“We did have a crazy birthday party for him when he turned one because we didn’t know if we would have that opportunity." - Stacey Larson

Megakaryoblastic leukemia is tough to say and even tougher to contract.

It's a rare form of leukemia that represents 1 percent of leukemias in childhood cancer patients.

Bradley Larson was diagnosed at just 10 weeks old.

So the journey began. The Larson's went into the hospital at the beginning of October of that year and didn't leave until the end of February.

"Not even one night," said Stacey Larson, Brad's mother. "The protocol that they had was so extreme it completely wiped you out to where you became neutropenic… so he had a few rounds of chemo where they would build him up and then wipe him out and then do it all over again.”

Reminder: he was just 10 weeks old.

After a five-month stay in the hospital that felt more like five years, Bradley's infant body made it through the nearly unimaginable fight and defeated cancer. 

Take that, megakaryoblastic leukemia.

The reality of the situation, though, was that this could be just one of the many hurdles they would have to cross. This cancer was such a rare and relatively recently discovered form of leukemia that medical professionals did not have much information at the time as to what the long-term effects of this disease could bring.

“What they did tell us is that kids that have this type of leukemia usually relapse within the first six weeks to six months,” Stacey Larson said.

Those next six months required weekly trips to the hospital. Test, after test, after test. 

There was no sign of the cancer returning. Weekly trips to the hospital turned in to once-a-month and then once every two months until Brad turned five. From there, it was one test per year.

Take that, megakaryoblastic leukemia.

But they weren't in the clear quite yet.

While in the hospital with Bradley, his mother had been in contact with another woman whose son was diagnosed with the same form of AML. He had hearing aids, wore dentures and had cataracts in his eyes all by his fifth birthday.

Stacey was extremely grateful to know she had someone she could talk to who could relate to her and her husband’s situation.

“His mom told me, 'Don’t expect him to be your athlete. Don’t expect him to be good in school,'" Stacey said. "It was great news to me at the time… at that point we just wanted him to be here.”

About that whole athlete thing...

Now a healthy 17-year-old, Bradley is the starting kicker for the Prosper Eagles with plans to play at the collegiate level all while maintaining a 4.4 GPA.

He found a passion playing sports at a very young age competing in soccer, basketball, baseball and flag football. When the Larson’s moved from Kentucky to Texas in 2015, Brad decided it was time to give real contact football a try.

“Moving to Texas was kind of like a ‘go for it’ moment,” Brad said. “I mean it’s football in Texas; you might as well try it.”

The beginner ended up becoming quite the all-around athlete playing quarterback, receiver and cornerback in addition to kicking.

With his long-time background as a soccer player, the kicking was just an added bonus. That was until he became close friends with current LSU kicker, Cade York.

“Cade told me I could get serious with this because I was pretty decent,” Brad said, "and I realized I can go somewhere with this and play in college and I realized that is something I wanted to do. So I stopped playing my other positions in football and stopped playing soccer this past year so I could focus on playing in college.”

While this would be the perfect ending to a story of a remarkable young man who has shown drive, passion and fight his whole life, there is more to Brad than just athleticism and being a well-rounded student in the classroom.

After attending a Khol’s kicking camp, Brad realized not only did he have a chance to continue do to what he loves, he also found a way that he could give-back and use his story to inspire others.

During his junior season, Brad joined the Kick-It program through Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, a foundation which raises money for childhood cancer research. Throughout the season fans could pledge an amount of money to donate for each point Larson made throughout the season or make a flat-out donation.

Larson never missed a kick in the 2019 season. An absolute perfect record. He scored 90 points overall and was able to raise $4,000 to donate to childhood cancer research.

“On the bus I would do the math and calculate how much money I had raised in the game and then I would stand up and say, ‘Hey we just raised this much money for cancer tonight’ and all of my teammates would go crazy!” he said.

The support for Larson’s journey to give back inspired everyone involved with the Prosper football program.

“It’s definitely a good thing you know, to bring awareness to that part of the world,” said Prosper special teams coordinator Coby Richards. "He wants to be that person for little kids that are in the hospital and struggling with childhood cancer that says, 'Stay strong and stay positive and this is where you could be one day.'”

Larson will be putting on that Prosper Eagles uniform for one final season in 2020. While he hopes to continue to play football for years to come, the real legacy he hopes to leave behind is that football can be a platform to really make a difference in the world.

Take that, megakaryoblastic leukemia.

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