Braden River High JV soccer players fight cancer to retake the field

Landen Chandler collapsed in the middle of gym class. 

It was May. Chandler, then an eighth grader at Braden River Middle, wasn't able to walk. The incident came out of the blue and scared his parents, Braden and Amanda Chandler.

Amanda took Landen to Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg and wouldn't leave until she got answers.

A biopsy was done, and a week later, the hospital called with the final results. It was Langerhans cell histiocytosis, or LHC, a rare disease in which a person’s body makes too many immature Langerhans cells, which can form tumors or damage tissue, bone and organs.

The hospital advised the family to wait before beginning any treatment. In the meantime, they said Chandler could continue playing soccer.

The third practice of the Braden River Soccer Club travel season, Braden Chandler received a call he won't forget. 

"(Landen) called me crying," he said. "He had a different pain in a different spot (his femur). At that point, we knew it had spread." 

No more waiting. Something had to be done.

Chandler was given a medical port for chemotherapy treatments. Starting in August, he did two six-week rounds of weekly treatments before finishing in November. He will now have a treatment every three weeks through September 2024. Chandler said the treatment's worst side effect is an inability to sleep at night, even though the chemotherapy also makes him tired. The combination is tough, he said.

Photo by Ryan Kohn

Despite still undergoing treatment, Chandler returned to soccer, both with Braden River Soccer Club and with the Braden River High boys junior varsity team, where he is now a freshman midfielder. Braden Chandler coaches the school's varsity team, which means he gets to see a lot of his son at practices and games. It's the place Landen wants to be the most, Braden Chandler said.

"It's a joy to watch (Landen) play," he said. "He gets frustrated at times, but he's doing something he loves." 

And on the Pirates, Chandler is not alone in his diagnosis.

Nicolas Dieter, a Braden River sophomore centerback, has been dealing with cancer for even longer. Three years ago, Dieter fractured his right femoral hip ball. He first felt the injury at a five-day soccer camp where he was in so much pain that he could only participate for one day.

Doctors could not find a reason for the injury at first, but blood work eventually revealed an abnormally high level of white blood cells in his body. Dieter had leukemia, which doctors believe broke down the ball in his hip.

Doctors gave Dieter a medicine called Gleevac that is designed to stop cancer cells from growing in leukemia patients. He takes it every night at 9 p.m. It gives him a headache, he said, and he can't get to sleep for the next two hours. Sometimes, if the effects are bad, it will make him nauseous, but that's rare, he said.

It hasn't become any easier to take, Dieter said.

Dieter was out of soccer for basically two years before returning this spring. He was initially on crutches before doctors allowed him to begin putting pressure on his hip last year to see how it felt and begin building his muscles. But even while on crutches, Dieter's mind was on soccer.

"Within a couple of days (after release from the hospital), he said, 'I need to go out there and see my team,'" said Michelle Dieter, Nicolas' mother. "So he was out there. Practices, games. He wasn't playing, but he had such a great attitude about it. So he had his biological family, but also his soccer family wrapped around him in support."

Photo by Ryan Kohn

When Dieter began playing soccer again this spring, it was not a painless experience with his hip, but he said he's willing to fight through some discomfort to remain with his teammates. 

"It's fun to get back playing," he said. "The frenzy of it, the love, the family seeing you play, it's just fun." 

On the Pirates' JV team, the two boys have each other. They're a year apart in school, but the experiences they have gone through have brought them closer together.

"Nicolas is like my big brother on this stuff," Chandler said. "He went through things similar to what I went through. Whenever I need advice, I usually go to him. When I'm down, he's there for me."

When Chandler was on the road back to the soccer pitch, he asked Dieter to train with him. Dieter agreed, and the pair spent as much time talking about their feelings as they did kicking the ball around. It was a difficult road back for both of them, but being around the game again makes the struggles worth it.

"Soccer is my life," Chandler said. "I love it so much. As long as I'm out here playing, I'm happy."

To the boys, the soccer field is a place where they can focus solely on their sport, not their conditions, which they appreciate.

Photo by Ryan Kohn

While neither player is secretive about their diagnosis and appreciate the support they have received from their teammates and friends, both Dieter and Chandler wish it was less front-of-mind in others when talking to them.

"Some people don't even know me — they just know the word 'cancer' goes with the word 'Nicolas,'" Dieter said. "I don't like to have that word cover me or become my image. People should think of who I am, not what I have."

Chandler added onto that, saying he doesn't use his condition as an excuse for having a poor game. His expectations for himself remain the same, he said, and others on the team should treat him like any other player.

In Braden Chandler's eyes, the boys' fight back to the soccer field is inspiring, and a reminder to everyone that you never know what turn life is going to take.

"Take advantage of being able to come out and play and do something you love," Braden Chandler said. "Do it to the fullest each time. These two kids are not healthy, but they come play their butts off. It's a privilege to play the game you love. Don't take it for granted."

Neither player is done with cancer. Chandler has to complete chemotherapy through next September. Dieter will keep taking his medicine each night at 9 p.m., likely for a long time. He also will likely have to do something about his hip, Michelle Dieter said, with a hip replacement being a possibility years down the line.

For now, they keep playing soccer, as much as their bodies can handle. In the Pirates' JV game against Lakewood Ranch High on Dec. 11, Chandler played half of the game's first half, while Dieter played all of the second half. The Pirates (6-0 as of Dec. 14) won 3-2, and the team celebrated by sprinting off the field and jumping around in a group. 

Chandler and Dieter were in the middle of the scrum.

It's exactly where they wanted to be.