Athletes Battle -- and Beat -- Cancer

Two WIU Tennis Players Diagnosed with Lymphoma

Western Illinois tennis players Drew Forsberg and Stephanie Baumer share more than a common coach, practice courts, and the crowded space of team vans.

Baumer and Forsberg share a doubles victory over cancer.

Drew ForsbergDoctors diagnosed Forsberg, a senior who competed at the Mid-Continent Conference Championships in April, with Hodgkins Lymphoma in March of 2006. Only a month later, Baumer, then a senior in high school who had recently committed to play tennis at Western, was told she had non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, a disease that usually affects 12-14 year old boys.

Within three weeks of Forsberg's initial symptoms (bumps under his arm and intense sweating), he began chemotherapy. While enduring treatment, Western tennis coach Michael Hunt informed him that Baumer had also been diagnosed.

“When I heard she had it, I was shocked,” Forsberg said. “I couldn't believe she had lymphoma, too. What are the chances of that?”

The news also jolted Baumer, who had been told a tennis-ball sized lump on her neck was nothing serious.

“The doctor said he would bet his mortgage that it was just a little virus that would go away,” Baumer said.

Baumer found out the lump was more than a virus the day after her senior prom, when her mother told her the news. Stephanie Baumer

“My mom phrased it, ‘You have lymphoma,' and I actually said, ‘At least I don't have cancer,'” Baumer recalled.

With further research, Baumer learned that she had Burkitt's non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, a type of cancer that affects around 300 people per year.

While she began treatment as the youngest patient the cancer unit in St. Louis University Hospital had ever treated, Baumer began corresponding with Forsberg, who was being treated in his hometown of Moline, Ill.

“We talked about what her treatments were like and what mine were like, relating things,” Forsberg said. “It's easier to talk to somebody that has been through it, who knows what it's like.”

The pair exchanged weekly e-mails through months of treatment, and continued their friendship when Baumer arrived on campus in January of 2007.

“When I heard she had it, I was shocked. I couldn't believe she had lymphoma too. What are the chances of that?”

—Drew Forsberg

“Everyone on the team was nice,” Baumer said, “but it was so great having Drew. It was my first semester on campus and it was great to actually know someone.”

Through months of chemotherapy, both Forsberg and Baumer defeated their diseases, and have returned to Macomb to play the game they love and continue their academic quests.

“The first day I got back on the court was really neat,” Baumer said. “[Conquering cancer] gives me a much bigger appreciation for being able to be here playing tennis, because not everyone gets these kind of chances. People always asked ‘Are you going to die?' and I told them, ‘No, I'm not going to die. I'm going to beat it.'”

 

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