Dalton Middle School physical education teacher Adam Cordell teaches his seventh-grade students how to play badminton. Cordell was diagnosed with cancer after receiving a false positive on a drug test while playing college football. It has been five years since his diagnosis and he is currently cancer-free.When Dalton High School's football team has its pregame dinner Thursday for seniors, they'll hear a riveting story from a Dalton Middle School gym teacher, Adam "Wingo" Cordell, about beating the odds.
And Cordell's battle didn't take place on the football field.
The 25-year-old teacher told the team about the struggle he had in 2009 with a rare form of testicular cancer that didn't affect his testicles, but instead created a 10-pound tumor on his right lung.
"It happened a couple weeks before my 20th birthday," said Cordell, who played both guard and tackle on the football team at Brevard College in Brevard, N.C.
Cordell had to put college football on hold after he tested positive in February 2009 for human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), a hormone that's used by athletes who take performance-enhancing drugs -- which Cordell had never taken.
It's also a sign of a rare form of testicular cancer that Cordell was diagnosed with: primary mediastinal nonseminomatous germ cell cancer.
"My numbers were so elevated, that they knew it was cancer," said Cordell.
In late March of 2009, Cordell started 60 sets of chemotherapy treatments at Athens Regional Medical Center in Athens, Ga. He'd spend seven or eight days in the hospital, have a couple of weeks off, and then go back for more chemotherapy.
There were some harrowing moments, such as the collapse of his good left lung after the first round of chemo ate away at some spots of cancer on it, which meant both lungs had collapsed. Another time, all the oncology ward patients had to move into the hallway because of a tornado threat.
One of the worst moments came just before Cordell had a 10-hour-long surgery in July 2009 to remove the gallon-milk-jug-sized tumor from his lung. The surgeon at Indiana Regional Medical Center in Indianapolis told Cordell that he had a 50-50 chance of surviving the procedure.
The odds stunned Cordell.
Cordell's father looked the doctor straight in the eyes and said, "Are you telling me he can't play football again?"
He laughs about his dad's reaction now, remembering, "Really? That's the only thing you're going to ask?"
Cordell did fight his way back to the football field.
He lost about 100 pounds during cancer treatment. Cordell only weighed about 190 pounds afterward, compared to the 287 pounds he had packed on his 6-foot-2-inch frame.
"I was probably in the best shape of my life the season before I got diagnosed," he said.
He built himself back up to about 260 pounds, and in his junior and senior years started as center on the football team.
Cordell said he stayed calm and optimistic throughout the ordeal. His Christian faith helped him, he said.
His attitude was, "This is just another test that I'm going to have to go through. It's just a test of life."
Cordell, who's been cancer free for five years, has given his testimony in church and spoken at Relay for Life events.
Brian Suits, the principal at the 1,730-student Dalton Middle School, said students ask Cordell questions about his experience.
"They can relate to the fact that he is young, and he's already had a lot of struggles behind him," Suits said. "You can have obstacles in your way, but that doesn't mean you have to give up."
Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@times freepress.com, www.facebook.com/tim.omarzu or twitter.com/TimOmarzu or 423-757-6651.