“I am approaching this with 100 percent optimism and positivity like I do with anything else" - Mason Stajduhar
By: Lucas Casás
Mason Stajduhar was moving boxes when his phone rang.
It was November 6 - Moving Day - and he and roommate Tony Rocha were taking their things to then teammate Kevin Alston’s house, where they’d be staying a couple days. About a week earlier, Stajduhar had undergone a biopsy to figure out what the dark shape in the X-ray of his fibula was and why it was giving him pain.
It turned out to be localized Ewing’s Sarcoma. Bone cancer.
It’s news no one can imagine receiving until it happens. But if he had to get it, at least the timing was fortunate.
That’s because in 2013, Alston was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia. He missed five months before making his return to the pitch.
“I was clueless about the whole cancer process as far as diagnosis and staging and treatment and everything like that,” said Stajduhar, who was just 19 at the time. “It was good to talk to him.”
Alston is one of many to reach out in support. Stajduhar said he got texts from plenty of people around the league, including Toronto FC goalkeeper Clint Irwin and U.S. national team legend Tim Howard. When Minnesota United was in town for a preseason scrimmage, goalkeeper Matt Lampson took time to talk with Stajduhar. Lampson beat cancer 10 years ago.
“That was really cool to hear his story. Some of the things he would say I could relate to like, ‘this happened’. ‘This happened to you too?’ Similar experiences and stuff like that,” Stajduhar said. “I really appreciated and am grateful for the support that people showed towards me.”
Stajduhar says his biggest support comes from his girlfriend, but it also comes from his family, for whom cancer is no stranger. Two of his aunts had cancer. So did his uncle. So did his grandma and both his grandpas.
They all beat it.
Including his maternal grandpa, who had bladder cancer when he passed away.
“He lived to be 85,” Stajduhar said. “Just so happens he had cancer when he died.”
That simple answer offers a glimpse into what makes Mason such an amazing person. Stajduhar tackles each day with the same vigor and excitement that he did before his diagnosis. He’s still a regular on the training pitch, the only difference being he can’t dive on the ground - for precautionary reasons.
“Talk about a guy with courage who’s a great example for the players,” said Lions goalkeeper coach Tim Mulqueen, who coached Stajduhar when he was 15 and with the Clearwater Chargers. It was Mulqueen that first encouraged Stajduhar to try out for Orlando City’s Development Academy back in 2015. Stajduhar signed a First Team contract when he was just 17, one month after his second cap with the U.S. U-20 national team. “When he comes out you can see, he hasn’t lost it. He’s fighting a huge fight, and we’re fighting it with him, but he still catches the balls clean, he’s really sharp.
“He has nothing but great enthusiasm.”
And an incredible spirit.
“At the end of the day you get to choose how you feel about yourself and choose how you feel about anything,” Stajduhar said. “I am approaching this with 100 percent optimism and positivity like I do with anything else. For me it’s no different than any other obstacle or challenge. I will take it and overcome it.”
“I feel like I’m peaking.” - Mason Stajduhar
Stajduhar speaks not with ‘if’ but ‘when’ as he discusses his eventual return to the pitch. Instead of surgery, he chose radiation treatment, which has a 10 percent lower survival rate. Surgery meant removing part of the bone and reconstructing his knee, which would have jeopardized his career. He called it a “very, very easy decision.”
“Your mind and your thoughts create your realities,” Stajduhar said. “If you think confident thoughts and feel confident you will be confident.”
Reassuring his confidence are Orlando City team physicians, Drs. Daryl Osbahr and Harrison Youmans of Orlando Health.
“Mason is a fighter. All of our oncology consultants agree that we’re optimistic Mason will make a full recovery,” Osbahr said. “Mason has not only been one of our players, but he’s become like our son. We’re blessed to have identified the Ewing’s Sarcoma so early.”
His love for life and his love for the game have shaped his outlook, and the support he’s received has motivated him to become an inspiration for others.
“I feel that my story and how well I handle all this is also part of that. It shows people that, even while they’re going through treatments, they can still like how they want to live. Quality of life is just as important when you’re going through those treatments. Mark Herzlich’s story is an inspiration to me. I feel that my story will be seen in the same way.”
(Herzlich was an All-America linebacker at Boston College when he was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma. He beat it and then played six seasons in the NFL. He beat it and is going into his eighth year in the NFL.)
For now, Mason’s fight continues - and it looks like he’s winning. Stajduhar is in his fourth of five weeks of radiation and doctors recently told him that his tumor is responding to the treatment and shrinking.
“That was very, very good news,” Stajduhar said. “It reaffirmed what I believed was happening.
“I feel like I’m peaking.”
And though it’s not yet over, his battle with cancer has taught him a most precious lesson on life.
“It’s made me see that so many things don’t matter,” he said. “In the end - I know, it’s this weird thing - soccer doesn’t really matter, but now it matters more to me than ever. It’s very weird. When I was talking to Matt [Lampson] he said the same thing. I think it’s more like I’m grateful. And I know I will be when I get to come back and play fully. I’m just so grateful to play and for how much joy it brings me.
“There’s so many things that don’t matter and some of the stuff people complain about, I have complained about in the past, it doesn’t matter. I feel that if one can see that and be grateful for things and truly appreciate everything, then it’s freeing.”