Addison Sewell comes back to soccer from leukemia

From the time that she can remember, Mountain Brook (Birmingham, Ala.) senior left back Addison Sewell has played soccer. Essentially, since the day she was old enough to play, she's been doing just that.

Then, suddenly, at the age of 14, soccer was taken away and her life was in jeopardy.

Sewell was 14 years old when she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, a cancer in the blood cells that is characterized by abnormal white blood cells rapidly producing in the bone marrow, which has an effect on the body's production of normal blood cells. It was just three days after her 14th birthday when she found out.

"It didn't really click right away that everything was about to change," said Sewell, who turned 18 at the end of April. "I just wanted to go back to school and be with my friends. It took a little while to process."



Once it became real, she knew what she was up against.

"It really hit me once my hair started falling out," Sewell said. "Then it became true. At that point I started wondering how long it would be before I could start playing soccer again."

First she needed to survive, and to do so she needed to get through treatment. AML requires six months of intense chemotherapy that is hard on the body. And on the last day, when it was all said and done, she would forever realize that she didn't go through it alone.

The people of the Birmingham, Ala., suburb held a parade for Sewell, letting her know they were all there for her, clapping and cheering as she was driven around in a convertible.

"It was an amazing feeling," Sewell said. "Just to know that everything was finally done and everyone that had helped me through the whole journey was there in the end when it was finally over. It was really something I could never forget."

Then came the focus on soccer, which required intense training and hard work if she expected to be back for the following spring. Determined, she was back on the field for her sophomore season, and in a first-round playoff game against Bob Jones High School, that's when she knew she was all the way back.



The game went into overtime, and then into penalty kicks, and after 12 rounds of PK's, nothing had been decided. After nailing her first try, Sewell's turn came back around again, and this time if she drilled it,
the Spartans would move on.

Sewell put the kick away and the Spartans advanced.

"It was a really great feeling, I can't even explain it," Sewell said. "It was really the sign that I was all the way back and playing soccer again."

Afterwards, Sewell had a huge smile across her face, which is something that people from Mountain Brook have gotten used to.

"She's kind of a gift and she has an infectious smile," Mountain Brook coach Scott Flowers said. "She has the sweetest disposition and an easy-going approach to life. She's been through it, and she knows that the rest of life is a gift."

And just like her coach said, this experience has changed her outlook a bit.



"I guess I am pretty mellow to begin with," Sewell said. "But this has put things in perspective and made me realize that little things in life are not worth getting worked up over."

Continue reading{PAGEBREAK}Not only has Sewell taken away something from the experience, it has taught a lesson to others, including her head coach.

"What I've learned most is we're just playing a game," Flowers said. "It's supposed to be fun and to her it is because she's always smiling."

And now she is back, smiling, and hoping to lead the Spartans to an Alabama 6A state title, which would be the perfect ending to the story before she heads to the University of Alabama to further her education. She leads the team with 14 assists as a defender and has five goals. She made the first-team All-Metro squad and the All-Metro Tournament Team.

The year she missed, her freshman year, was the year that Mountain Brook beat Auburn High to win the state title, and a recovering Sewell could not be a part of it.

"It was hard because I wasn't a part of it," Sewell said. "Because all my friends were on the team and they won it, I was proud, but I wished I was a part of it."



Since then, she has been determined to get that championship ring that she would have received her freshman year if illness hadn't kept her from it.

"I haven't stopped thinking about it for the last three years," said Sewell, who won't play in college. "I really want it and to do it my senior year would be incredible."

As incredible a feeling as that would be, just imagine how she will feel after five years have gone by and she has hopefully been pronounced officially cured. After all she has been through, it's hard to imagine that day is rapidly approaching.

"That will be a good day," Sewell said. "There is still a little ways to go, but that will be a breath of fresh air."