Cody Stahmer told his mother to come pick him up as soon as possible.

Nichole Stahmer was in the car driving her younger son, Austin Stahmer, home from the hospital where he’d just been declared cancer-free.

Something in Cody’s voice told Nichole this was urgent. And when she arrived at Massachusetts Maritime Academy, she found out her older son had already scheduled surgery. He’d felt a lump in his testicle one day in the shower and drove to a distant hospital to get tests to keep it to himself after several meetings with an on-campus doctor. Stahmer’s football season had ended and he’d finished his finals. He left school without telling anyone.

“I didn’t like the fact that people would know I had testicular cancer,” Stahmer said. “Honestly, I was embarrassed. … It was the scariest moment of my life. I didn’t know what to do. And I don’t think anyone around me knew what to do either.”

Stahmer doubted that he wanted to — or even could — return to football. But after a bit of thought, he created a goal to return to the gridiron. About 18 months later, he became a starter and one of the most productive members of the Division III Buccaneers’ offense. He had the tumor surgically removed and fought through days of treatment. After surgery, doctors still monitored Stahmer, but he was cancer-free by June. He fought that battle away from everyone except his family.   

“It was awful,” Nichole said. “Coming off the football season he seemed so strong and just finishing his first semester he was getting his life together … Football was a huge motivator. Cancer wasn’t going to take something he worked so hard for away from him.”

Stahmer knew the chemotherapy would leech the muscle from his body, so he planned ahead. Christmas morning, he unwrapped boxes of Serious Mass High Protein Weight Gainer, a muscle-building shake. The next day, he had his first round.

Chemo sapped Stahmer of energy, grayed his skin and made his hair fall out. He refused to stay overnight at Dana Farber Hospital in Boston. He awoke at 5 a.m. daily for treatment in exchange for the comfort of home and to have his pitbull, Chief, by his side in bed. All the while, he kept in constant contact with the school nutritionist.

At Mass Maritime, second semester is “sea term,” which most students spend aboard a ship. That term doesn’t begin until March and stretches until June. Stahmer used that extra, two-and-a-half-month-long break to fight his private battle.

“I probably should’ve talked to people earlier, if I could go back,” Stahmer said. “Dealing with it yourself isn’t what you have to do. I was scared and I probably shouldn’t have been.”

He finally told his head coach, Jeremy Cameron, one winter day while playing basketball. He told some of his teammates when they unknowingly teased him about keeping his hair so short to fit military guidelines. He was still thin and weak, but when spring football started in May, Stahmer suited up.

He didn’t miss a single team activity.

“I was nervous when he came back,” Cameron said. “I didn’t know how hard he could go … I’d just never seen anyone do that before. I was impressed by him. He could’ve easily said, ‘I just want to get my degree and get healthy.’ But he’s a competitor.”

Over the summer, he built strength by lifting bigger weights and running longer times in a town gym with former teammate E.J. Bennett. Dinnertime conversation centered on gaining weight. His mother noticed the difference. When he arrived back on campus, Cameron thought he looked in better shape than ever.

In his first game back, Stahmer caught two touchdown passes — one was theatrical and “miraculous,” Cameron said — in a blowout win.

“When he scored that first touchdown, oh my God,” Cameron said. “Storybook.”

Cameron sees a new focus an air of seriousness about Stahmer in practice.

But Nichole sees a joy just to be on the field. In his last game on Oct. 31, Stahmer caught a 14-yard touchdown pass, his third of the season, and ran off the field with a smile, despite his team trailing by 22 points.

“Every time I see him play football, it’s the coolest thing just to see him out there. He always flashes this smile,” Nichole said, her voice trailing off. “He knows that he’s better.”

He doesn’t like losing, she said, but it’s in perspective. He’s already beaten something bigger.

Published on November 3, 2015 at 10:32 pm

Contact Sam: sjfortie@syr.edu | @Sam4TR