He Didn't Just Survive

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In today's edition...

His life changed forever at 17 years old.

One moment, he was training for the season.

The next, he was fighting for his life.

Let’s dive in 👇

Davis Warren Didn’t Just Survive

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Davis Warren was 17 years old when it happened.

Like many times before, the high school quarterback walked into the gym at 6 AM for a team workout.

But on this particular morning, something was off.

Unracking 135 pounds on the bench press, his typical warmup weight felt heavy. He couldn't squeeze out a single rep.

"I thought I was just getting sick," he told The Michigan Insider.

"I was a kid who never got sick growing up, so it was really weird for me."

His brain cycled through the possibilities – maybe it was the flu or mono.

That afternoon, his father insisted on taking him to a doctor.

"I actually told my dad, ‘Dad, we don't have to go.’ I literally had a 7-on-7 tournament the next day," Davis said.

"I was like, ‘Oh, I'll be fine. I'll play the tournament, and then we'll go.’ And he's like, ‘No, we're going.’"

Six hours later, he was sitting in a room at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.

The doctor came in and delivered news that turned his life upside down.

“You have cancer.”

More specifically, leukemia – a cancer of the body's blood-forming tissues.

In a split second, Davis Warren’s biggest worry went from ‘what's wrong with my bench press?’ to ‘am I going to survive this?’

“It was just surreal,” his mom, Terri, said. “You can’t even describe as a parent to hear that your son, out of the blue, has cancer.”

It hit him hard.

"Twelve hours ago, I thought I was just a little under the weather. And then they put you in a wheelchair and take you up the elevator and roll you around. At that point, I was like, ‘Man, who am I?’"

The doctors told Davis he'd need 5 to 8 months of intense chemotherapy.

“You just hear the stories and you know it’s not good.”

He lost 35 pounds in the first month. Then his hair started falling out.

"Of course, I asked [the doctor], ‘So how fast can I play football again?’ She laughed at me. At the time, I was pissed off, because I was like, ‘Man, she doesn't understand how I think and how I feel.’"

But he was determined to hold on to what he could.

“The worst part of going through cancer is just the way you lose that sense of self,” he said.

“You just feel like a shell of yourself.”

While he was going through chemo, his mind stayed locked on the few things that matter most to him: family, friends, and football.

“During that time, he wanted to continue to do things like situps and pushups,” his dad, Jeff, said.

“We’d bring the football to the hospital and have a toss in the courtyard outside.”

Davis was inpatient for almost his entire treatment, meaning hospital stays lasted 5 or 6 weeks at a time.

“When I was in there on the 4th of July, you could kind of look out and see fireworks going out all across LA, and, for me, that just brought joy…it was just that change. Something different.”

He tried anything he could to keep his mind occupied or make his day just a little better, even for a few minutes.

“You kinda have to keep yourself sane,” he said.

“There are so many little joys that you don’t even realize…[outside the hospital window] there was one intersection, and I would just watch the cars go by for hours.”

Fortunately, each round of chemotherapy went exactly as it was supposed to.

But time ticked by slowly, and Davis was getting restless.

"I'd sit in bed for five days straight and watch Game of Thrones," he said.

“By that last round [of chemo], I was just so ready to get out.”

On August 12th, 2019 – five months after his diagnosis – the doctor came in and delivered the good news:

He was cancer-free.

Leaving the hospital, Davis got to ring the bell.  And hearing that beautiful sound was when it all sank in.

"I think your mind is such a powerful tool, and I think I used it to the best of my ability to help get me to where I wanted to be."

"But at the end of the day, there was a lot of luck, and a lot of stuff to be grateful for that was out of my control."

He was itching to get back on the field, but his body had a lot of catching up to do.

When he entered the hospital in March, Davis weighed a healthy 185 pounds. By the time he left, he was down to 150.

"When I got back to school, [I] worked with the strength coach there, and literally we started from scratch."

Through his vigorous training regimen, he built up enough strength to get clearance from doctors to play in a live game on October 3rd, only 53 days after being declared cancer-free.

He only played a few drives, but he was thrilled to be back out on the field.

"Then I had a game where I couldn't play because my blood counts weren't high enough. So it was a thing every week."

Frustrated with the situation, he surfed the web for answers.

After reading that papaya juice could help, he ordered some extract online and sipped on it all week.

"It tasted disgusting."

He hit his blood count for the next game, but his play on the field was far from that of a blue-chip QB prospect.

"I really didn't feel 100% healthy until January of 2020. It took me that long to feel like, ‘Okay, I'm back. I'm ready to roll.’ And then COVID hit."

With his senior season cancelled, Davis was stuck with very little to get recruited. After all, he never started a single varsity game in high school.

"As a prospect, I just didn't have anything. I didn't have the film and all the stuff that I needed."

Despite offers from smaller schools, he made a bold choice: walking on at Michigan, a Division 1 powerhouse with the most wins in college football history.

“I had no doubt I could play at this level, and I really felt that way, and I believed it,” Davis said. “You believe it first, and then you make it your reality.”

When he stepped on campus in Ann Arbor, he wanted to keep a tight lid on his story.

“I wanted nothing to do with cancer. When I [first] got out of the hospital, I didn’t want anyone to know. I couldn’t wait for my hair to grow back. I couldn’t wait til my skin wasn’t pale and I wasn’t skinny and like 150 pounds.”

He just wanted to feel normal, like everyone else.

“I didn’t want people to know that I was ‘that kid’. I just wanted them to think that I’m a kid who wants to come in and earn my respect and be that guy.”

But eventually, the word got out.

One day, a teammate asked him, “Dude, you had cancer?”

The dominoes fell from there, and the story spread.

Soon, Davis realized it wasn't such a bad thing. With his platform as a quarterback for the University of Michigan, he had a chance to help others.

"There are a lot of kids who went through what I went through, but don’t get to tell their story.”

So that fall, while trying to walk on to one of the top college football teams in the nation, Davis carved out time for regular trips to the local children’s hospital.

“For me to look at them in the eye and say, ‘Hey, I’ve been in your position, I went through this,’ I could see how much of a difference that made.”

“It made me feel like my battle was worth it.”

On the field, Davis earned a spot on the team and won Offensive Scout Team Player of the Year.

He rose up the depth chart – slightly – the next year and earned an official scholarship offer from the Wolverines in January 2023.

Davis backed up JJ McCarthy for the team's National Championship run before winning the starting job in the fall of 2024.

"He had an impeccable journey,” head coach Sherrone Moore said. “Always doing everything the right way…it just speaks to his character.”

After an up-and-down start to the season, Davis got benched in the second half of Week 3. But he took the reins back in Week 9, throwing for 123 yards in a win over rival Michigan State.

On New Year's Eve, he started the ReliaQuest Bowl, but tore his ACL in the third quarter.

While the injury would be devastating for most athletes, Davis' history put things in perspective.

And, once again, he's ready to fight his way back.

“Those dark clouds, those dark thoughts, those bad days, those are a part of life...just knowing that through those doubts, I’m still capable and mentally tough enough to push through them is a really special feeling.”

🐶 

Today’s story subject was chosen by reader David C. Neal, who won himself a Reader Takeover!

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Thank you for making these stories a part of your Sunday routine.

I’m having a blast with this, and I hope you are too!

Til next time,
Tyler

Extra Innings…

🌟 Trivia Answer: B) Most balks in a game (5). Here’s a breakdown of that historical day. I get both sides. On one hand, NL umps called 93 balks in less than a month that year. On the other, they were just following the ridiculous one-second pause rule (which was later removed from the rule book).

💪 Please let me grow up to be like this 99-year-old man who lifts weights for 3 hours a day.

🥹 "That was the hardest thing I've ever done." This little man proves you can do anything you set your mind to.

⚾️ A simple request: Less texting and more of this at ballgames, please.