IUFB Manager Matt Stauder Embodies the Hoosier Spirit in His Battle Against Cancer

Written By Evan McShane (@veryreasonable)

It seems as if nothing can stop Matt Stauder. The Indiana football team manager hasn’t missed a beat despite being faced with daunting odds. After losing his father to a heart attack last year, Stauder was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma this spring. He has remained positive. With his own remarkable strength and support from his family, friends, and the entire IU community, Stauder seems to have turned a corner.

Coach Tom Allen’s mantra LEO (Love Each other) has clearly made an impact on this team off the field. Stauder, who spends a lot of time working with running backs, saw Ricky Brookins demonstrate LEO in a major way. “Ricky is an amazing guy. He went out of his way to setup a GoFundMe for me and my cause.” You can visit Stauder and Brookins donation page at https://www.gofundme.com/MattStauder. As of Thursday evening, they have raised over $26,200 on their way to a $30,000 goal.

It all started when Stauder noticed something strange this spring. Stauder explains, “Back in April I noticed on the right side of my neck, my lymph nodes were bigger and kind of hard. I was going home that weekend anyways to see my mom and I pointed it out to here. She was like, ‘we definitely need to get you to a doctor.’” Stauder was under the impression perhaps he had mono, so he was initially tested for that. “The mono tests came back negative, but they wanted me to go get an ultrasound on my neck, and of course I was like, ‘this is not good.’”

“I got the ultrasound and then I got a biopsy which is when I found out I had Hodgkins Lymphoma. They were expecting to start treatment on May 8th, I believe.” Stauder never wavered. He had his ninth treatment on August 27th in Indianapolis. Stauder reported, “The tumor site has decreased by two-thirds, so I just have one-third to eliminate and I have three more treatments left after yesterday so hopefully that does the job.” Throughout Stauders entire interview, he never once showed signs of gloom. “I am feeling absolutely great – even at practice I feel great.”

Stauder has felt so good, he’s stuck by the program’s side. “Other than treatments I’ve been at every single practice.” He refuses to let the pain or inconvenience of his treatments derail his plans. “Throughout this entire treatment process, I haven’t experienced any symptoms really. I’ve been feeling just like my normal self. I actually put on 20 pounds which is hard to believe.” Stauder never lost his drive and determination. He explained to reporters what kept him going: “Just what everybody’s done for me at this program, from coaches to players to administrators just reaching out to me and showing their support. I just wanted to more so get out here and show my gratitude to them and pay homage back to them.” The mutual love between Stuader and Hoosier nation is infectious.

Brookins and Stauder have developed an unbreakable bond during this battle. “He’s definitely one of my closest friends on the team to say the least and he’s actually a neighbor of mine so we’ve become pretty close. It’s special.” Ricky Brookins took immense joy in helping his friend. Stauder said of Brookins, “He would be texting me like, ‘dude, we’re at this much money already,’ and I was like, ‘oh my gosh!” The donations came piling in as Brookins and the Hoosiers got the word out.“He kept on telling me he had to raise the max amount on the GoFundMe because we just kept on exceeding it and every single time I was just like, ‘this is unbelievable.’”

Even Stauder had to admit he was taken aback by the level of support he received. “It has helped tremendously, and we could not be more thankful to anyone who has ever donated to my page. We’re still overwhelmed and shocked at the numbers that it produced.” It has been truly impressive to watch the outpouring of support for this fellow Hoosier. A week before Indiana kicks off the 2018 season, Stauder received some unbelievable news. “They said there’s a very good chance of this never returning after treatment.”

Stauder elaborated: “I’ll get a head scan which is like a full body scan, which is like a CAT scan, to see if the cancer spread anywhere else. Based off my CAT scan, it hasn’t spread anywhere else. They said there’s still some large lymph nodes hanging around and their goal with these last three treatments is to eliminate them.” Stauder speaks of his battle so nonchalantly because there is no doubt in his mind he will conquer this.

What’s allowed Stauder to persevere through all these difficult obstacles? “Staying positive is what it’s about. I just want to be back out here doing what I love. Staying positive, I mean, I don’t want to have down days where I’m thinking about the negatives in all situations, but if I’m staying positive about it, telling myself every day, ‘I’m going to beat this. I’m going to obey everything the doctors ask me to do. There’s no reason that I cannot beat this.’ So, that’s how I stayed positive.” Staying positive may have saved Matt Stauder’s life. His story has inspired the IU community.