he wrote for Outsports.

For years, baseball was his life. However, his desire to be a hard-charging jock like all of his favorite players meant that he could never be gay. When others used gay slurs and disparaged others, he joined in.

“This is a huge regret of my life,” he wrote.

Schaeffer forced himself into a life he thought his faith required. He enrolled at a small Christian university, continued playing baseball, and got married.

But things changed when he decided to pivot into medicine. He started questioning a lot more about himself until he accepted the ultimate curveball that life threw his way: He was gay.

He came out to his father at a Phillies game and received nothing but love. Since then, his goal has been to knock out stereotypes and break out of the box.

“I am a gay jock doc and am constantly evolving, and am still a huge Phillies fan,” he wrote.

Read more about Brad Schaeffer at Outsports.