Nokomis senior Donovan Kurt back on soccer field after brain tumor
NEWPORT, Maine (BVM) — Nokomis senior Donovan Kurt is back on the soccer field for the Warriors. Now eight months removed from brain tumor surgery, Kurt and his family are happy to see him get an opportunity they didn’t know if he’d have the chance to get.
Back in January, Kurt would wake up in the middle of the night experiencing severe head pain and nausea. A trip to the doctor diagnosed him with concussion-like symptoms.
“He [Donovan] had a couple days where he was home from school with a headache and throwing up and we at first thought it was just a bug going around,” Donovan’s mother, Trisha, said. “I did end up taking him to the ER and they told us he had concussion-like symptoms and he’s very active in sports, so we didn’t really question it. They gave him medication through an IV and sent him home and he seemed fine.”
After these symptoms arose again in March, his family decided a trip to the emergency room would once again be necessary.
“He had another two days with the same symptoms,” Trisha said. “He woke up in the middle of the night throwing up, he had a severe headache, and started this time to have some blurry vision issues and I was like he’s going to start to have migraines… so I took him to the ER again and they ended up that time doing an MRI.”
The trip to the emergency room this time would actually reveal a tumor on the left side of Donovan’s brain.
“They did an MRI and they came back and told Donovan and I that he had a brain tumor and they were sending us immediately to Boston by ambulance,” Trisha Kurt said. “We left that emergency room in an ambulance on our way to Boston and we got to Massachusetts General Hospital at about 10 o’clock that night. It was very overwhelming, it just happened so quickly that we really didn’t have time to process what was really going on.”
After the discovery, Donovan would have a 10-hour surgery two days after arriving at Massachusetts General Hospital.
“He had a tumor the size of a small potato and a fluid sack on the left side of his brain,” Trisha said. “Thursday morning they did surgery, it ended up being a 10-hour surgery, it was very involved. We got to see him at about 8 o’clock that night and they told us the initial results looked like it was cancerous and we would know more on treatment as the next days went on.”
After spending the next five nights in the ICU, Donovan and his family would be able to travel back to their home in Maine to allow Donovan to rest up for his upcoming chemotherapy and radiation treatments. While at home, the Kurt family got the news that the tests revealed an aggressive form of cancer called glioblastoma. The family would have to return to Boston quickly to get started on the treatment.
The Kurt family would spend the next six weeks in Boston where Donovan did radiation for five days a week and chemotherapy for seven days a week. On their way back to the hospital, Donovan would leave with a community sendoff, a moment that would be special for all involved.
“We get to the end of our road and then we had to drive through town to get to the interstate and there were firetrucks and police cars, it was very overwhelming in a good way,” Trisha said. “We were just in awe that all those people were out there to send us off, it was really cool.”
Fueled by the opportunity to play his senior year, Donovan wouldn’t let treatment get in the way of his chance to get back on the field.
“In Boston, he was doing chemo and radiation and was trying to work out every day,” Trisha said. “There were days he would go out and he would run two miles and there were some days he didn’t feel up to it, so he would only run a mile or he would only walk a couple miles, but he had this regiment, he wanted to play soccer.
“That was really what motivated him to not just sit around and not do anything. In his mind he was going to play soccer his senior year and that really motivated him to stay in shape and just stay strong and do what he needed to do.”
After his six-month checkup, Donovan was cleared by his surgeon to get back to doing what he loves to do, playing soccer. With COVID-19 backing up the high school soccer season, Donovan would be able to join the team right on time.
“We were nervous, but all along we had an oncologist who has talked to us a lot about his state of mind and how he handles things is just as important,” Trisha said when talking about her emotions of Donovan getting back on the field. “Keeping him positive, keeping him upbeat is just as important as some of that other stuff, so we had to weigh what it would do to him if he couldn’t play soccer.
“You really can’t tell him you can play, but you really can’t head the ball. He’s been cautious, he’s definitely headed the ball during lots of games, he tries not to take a punt because it is in the back. You just have to hope that he doesn’t get hit. The surgeon did reassure us, there is a plate in there as well.
“We have taken the perspective as a family that we’re gonna be cautious, but at the same time we have to let him be a 17-year-old kid and see people and keep him positive and upbeat, because that’s half the battle as well.”
Donovan is still currently undergoing chemotherapy and has completed his fifth cycle out of 12.
“From the very first day they told him he had cancer, he’s been very positive and strong and told the doctors that he was going to beat it, he was determined,” Trisha said.
Donovan, who also plays basketball and baseball at Nokomis is hoping to continue playing this winter. If basketball doesn’t happen, he’ll stick to playing with his soccer club team instead.
