From college football to the cancer center and back to Syracuse, Rex Culpepper (Survivor players Brad and Monica’s son) shares his harrowing journey.
The Rex Culpepper story has been a harrowing one for the Survivor community. The hardship that comes with facing that test at such a young age is almost too much to bear for anyone, let alone someone who has a larger support group starting with Brad and Monica Culpepper. Thankfully, Rex is now cancer-free, penning his story back to playing football in The Player’s Tribune.
I must warn you, though; it’s a heart-wrenching read, starting from the detection of something going wrong (“There were no clues leading up to it.”), to the changes while undergoing treatment, to getting into a spring game while battling testicular cancer, to the unending wish to ring the bell at the infusion cancer center signifying the end of treatment all the way back to football.
What got to me was the process to recovery and the immediate support of Brad and Monica. Six hours a day, Monday to Friday, two-week recovery, then the other arm for a week, then recovery, then repeating the process three or so more times. “My mom didn’t miss a single one of my treatments,” Rex speaks of Monica. “My dad, brother and sister made me so grateful to have a family that really cared about me.”
You really need to read the whole piece, as it brings an amazing, inspiring perspective for a man who went through something nobody close to his age range went through at his healthcare center.
The Survivor community hasn’t always been as lucky, however, as the first castaway to pass away after competing on the show, Palau’s Jenn Lyon, suffered from breast cancer in 2010 and B.B. Anderson from Borneo suffered a massive stroke and brain cancer in 2013.
Survivor has long been a supporter of Stand Up to Cancer, auctioning off tokens and items from each season on eBay in support of their cause. Millennials vs. Gen X winner Adam Klein’s mother passed away from lung cancer days after competing, starting the #LiveLikeSusie campaign and donating $100,000 of his winnings to the organization, in addition to bike riding for charity.