Sometimes life throws you a curveball.
For Bryce Steiner, a Central Plains High School graduate, that’s precisely what happened.
One minute, he was getting over the end of his senior football season and preparing for the upcoming basketball and baseball seasons. The next, he was diagnosed with cancer.
“It was right after football season,” Steiner said. “It was at the beginning of December. We thought I’d tore something in my knee, and we went to the doctor and I was diagnosed.”
Steiner, who was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, has beaten his ailment and has been selected as a member of the West team in the 40th Annual Kansas Shrine Bowl, which will be held on Saturday, July 27, at Washburn University’s Yager Stadium.
Kickoff will be at 7:05 p.m.
Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma is a curable cancer, but it means undergoing chemotherapy treatments where chemicals are pumped into the body that target cells that divide rapidly, like cancer.
Unfortunately, there are cells that divide rapidly in the body naturally, such as bone marrow, digestive tract and hair follicles. These cells get attacked as well.
“I went every two weeks for eight days every time I went up,” Steiner said. “I went in for four different treatments and then again two or three weeks after the last treatment for a PET scan and there was nothing left.
“I went into remission on March 12.”
Steiner will getting regular exams the next five years. If he is cancer-free at that point, he will be considered cured.
Steiner went right back into sports after his cancer went into remission. He played high school baseball in the spring, and has signed to play football for Ottawa University in the fall.
“Sports has been my life,” Steiner said. “Living in a small town, you either play sports or you don’t. I don’t know.
“I’ve never had to sit out more than a week or two my whole life. Sitting out all of basketball season was hard for me.”
Even after he went into remission, Steiner had to take it easy — something he isn’t accustomed to.
“Even when the pain went away, I had to sit out,” Steiner said. “That was probably the hardest. My knee felt the best it had in two years, and I was still on crutches.”
Steiner said he doesn’t know exactly what position he’ll be playing in the Shrine Bowl or at Ottawa, but the two-way high school athlete, who played quarterback and defensive back for the Eight-Man Division-I Oilers, is ready for whatever comes.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Steiner said. “I played defensive back, and I was a slot receiver, so there’s some talk of maybe that’s what I’ll be doing.
“Where ever they put me, I’ll be ready.”
Cancer is a family affair. When a member of the family is diagnosed, everyone goes through it.
Steiner said that he was overwhelmed by the support, not only from his family, but from the entire community.
“I don’t know,” Steiner said. “I couldn’t tell you anybody who wasn’t there for us. That’s how many people helped us out. Everybody helped us. It made it a lot easier.”
For Steiner, the Shrine Bowl is a family affair as well.
Chris Steiner, Bryce’s father and the head football coach at Central Plains, played offensive guard in the Shrine Bowl. Bryce’s uncle, Shawn Steiner, was an offensive lineman as well.
Bryce’s cousin, Marshall Musil, a fullback, played in the Shrine Bowl. He played in two games last season for the Oklahoma Sooners, and has transferred to Fort Hays State.
“It feels good to be able to do this,” Bryce Steiner said. “If I do half as well as they did at the college level, I’ll be happy. Of course, I’d like to do even better.”