Baseball Prospectus has a very interesting article about Adam Pettyjohn and his long road back to the major leagues (Lance McAlister mentioned it on his blog as well, which is where I found it).  Here's an excerpt of what happened to him after his rookie season, when he was only 24:

And then Pettyjohn’s intestines exploded.  I apologize for the visual, but there’s really no other way to convey just what happened.  Ulcerative colitis is a nasty and debilitating disease even in its mild form.  Pettyjohn, without warning, developed a very severe form of the disease while on his honeymoon.  He was married in January, 2002; by March he needed emergency and life-saving surgery after his entire GI system shut down.  He barely survived, and his career was almost certainly finished.

Wow.  Did anyone else know about this?  It definitely makes me want to root for the guy even more, and I hope he gets a few more innings out of the bullpen this season.  I got the privilege of seeing him pitch for the Bats earlier this season, and I thought he did a great job, and I didn't even know his story at the time.  As the article suggests, decent left handed relievers don't normally have trouble finding jobs, so hopefully he'll be invited to spring training next year and given a chance to compete for a bullpen spot; he's certainly earned it.