The successes experienced by collegiate athlete cancer survivors.

Purpose: As awareness increases related to young athletes diagnosed with cancer, it is essential to gain deeper insight into their backgrounds, experiences, and unique goals to effectively offer personalized care. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of collegiate athletes in the USA diagnosed with cancer, reflecting on their academic and athletic successes during their cancer experiences.

Methods: A phenomenological design to study the nature and states of lived experiences in collegiate athlete cancer survivors diagnosed with cancer between the ages of 10 and 39 years old was implemented for this study. Eighteen collegiate athlete cancer survivors (78% female and 22% male) participated in semi-structured interviews. The interviews were audio and video recorded using the Zoom videoconferencing software.

Results: The mean age at the time of the enrollment was 22.3 ± 1.6 years. Seventeen participants (94%) identified as white/Caucasian. Five themes related to successes emerged from the thematic analysis: (1) academic successes, including academic accommodations, renewed determination; (2) athletic successes, including return to play, physical fitness/health; (3) athletic identity, including athletic mindset, body awareness, recovery advantages; (4) post-cancer growth, including renewed sense of purpose, new appreciation for life/sport, spiritual growth, finding silver linings, personal strength and personal growth, new possibilities, positive changes in relationships; and (5) support successes, including medical support, community support, college/university support, spiritual/religious support, financial/insurance support, athletic support.

Conclusion: As research on young cancer survivors continues to increase, there is a pressing need to investigate their lived experiences. The findings from this study and the emerging themes carry significance to the cancer community. Further investigation is imperative, especially concerning the impact of cancer on collegiate athletes.