PHOENIX – Standing on the grass at her new home after joining the Grand Canyon University women’s soccer team, the last thing on Addie Vali’s mind was a little itchiness and a swollen lymph node. After all, two doctors had cleared her.
Coming off of a knee injury and making the move from Southern Methodist University was stressful enough. The then-sophomore was ready to give it her all in the spring season of 2025 with her new team.
Then she got the call.
On April 1, at just 19, Vali learned that biopsy results confirmed Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Her family listened, stunned, on the other end of the line. After attempting to track down the cause of the swollen lymph node for six months, Vali was confident it was the mono that doctors suspected.
Vali sat horrified and the word “cancer” brought her to tears. The memory remains vivid a year later, as June is National Cancer Survivors Month.
Her parents asked as many questions of the doctor as they could in the moment while the terrifying information sank in, but the truth was no one knew what to expect. The news was crushing to the family as her mother, Kirsten Vali, survived breast cancer when Addie was young.
“Cancer is just such a strong word,” Addie said. “When I found out, I was heartbroken and didn’t know what my future would look like.”
Addie told her trusted roommate and friend, Payton Fisher, the news on that same April Fool’s Day. The thought that the news couldn’t be anything but a joke didn’t cross Fisher’s mind until she realized Addie was serious.
“She (Fisher) took me to every single appointment,” Addie said. “Whether it was a Mayo Clinic appointment or a fertility clinic appointment, she was there by my side the entire time. It was truly a blessing that I was put in a room with her.”
Even during summer appointments when Fisher could not be by Addie’s side, she would call her during every appointment without fail.
“She brought out a side of me I don’t think anybody ever has,” Fisher said. “I struggle with vulnerability and being open, but with her, I feel like she really brought that out of me. It was a friendship I never knew I needed.”
The next five months changed Addie’s perspective forever.
With no time to waste, she began four rounds of chemo and 10 rounds of radiation to attack the stage 1A blood cancer, all while continuing training during the summer.
“I just wanted to get back on the field.” Addie said. “I knew I had to put my body through hard things and that my body can do hard things. That’s the cool part about being an athlete.”
During every other week she would have off from chemotherapy, Addie trained and practiced with the team so as to not lose her muscle and strength.
“She was just so motivated to get back to what she loves,” Kirsten said. “It drove her to heal.”
Although Addie pushed her body to continue training during some of the most trying months of her life, the chemo was not without debilitating side effects. While some days were accompanied by extreme fatigue that resulted in hours of sleep, other days were inflicted with bone pain, full-body shakes and hospital trips where she would go in and out of consciousness.
While the initial lymph node had been removed, the treatment plan for her Hodgkin’s lymphoma had to be aggressive to try and eradicate any potential harmful cell from every inch of her body. The ABVD chemo treatments included the potent drug known as “the Red Devil,” which contributed to many of the vicious side effects.
Somewhere in between the side effects of chemo and the 38 appointments Addie endured to get healthy again, she found love and support from every area of her life in ways she never could have imagined.
Although terrified to tell her new coaching staff the terrible news, she was met with a room of tears and compassion. The staff expressed how they viewed her as a daughter and would do whatever they could to support her and make her athletic dreams still feasible.
“When I was over the toilet with bone pain, my athletic trainer, he made me bone broth because he knew it would help my body,” Addie said.
It was valuable to have a knowledgeable coaching staff, she said, especially because she had a different experience at her previous school.
The transfer to GCU could not have come at a better time in Addie’s life, and those close to her believe this move was divinely inspired.
“There was no doubt that she was put in that specific environment for a reason,” Kirsten said. “She was put in the right place at the right time. … God had a huge hand in that.”
In her final round of chemo, all her teammates showed up to support her as she rang the bell on her last treatment.
The culture and community present at GCU was evident when 200 athletes surrounded Addie on campus in a prayer circle during the time of her cancer.
“The color ribbon for lymphoma is purple and our school color is purple,” Payton said. “That is not a coincidence. I think she was brought there for a reason.”
While initially struggling with questions of “Why me?” at the beginning of her treatment, Addie found that her faith in God flipped and only became stronger.
“Now being on the flip side of it, it’s more like, ‘Thank God it was me,’” Addie said. “One, I wouldn’t want it to be anybody else. And two, now I’m seeing all the bits and pieces he was doing in my life that I wouldn’t have even thought of if I didn’t go through what I went through.”
Fisher and Addie regularly attend North Phoenix Church and find support and community through their time there.
“Be a shark” was the one mantra Addie carried with her through this experience. She believed that like sharks, you can only swim forward and there’s no point in looking back. This phrase has gone on to be a staple in the locker room and inspire many of her other teammates as well.
It took five months from the beginning of the diagnosis to full remission, but Addie said it felt like a lifetime and it changed her outlook on life permanently.
Many other collegiate athletes who are dealing with similar circumstances have reached out to her as a result of her sharing her story. It has inspired her to pursue a career in opening a clinic specifically designed to help athletes diagnosed with cancer.
Addie is now back to doing the one thing she loves: soccer. She returned to the field in the spring for the first time after remission and said she feels 100%.
In many ways, Addie’s story is only a beginning. It will continue on the field as GCU begins play Aug. 6 in an exhibition match against New Mexico State.
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