Survivor kicked cancer

Adison Daniels wrapped up his college football career in October. And without much chance of going professional as a kicker, that will go down as the last time he put on his pads and helmet and gave the ball a boot.

For all intents and purposes, his football days are over.

Yet there may not be a player in this area who represents the spirit of the season as much as the St. Augustine's kicker, a Wakefield High graduate whose determination to play football was never slowed by a childhood cancer that left him without a left hand or wrist.

Whatever one's creed or calling, the holidays still offer a chance to sit back and reflect on the passing year while considering the year to come. If you're looking for a little hope or inspiration this morning, consider Daniels.

"I always wanted to play something when I was a kid, whether it be soccer or football," Daniels said. "Either way, I wasn't going to let it stop me from what I wanted to do. People always told me I was better than most people with two hands kicking and playing football. I just never even really thought about it."

When he was 10 months old, Daniels was diagnosed with a cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma in his left forearm. Like any cancer that preys on children, it's a nasty thing, but when it occurs in an extremity, often the only way to stop it from spreading is amputation.

Daniels was in the middle of a two-year cycle of chemotherapy when doctors decided to remove his left forearm just below the elbow. At that point, he was only 2 years old.

After two more years of chemotherapy and five years of regular checkups, Daniels was declared cancer-free, having fought off the disease at the cost of his left hand.

And that's how he grew up - healthy, yet with one glaring reminder of a struggle with cancer he can barely even remember.

"It's just a miracle he made it," said his mother Christina.

Daniels played soccer as a kid, but in his heart he was always a football player. He would spend hours out in the yard kicking a football between two pine trees before he started attending summer kicking camps. At Durant Road Middle School, at Wakefield and at St. Augustine's, Daniels kicked his way onto the teams.

This fall, Daniels kicked his last ball for the Falcons, missing a field goal but making all four of his extra-point attempts in a season-ending win over Chowan.

During his four years with the Falcons, Daniels made 15 of 31 field-goal attempts. This final season, he led the CIAA in extra-point percentage, making 27 of 29, and his five field goals included a career-long 41-yarder.

In his determination to find a way to play football, Daniels never let the cancer that took his arm take away his dream to play the game he loved.

Nor did it stop him from tackling a Fayetteville State player on a kickoff return in the second-to-last game of his career, bringing down the opponent to save a touchdown.

"He was running at me down the sideline, and I just had to do what a football player has to do," Daniels said. "I threw my whole body underneath his waist, into his legs. When I hit the ground, I heard the announcer say, 'Tackle by Adison Daniels.'

"I was telling everybody afterward that I had points in every game that season except that one, when I had more tackles than points."

As he dived at the oncoming player, it never mattered that he didn't have a left hand. It only mattered that he had a giant heart.

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