TEXAS — There is one distinct moment that forever changed Nolan Cernosek’s life.
“I was rounding third on a base hit and then my femur just happened,” Nolan recalls of that moment during a summer league baseball game in 2023. “I thought I got hit by the ball because I felt a sharp pain in my right leg, but I fell on the ground and tried to get up. I couldn’t get up. I saw my femur poking out.”
Nolan was quickly taken to a hospital, where doctors discovered something more serious than just a broken leg.
“They said something’s not right, it’s all cloudy,” says Nathan Cernosek, Nolan’s father. “They finally did a biopsy and about three days later they’re like, you have osteosarcoma. It’s very rare and very aggressive.”
At just 15 years old, Nolan had been diagnosed with cancer.
“It shocked me a lot because I felt really healthy and I thought nothing could bring me down,” says Nolan.
The cancer was spreading, so chemo treatments had to be started immediately. Doctors had to try to kill the cancer in his leg before they could fix the broken bones. Nolan would be in a cast for almost 10 months after the injury.
“It’s pretty tough, there are still times when I wake up and go is this real,” says Nathan. “I always told my kids God has a plan for your life. It’s certainly not what my plan was. He’s always been a hard-working guy, never took no, never said I’m just gonna settle and quit playing sports.”
Nolan attacked his rehab with motivation to return to playing baseball and football, his favorite sports. There would be moments of progress, but also some difficult setbacks. Last January, he got an infection that put him in the ICU for over a month.
“I was feeling better and better and starting to walk a little bit, but that infection they had to go back in and take everything out of my knee,” says Nolan. “I had to be in the hospital for my birthday and a month and a half. Not seeing any of my friends, anyone, it really hurt my mental health.”
He was able to survive that very serious infection and resume his recovery. Along the way, he’s used check points to show progress.
“I walk on this day. That was a big one because I could move around and be a little more active,” says Nolan. “Throwing was another big one, without any assistance.”
This year, Nolan was able to be back with the New Braunfels football team and suited out on the sidelines for their games. He’s also on the varsity baseball team this spring as one of their pitchers. He still drives to Houston once a week for chemo treatments but makes sure he’s back in time for practices and games.
“That’s kind of what pushes me after chemo. I could be doing more to help the team,” says Nolan. “The different perspective is life could always be worse. No matter how bad you think your life is, it could always be worse. I’m lucky enough to do chemo and then come back out here on this great facility and play with all my friends.”
“Just seeing parents get upset about the stupidest thing and just knowing you get to watch your kid run and play sports,” says Nathan. “Those perspectives change without a doubt, I always tell everybody if they spend one day at the kids floor at MD Anderson it’d be a much different world, much better world.”
Despite everything Nolan and his family have endured, they are still able to find blessings. They feel lucky they were able to find the cancer when they did.
“I feel without a doubt if he wouldn’t have broken his leg, he wouldn’t be here,” says Nathan.
