It's mid-day Friday, September 22, 2000 and the students at Austin High School are getting ready to be let out for the day so they can go home and start getting all dolled up for the Homecoming football game and dance that will follow. Except for one girl. She was laying in a hospital room in Children's Hospital in Birmingham coming off of mild anesthesia. You see, she had just had a bone marrow aspiration (a procedure where they stick a really long needle into your hip and draw out bone marrow) to find out why her bone marrow was not producing blood cells. The doctors had told her family that it could be anything from a virus in her bone marrow to cancer but this test would tell them all they needed to know.
Right before school let out for the day, the hematologist/oncologist walked into the room and told them the results. It was actue lymphoblastic leukemia. The girl laid in her bed and asked "am I going to lose my hair?" while everyone around her started absorbing the news and asking next steps. Chemo would begin that following Monday when they would insert her portacath so she could receive chemo through that instead of starting a new IV every time. The bone marrow was being sent off for additional testing to determine what regimen she would receive.
While all of this chaos was happening around her, all she could think was 1) she was going to miss her first ever date and that sucked because the boy was cute and blonde-headed and her best friend was going with his best friend so no friend time for her and 2) she was going to miss yet another cross country meet...scratch that, would she even be able to run...ever again?
You may ask how I know all of these details including what she was thinking.
That's because I am that girl.
23 years ago today, my life changed in ways I could never dream if I was given free reign to write the craziest script I could imagine.
Now I'm sure you're thinking, why is a sports podcaster telling us about her cancer story? If you listened to Episode 7: Back from IR, you heard me say that football, especially college football, is my happy place/safe space. It was football season when I was diagnosed and honestly during those first 3-4 months of treatment, I struggled a lot. Football and specifically Ole Miss Football and the Ole Miss Spirit Message Boards, saved me mentally. It gave me something to look forward to and to get my mind off of the fact that I was fighting for my future.
I met some incredible people through that journey and without them I wouldn't be where or who I am today. So this episode is for all of them. The football players from Ole Miss, the Indianapolis Colts, the New Orleans Saints, and the Detroit Lions who all signed stuff for me, mailed me cards, footballs, autographed pictures, etc. This episode is also for all of those who arranged for me to meet my favorite players like Deuce McAlister, Kyle Turley, Eli and Peyton Manning, Cory Peterson, Doug Zeigler, Eric Oliver, Terrence Metcalf, and so many others.
This episode is for the survivors like John Metchie III who currently plays for the Houston Texans and recorded his first catch in the NFL last Saturday. It's for current Ole Miss football player Braden Waterman who is battling Stage 3 Hodgkins Lymphoma. You can support Braden by donating to a GoFundMe set up for him. Click Here to Support Braden's Fight!
Finally, this episode is for those who can't. The ones I met during my journey who fought and lost their battle and the ones I continue to meet, who fight like hell. Especially the kids and young adults going through cancer. It seems so cruel and unfair that those who have their bright futures ahead of them being derailed by a disease that doesn't care. It's for Todd, Chip, Lacey, Emily, Aubrey, Cliff, Tucker, and Mateo.
I am joining Mateo's mom in raising money for St. Jude by completing a half marathon in December. You can support the fight of courageous kids and their families by donating to Tato's Team. Click Here to Donate to Tato's Team!
If you donate to Braden's fight or Team Tato between 9/22/23 and 10/15/23 you can email proof of your donation to thestaredownpod@gmail.com or share it with us on social media and be entered into a drawing for some podcast merch!
Because of those that came before me, those that fought along side me, those that continue to fight and those who will come after me and be able to fight because of the research we're helping to fund, I am here. I am here and I am choosing to live my life to the fullest. I'm choosing to Never Quit!
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My forever walk out song!!
