Teen Thought Football Practice Was Leaving Him Breathless. It Was Actually a Rare Cancer

“My first thought was obviously if I was going to die or not,” said high school athlete Cameron Rider

NEED TO KNOW

• High school athlete Cameron Rider was diagnosed with a rare lung cancer after months of misdiagnosed pneumonia
• Doctors removed part of his left lung in an eight-hour surgery, allowing him to recover and return to sports
• Now 19 and cancer-free, Rider remains active playing hockey while applying to colleges

While a high schooler was practicing to try out for the football team, he found himself out of breath and exhausted.

Cameron Rider, who was 16 at the time, was no stranger to sports. He loved hockey and baseball, but ultimately set his sights on football.

However, the Vermont native’s exhaustion and other symptoms worsened.

After having a 105-degree fever and body aches, Rider taken to the hospital by his parents. He was diagnosed with pneumonia, but the antibiotics weren't making his symptoms go away. Months later, Rider was hospitalized and received steroids and more antibiotics. It still didn’t help.

"What they were doing beforehand wasn't cutting it … but I wasn't too worried," Rider said, according to CBS News. "I was being told that it was pneumonia, that it was just reoccurring constantly, and there might be a little bit of a blockage or something else that might be going on." 

Rider then had a bronchoscopy, where a camera is put down a patient's throat to observe their lungs and airways. Doctors spotted a mass and spent around two hours removing part of it to send for testing.

The results came back: Rider's lung had a rare form of cancer called mucoepidermoid carcinoma.

Mucoepidermoid carcinoma usually affects the salivary glands, but can grow in other parts of the body, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

"My first thought was obviously if I was going to die or not," Rider said. "It was the first thing that popped in my head." 

Rider was referred to the Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute in Massachusetts. His estimated recovery time was about six to eight weeks for a surgery to remove the mass.

"That might not be much time for somebody else, but when it comes to sport seasons and stuff like that … that two-, three-, four-week period is pretty big," Rider said. 

Dr. Danielle Cameron, the surgical director for pediatric oncology at Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute, determined that Rider would undergo an upper lobectomy that would remove part of his left lung. While it was estimated to be an eight-hour surgery, the doctor assured Rider that he "didn't have too much to worry about."

During Rider's surgery in May 2023, the doctor was ultimately able to remove the entire tumor. Yet, his recovery was "rough" and filled with a "lot of pain."

"They were constantly getting me up and moving so I could try to re-expand my lungs and get used to not having that upper left lobe," Rider explained. "It started off very slow. It was painful. It was hard, but the more and more I did it, and the more help I got from staff there, the easier and easier it got." 

He continued recovering at the hospital, and then from home in Vermont after being discharged. Within just a few months, Rider was able to return to playing sports — as he played soccer, basketball and hockey — feeling "thankful" he could during his senior year.

“I was working out and doing a crazy amount of cardio to keep up lung capacity,” Rider said, according to Bridgton Academy. “It was a tough senior year getting used to having only one lung at full capacity.”

"He's had a perfect outcome. You couldn't ask for a more athletically accomplished patient after a lobectomy," the doctor said about Rider bouncing back. 

Rider, who is now 19, works as a referee and plays hockey. He is active and healthy, while still being scanned in case the cancer happens to return.

He is now applying to colleges.

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"Things aren't too different from what they were before. I can feel the lack of capacity that I used to have, but I've made do with what I've got," Rider said.

The teen added, "Those basic things that we take for granted every day — I started to understand the importance of them and how lucky we are." 

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