Episode 136: Dig Deeper (ft. Drew Evenson)

"Nothing's ever as hard as you think, it's just what you're willing to do to get there."

This week, we're joined by cancer warrior Drew Evenson for an inspiring conversation about resilience, gratitude, and the power of community.

Diagnosed with cancer at just 17 years old, Drew reflects on the life-changing care he received at Masonic Children's Hospital and the unwavering support of his family, friends, and medical team. His story is a powerful reminder that no one overcomes life's greatest challenges alone.

"The best part about my story is what people did to support me. I got past it, and now it's my turn to fight for those who can't fight for themselves."

In addition to sharing his personal journey, Drew discusses his role with the University of Minnesota men's basketball program, where he serves as Team Manager, helping support daily operations, film analysis, and player development. 

Transcript

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If you gave up TV and internet for a week, what would you do instead? I really think I'd just be outside, constantly moving. I always wanna be on the go. One thing I hate, about life is getting bored, so I always try to entertain myself with something new, whether it's running, going on a walk, or just hanging out with friends What's life like in the early 20s for an average young man or woman right now? I think it's ex- exciting. There's so many different avenues to life. You can do anything you want. You can really change your mind at any given moment, and if you're feeling like doing something one day, there's nothing stopping you from going to do that You have a rather unique job for the University of Minnesota basketball team. You're an analytics guy. Can you tell us more about that? Yeah. So, um, after graduating college, I was a student manager with the team, and then I was fortunate to be brought back with Coach Medved. And in my role, I get to do a bunch of video, analytics, anything you can think of for basketball. I have a lot of freedom with my job, which is one thing I enjoy. Um, if I see a project I wanna look at or just kinda dive into, I can do that, and I l- have loved numbers all my life. I was a big math guy growing up. Um, that was my favorite subject in school, believe it or not. so right now I'm the nerd on staff, and I fully buy into that role. Um, whether it's numbers, video, or just straight IT work, that's me. What are you looking for, though? When you do that analytics, quote-unquote, you're watching a team, you're watching a player do something, you're assessing him. What do you look for? I look for anything that shows kinda trends. What, what leads to winning, that's one big thing I always look into and I think everyone looks into, and it always changes. But the more you can find trends and help explain what you're seeing in video, 'cause one thing about basketball is, and coaches in general, they love video. You'll never be able to replace that, but if you can find analytics to help answer questions they have in the video or help show the trends that they're watching to help prove that point on a secondary level, that's, that's what I look for 2020 and COVID in that whole time seems like, somehow seems like it was a long time ago now. You were in high school living an active life Tell us what happened. You had, you weren't feeling well at the time. Yeah, so really there's one week that sticks out in my mind, but after what happened at the end of that week, it kind of... I can look back months and I could see kind of s- early symptoms and signs of what was about to happen. I was working out with buddies. Um, I would bruise easily, and I was like, "Oh, that's just normal for working out." Like, what is a, what I thought was a healthy 17-year-old supposed to expect from the bruise? Oh, it's just normal. I've been roughhousing a little too much. you know, all that kind of thing. And then, come early October, all of a sudden I started getting this rash on my hips and my armpits, and I was like, "Man, this is so 17-year-old high school boy of me." I was like, "Man, what girl's gonna want this?" There's this rash that's showing up, and I'm like, I don't know why. It's, uh, kind of going everywhere. And so I wouldn't have said anything, but, um, after what followed the rash, which wasn't a rash at all, it was what they call petechiae, which is the... I'm n- I'm not, not a doctor, um, so, and all this stuff kind of blurred, but from my understanding, it's the blood vessels getting close to the skin, so you can see the blood and s- it looks like freckles, but it's just blood. And so following that week, um, I was hanging out with friends. It was in COVID, so we were hanging out outside, doing that kind of thing, getting together, 'cause there was no in-person school, so we'd get together outside of school to, um, kind of en- enjoy ourselves and socialize. That's right. Everything w- in school-wise was on Zoom, was virtual. Yep. Everything was all virtual, so th- this was our time to socialize, get together. We had to plan it. And so I'm hanging out with them, and all of a sudden the guys and the girls kind of do their own thing. The guys go, they wanna go play catch with the football. The guys start kind of doing a jog over to the field, and I notice that I, I couldn't really pick up my legs. I couldn't really do it. I was like, "What? This is just weird." They felt really heavy. And so I still to this day don't exactly know why they felt heavy, but they said it was a symptom. And then, the next, that same night, I started waking up in the middle of the night in night sweats, and so I was like, "Something's wrong with my body right now, but I can't exactly tell what it is." And I, at this point, I didn't bring anything up to my mom. I went out to go work out, as I was working out with, like, my buddies all the time, and this was, I was just working out by myself, and I went to do squats. And so my legs felt heavy. I'm like, "Oh, maybe I'm just sore from lifting." Yeah, you gotta stretch a little bit. Exactly. Yeah. Stretch a little bit. So I stretched a little bit, warmed up, and then I go to squat. And so I could get two and a half plates on there, so w- close to, like, 260 pounds on the squat. and in my warmup I s- go from one bar to s- or I go from the bar for a few reps just to get the legs warm, and then I put on the 45s on each side. And when I put the 45s on each side, which is not even close to half the weight- I, like, could not get it up. I was struggling. I didn't even try to. I tried getting it off the, just off the rack, and when I did that and I was standing, my legs felt weak. And so I'm like, "This isn't normal." And so I just kinda did some, a light workout, um, for, like, 15 more minutes, and then I went home, and I was just so tired. I, like, couldn't stay up, so I went to bed And this was in, like, the afternoon. I ended up sleeping throughout the whole night. I di- and I just woke up in night sweats. So I had a futon in my room that could turn into a bed, and I had my bed. And so basically I was waking up so much in just puddles of sweat that I would wake up, shower, switch which bed or the futon I was laying on, and the next morning I'm like, "Hey, this, I have to tell someone about this." Yeah. So I told my mom. She's like, "Let's kind of just observe it." And so I was sleeping probably close to 16 hours a day 'cause I was that tired. And so then it goes to, "We have to go get you checked out. You have something wrong with you that is in... We have to just go figure it out. We have to go to the doctor's." And so actually, so school was online. I was a part of this entrepreneurship class where we had to pick someone to support w- for our, our school store that they were gonna do. So I was in that class for it, and I was sitting in the class where we were thinking of, we were brainstorming things, and I was like, "No way this can happen, but what if we're talking about me tomorrow and, like, something's seriously wrong with me?" And so then going back even more months back in time a little bit, comes the summer. I, I have to get some shots for college. So senior in high school, gotta get the shots that colleges require you to get. Oh, sure. So there was three of them, but all my life I've been absolutely deathly afraid of needles. So I went through three months of needle therapy- just to get three shots. And so then this week I go in. It is October 13th. 2020. Yep, 2020, October 13th. I go in that morning, um, dermatology 'cause of the rash. That's the only thing that we could actually, like, explain for is like- Yeah this rash isn't normal. And so the rash grew from my hips in my armpits to you couldn't see skin color in those spots, and then it was all over the place. So it was slowly, like, kind of taking over my body where my whole body had just a bunch of dots everywhere. You couldn't really... It did not look normal, and there were... You could tell. I have some freckles, but they were a different color. They were a dark red. And so went to dermatology. They told me, "Oh, you have to get the COVID test. Like, you have COVID." That's what I had they said. "But we're gonna get blood work too just to check and, and see what's up." So believe it or not, um, back home at that hospital, or I was at the clinic at the time, their, n-not only were their elevators down, and I was on the third floor then, but their whole system was down, so they could not send lab reports to and from places. And so then they heard that I got the COVID t- uh, test downstairs, and they said, "The system's down. You're gonna have to come back in two weeks. They think you have COVID." In, "We can't get you in here right now because we're not receiving the request for labs." Oh my God. And so mom, I'm like, "I hate needles." I'm like, "Let's just go home, Mom. We'll come back in two weeks." I'm like, "I, I escaped the day. I'm gonna be fine." I have to credit my mom here a lot. Um, she could have very well saved my life from this, but she went up and down those stairs three times and was adamant that I get my blood drawn, and I was so upset. Yeah. I was like, "I do, I don't wanna do this." You didn't even like a shot- No but a, a blood draw is even more of a- It, yes unpleasant. They keep the needle in there. Yeah. You, you see it all. I was like, "I don't-" Just don't, don't even look at it, yeah. And so she goes up and down three times. Elevators are down, so she's going up three flights of stairs multiple times complaining, like, "This is unacceptable. He needs to get this." So we get it, we drive home. I just kinda lay in bed, watching a show on my phone. I can't remember which one, and this is where it starts to become a bit of a blur because it's about two hours later and my mom gets a call from the hospital. So I went to the clinic. She got a call from the hospital saying, "There's something wrong. You guys need to pack a bag for multiple days. You're gonna be here." They didn't say what was wrong over the phone, so I'm completely lost right now. I have no clue what's going on. I'm- And you're 17 at the time 17 years old. And so I, I hate needles, and I'm like, "Oh, shoot. I'm gonna have to go get poked again now." Yeah. And so we arrived to the hospital after, like, me and my mom's car ride. It was, like, about a 30-minute car ride. We have no clue what's going on. Um, I'm starting to get a little teary-eyed because I'm like, "Something's wrong with me." Where if you have to go to the hospital, it's... And they say, "Pack a bag," it's something serious. And so I thought my mom, they told her over the phone, and she just didn't wanna tell me what was wrong, so I kept drilling her, and she then started getting kind of, nervous and everything, like she didn't even know. They didn't tell her. Didn't tell her. So you feel terri- you feel rotten. Mm-hmm. You're exhausted. You have this rash. They're trying to dismiss it as, "Well, maybe it's just COVID." Not to mention the elevator or the stairs, the system being down, and then the call, "Something serious, but we're not gonna tell you what it is. Just pack a bag, get in the car, and come." It all sounds like something out of a scary movie or something. Like, everything that could go wrong was going wrong that day. And so um, I go into the room, I sit in the recliner chair, I'm kinda sitting there, I didn't really... I knew it was serious, but I didn't realize how serious it was until... If a doctor pulls in a chair from outside the room to sit down and tell you something, there's probably something really wrong with you. And so when that happened, I don't exactly remember what came out of her mouth when she said that. Um, she... I just remember being told I have cancer. Um, they weren't sure exactly what kind of cancer I had yet, but they knew it was leukemia. They didn't know if it was in the, the B cell or T cell. I was originally told B, and the next day it was clarified as a T, but they... So in leukemia, there's no stages, 'cause it's all throughout your body in the bloodstream. But there's... I was in... There's three levels I was told, and I was in the middle one. I was in the intermediate. Um, so it's not... It's, it wasn't caught exactly super early, but it wasn't caught too late. And they said with how my blood looked, if I waited two weeks- Yeah it could have been in that, like, h- like, the bad zone, the, the third-worst one. And so that's where it's, like, my mom being as persistent as she was, that could've easily saved my life there. And so- Yeah. Well, a true advocate- Yeah because in thinking about, thinking back to that, hospitals, clinics were so overwhelmed. We were distancing at the time. There's so much uncertainty just in the world with COVID and strains, and, and we, we can all have 2020 hindsight now, but in that moment it would've made perfect sense to say, "Yeah, we'll see in a few weeks." And thank God- To have a, a parent to be your advocate to say, "No, we, we need an answer now." So you're there, Were you just admitted immediately? Yeah. They, they brought me up, I believe it was the sixth floor. I went right up there into my, uh, hospital room. And where, where were you? La Crosse, Wisconsin. Okay. That's where I was at the time. And so the first thing I remember coming out of my mouth afterwards is, "Can I go use the bathroom?" That's all I could think of. I had to go to the bathroom in my hospital room and just sit there, take care of business. Came out, and I was like, "It's all gonna be a mistake. It's all gonna be over." And so they get immediately... I get out of there, they go immediately into more labs, trying to figure out what's wrong. They start shooting me up with a bunch of stuff, 'cause my blood was... My bloodstream was so low on platelets and white blood cells that they had to give me- Yeah or actually it was red blood cells, that they had to give me so m- so many bags of- Mm-hmm platelets and all that stuff just to get me back to some normal levels. Like, they couldn't even give me treatment at that point. And so I didn't have any treatment the first day. It was all that stuff. Um, took so many pills, medications, everything. And then I went into surgery the following morning to get a port, and then I had my first chemo treatment. So the port was in my chest. Yeah. And, um, one thing I like to look back on is that that scar is always gonna be there to show me what I went through. But being someone who didn't like needles, that port was- Yeah a blessing for me- Yeah 'cause it made everything so much easier. Obviously, at that moment, school's done. You're not going anywhere. How did you process all of this? You're 17, and this just came on out of nowhere. to get that news... Boy, the, the image that brought up when you described a doctor pulling the chair in like that is, this is gonna be serious. I don't think I fully processed what was going on till about a week later. Um, I was in shock. One thing that I'm forever grateful for is the support group I had. Um, I texted my friends in group chat, so I'm like, "Hey," uh, we were supposed to hang out that night. I'm like, "Hey, guys, I can't hang out." And they're like... Why, why are you bailing on us now?" I said, "Well, I'm in the hospital. I got diagnosed with cancer." And they s- Two of my buddies were at work at that time, they were working together, and they looked at their phones, and they were next to each other, and they were like, "What just happened?" And so apparently... Th- this is one of the coolest stories about my whole thing. I think whatever I went through is what I went through, but the, the best part about my story is what people around me did to support me. Um, and so apparently that night my brother and sister talked to my godmother. her son has been my best friend forever. Um, my godmother's my mother's best friend. they got together at their house, um, about 20 of my friends, uh, maybe more, and they said, "How can we support him?" And so then the next night after my first treatment, I got wheelchaired down. Well, I was f- told to look out the window. So it's COVID. Yeah. There's about 40 to 50 people standing across the street, all with signs saying, "You got this." Um, I got to see my brother and sister for the first time then, too. Um, so they, they wheeled me out. My mom and dad were there with me, 'cause I could only have two people. That's all I could see in the hotel, or not, the hospital room. And so it- That hospital is gonna be a hotel though- Yeah for a long time. It, it was basically a hotel room- Yeah at that point. You know, I had all my bags, everything. I brought my Xbox there. As a 17-year-old kid, I had to do something to pass the time, and the hospitals do not have enough TV channels to keep me entertained. No, they don't. So I had to bring my own stuff. back in the dark ages of the '70s, we only had a handful of channels, and most hospitals haven't evolved beyond that. And I... That had to be hard with no, no Netflix, no Hulu. No. So it's like I didn't even pack my Xbox or anything, so I had my dad go pick it up on his way to, to get me. And so, um, seeing all those people there to support me kinda was a big pick-me-up there. Um, I saw some grandparents who had their own battles with cancer, and they got past it, and so that was kind of like a, "I got this." But I'm still in shock. Um, the rest of that first week is a, is a blur. I tried to keep the best spirit as possible, but I'm a very OCD guy. I get home from the hospital. I spent seven days there, and I get home. I had all my extended family come to town to see me, um, 'cause they didn't know what was going on. Shoot, I didn't even know what was going on. And- the day I got back is the day that everyone... I got back to my house is the day everyone kinda left. And so I'm just downstairs, kinda in my room. People went into my room and grabbed stuff for me. They put new stuff in there that people gave me, like kinda like some get well, better soon baskets, that kinda thing. So my room is cluttered. I'm starting to like get agitated because I'm like, "Everything's falling apart." My, my one safe spot, my room, is all out of sorts. I don't know where things are. And then I go upstairs, have dinner, and then after dinner it comes time where everyone is leaving, heading out of town. And so this is where it hit me what's going on, is that when they were all getting out, I was in a reclining chair, and they all kinda lined up, and they gave me a hug. And e- every single one of them, whenever they said anything, I could just tell they were like, "Is this the last time I'm gonna see him?" And so that's when it really hit me, is that's what it felt like. And so everyone leaves. It's just my mom and me downstairs, and I'm full-on crashing out. I'm like, "Am I gonna die?" Like, "Is this it?" Like, "I can't even have my room put together and now I have to worry about this too?" And that lasted about like 30 minutes, to my knowledge, before I, I calmed down. But that was the moment I realized that this is my life now. I don't know exactly what's going on. There's no answers. There's nothing that can save me, from my knowledge right now, and that's just what my reality is. So that was a wake-up call to me that this is gonna be a long, long journey. I was already told it was gonna be 40 months of treatment, so that's almost three and a half years. And so I'm like, that starts... I'm only a week into this. I got over 160 weeks of this left at least, and that's the moment that really sticks in my brain What would you tell someone who's in that exact spot that you were in? When you remember that moment of people filing past you and then wondering, looking at this long treatment schedule and all of that uncertainty, what would you tell someone who's in that exact same position right now? So one thing throughout my journey that I kind of found later in the first month, but I've saw, I've seen before it, um, is from the event, um, that I spoke at. Um, Stuart Scott, he is my inspiration for my whole journey. The ESPN guy. Yes, ESPN anchor. What he said in his, ESPY Awards speech stuck with me every single day, and I remember that with every, ev- that's, that's what I embodied my whole journey. What did he say? He said, You don't beat cancer by getting rid of it, and you can never lose to it." He said, "You beat it by the way you live, in which you live, and why you live." And so that's what I kind of embodied. I'm like, "I got more to do. Like, this, this can't be it." And so when you said I was done with school, I actually was not. Uh, that gave me some grace. But one th- bright spot about that first week is that I got my acceptance letter to the University of Minnesota that same week. My sister dropped it off, and I got to open it in the hospital room. Only school I applied to, and I said, "That's, that's where I'm going, that's it." And so- Great timing, too great, great timing. Didn't have to worry about anything college, and so that's... I'm like, "I'm gonna go to college." And s- Yeah, you needed that good news in that moment. And so like, yeah, I'm gonna go to college, and by the time I got diagnosed, that's 10 months away where I'd leave for college. And so the, the most intense part of my treatment was that first seven months. But that first month especially was the worst. I went from 190 pounds to 140 pounds in the span of a month. And at the end of the month, I could not stand by myself. I couldn't walk. Um, I had to get held up to use the bathroom. And so I was like, "This is..." I, I, I was not the most fit kid, but I, I was still active. But when you can see a rib, like from not going to see anything to seeing your rib cage, that's, it's scary stuff. I looked in the mirror, and I had no clue who that person was in the mirror. I'd never seen that before. Um, it, it just is all a shock, and that's where I was just like, "I gotta keep going." And being diagnosed with cancer at a younger age can, I would imagine, have at least a tendency to isolate you from peers who are not dealing with health issues at 17. It sounds like you processed that quite well, though, juggling treatments and staying in contact with your friends. They all made a very proactive effort to keep checking in with you. what you just described obviously changed your, your physical, your emotional baseline. What was the hardest part about trusting your body again later? is it hard to not get stuck when you see that, oh my God, who is that in the mirror? how do you work through that? It, it was a long process. I have to credit, like, my parents. They were persistent that, like, when I didn't wanna go on that walk around the block that felt like the worst thing ever, they made me do it, and then they did it with me. And so I just knew from that speech, though, that, like, I have to keep living. That is the only way I can really beat this, no matter the outcome of what happens. If I just keep living, and then I, I really didn't lose, and I couldn't lose let's go back to Stuart Scott for a minute. You have that speech obviously committed to memory, but could you say it again? So the second part after he says the, "Just keep living," he says, "Fight, fight like hell, and when you're too tired to fight, lay down and rest and let others fight for you." And that's the point of my life where I'm at right now, is I got past it, and so now it's my turn to fight for those who can't fight for themselves and are too tired to do it at the mo- That, that's what I have to do. Now that I got past it after that long 40 months, this is where I get to make my imprint on someone else's life. 'Cause multiple people have made an imprint on mine, and so that is one of my goals in life right now is to keep giving back, whether that's just sharing my stories, my experiences, how I got through it, or just connecting with others who are going through similar things What do you remember as far as a helpful thing maybe a friend or a family member said or did that made a real difference when you were in the throes of hell with the treatment? I think it's just not bringing it up. Like, it's the elephant in the room. You don't have to bring it up. Everyone knows it. And so when you see them and what they're going through, yeah, you wanna f- have that empathy towards them, and you wanna feel bad for them, but at the same time, they don't want that always. Sometimes you need it. Sometimes you need someone to say, like, "I've... Like, I feel what you're going through." That's needed at some points. But in everyday life, my friends just being normal friends, asking me to hang out when I can, knowing when I can do that. And so when we hang out and it's not brought up, that, that was some of the best times 'cause I felt normal. And- And that was okay to not go there? It, it w- it was totally fine. I mean, and then they'd ask me s- like, questions about it, like, "Do you feel comfortable?" And so, like, them treating me just like a normal friend made those harder conversations that much easier 'cause I knew that they didn't see me in a different light. They just saw me as someone who was going through something hard at a certain point in their life. I'm overwhelmed by what you just shared how this has motivated you To go and give back to people going through the same journey You must be able to see in real time how much that's appreciated by someone who's struggling and just hating every aspect of, of treatment and how they feel and how they look. Can you tell us more about that? Yeah. It's like when I was going through it, all I wanted to do was feel normal. And so if... Feeling normal, you need so much support to try to feel normal, 'cause you feel like shit every single day. And some days you're like... Like right now, for example, if I get a cold and I'm like, "This is the worst thing ever," I'm like, "This is nothing compared to what I went through." It's kind of what we do as men, though, right? E- exactly. "I have a cold. I'm so..." Yeah. Exactly. But it just, going back to how young I was- it didn't make me grow up faster, but it just made me appreciate things at a different level that I wasn't able to comprehend beforehand. When you're having a bad day, you're not actually having a bad day. It's just another day that you didn't feel was a good day. It's just a normal day. And so when you really can understand those emotions and understand what a bad day is and have the understanding that there's people going through way worse things than you, that I have a pretty good life. And one thing I always look back on, and so I knew I was coming on this podcast today, and I've been thinking all week, and the one thing I take away from my journey that I think everyone should be able to appreciate on some sort of level in their daily lives is I went through some tough stuff, but at the end of the day, I would go through it again rather than anyone else in my life because it turned out pretty good. And w- even though I had cancer for a big part of my younger life, I had an amazing life, and it's even getting better and better to this day. And my parents, my siblings, I can't thank them enough, because they were there for every step of the way. And my brother doesn't notice this, but I still realize he wears his little wristband every day that says "Drew's Crew" on it, and I know he doesn't think I know it, but I, I see it every single time I'm with him. And I guess I haven't even told him how much it means to me that he still does that. But it's like the little things right there where it's like I have an amazing life. It showed me how great my support system is, and it really showed that, like, when stuff gets tough, that's only time to dig deeper and just carry on. How much were you concerned about starting school on time? You received that acceptance letter from the University of Minnesota like I said earlier, I'd never had a doubt that I'd be there. My parents, on the other hand, they're like, "You're moving two and a half hours away, living by yourself for the first time in life, and you also have this going on on the side." They're like, "How is that even gonna be possible?" So that summer, I went up and toured a few places. I also went to Mayo in Rochester. and then I went up to the cities, and I found Masonic Children's Hospital right there, and it was across the river from where I lived, and I'm like, "This is perfect." I met with Dr. Gordon, and he was fantastic. In that first meeting, I felt really comfortable, and then a curve ball changed when I got to campus. My doctor changed to Kelsey Olson, she's been unbelievable. My relationship with the staff there at Masonic Children's Hospital has been unbelievable. The care I received there was unreal, and- How so? tell us more being a freshman in college, you have a busy life. You wanna be social. Um, you always don't wanna be told... Like, sometimes I told... was told I can't do anything. I can't go outside. I can't see people. I have to stay inside. My immune system was too weak. they helped me find ways to kinda get through life with those barriers. they understand that I was a college kid, so anything they could do to help me with my schedule, my social schedule, they helped me. I got in 8:00 AM every Friday morning for my appointments, and every Friday morning was one of my favorite mornings, I, I actually wanna say, because those appointments weren't doctor appointments. Those were seeing my new friends. And so I, I'm in touch with a lot of the nurses and doctors still, even though I'm out of treatment. I only go back every so often for checkups, and it's a whole new department I'm seeing now. Okay. And the care they give is so intentional, and it's like a family setting. They, they really care about you, and I've never had a bad day when I go there. It's, it's not a place people can say that, many people can say that, that they've not had a bad day there. I've had tough days, but I haven't had a bad one there because at the end of the day, I left feeling better about how I was, where I was, and who I was going to be Is it too much to say you could feel the love, the support, the empathy I, I could feel all that. I mean, the care team there is amazing. I can't say an- anything bad about them. Even if you, you told me to say one bad thing, I couldn't. They are just truly amazing, and I'm forever grateful. From being a senior in high school to then a freshman in college, you're living on your own, and you're doing this by yourself somewhat. Yes, my parents came up all the time for all my appointments. I was never alone for those. But I was not scared one moment, 'cause the care they gave was so intentional, and they helped me through so much, people think the hardest part about cancer is the physical part, but it's really the mental part, 'cause you don't really know what's going on, and they helped me through that so much, helped me understand what's going on with my body. If there was something that I was experiencing that I'm like, "This doesn't feel normal," for example, with some of my treatments, um, neuropathy, my hands, fingers, my toes, my feet, I couldn't always have the most feeling in them. They were numb, and so they don't necessarily tell you about it until it happens, 'cause they don't know if you're gonna experience it or not, but when I did, they helped me out with it. They showed me some supplements that can help with it, and I still have it a little bit to this day. But they've helped me be so much more confident with it. And also, there's a thing called chemo brain, it really kinda slows down your thought process. when I'm thinking, I used to... Huge math guy. Used to be, still am. And so when I'm thinking sometimes, I'm thinking faster than I can say out of my mouth, and so sometimes I kinda mis- misalign my words, or I can't really pick up stuff right away as better, as best I could in the past. And so they really helped me kinda just understand, like, this is what it is. they couldn't make me feel better about it, but they could make me more confident in what's about to come with it. Neuropathy and chemo brain, difficult enough as it is, but you're trying to go to college. Did that ever feel overwhelming? Did you get some counsel or some perspective from that team, or from anybody for that matter, on how to navigate this? I was introduced to endocrinology. They kinda heal the body naturally, 'cause one thing I wanted to do is, when I was getting to the end of my treatment, I thought it was important that I set myself up for success afterwards. So my body's been through a lot, and so now that I'm in survivorship, the care focus on what's going on now to what's gonna happen to me in the future. with all that stuff, they focused on natural ways to make my body feel better, whether that's getting a lot of sleep, fixing my diet up a little bit, some new, um, vitamins I should take, some nutrients that I need. And so all that kinda stuff helped me prepare myself to just kinda live more normally. And so when I was in college and I started this stuff, I noticed some changes. Some of it could be placebo, but they instilled confidence in me that- This is gonna get better and that's the only thing that's gonna happen. It's never gonna get worse, it's only gonna get better Is there a myth or a misconception about being a younger cancer warrior that you would wanna clear up if you could? I don't think of anything at the top of my head. I just see myself as just another guy really. That's all I- that's all it is. Um, I was in the weird spot where I was becoming an adult, and people who get diagnosed with my cancer are normally r- get it around the age of five, and I was 17, so it's a lot different. one thing, some of the most fun stories I have about my treatment is actually, so when I was back home, there was this three-year-old girl who was going through way worse stuff than I was. She had cancer behind her eyes, um, in her brain. I'm like, "What I'm going through isn't even close to what she's going through, and she's a fraction of the age." I'm like s- that's where I'm like, "I really don't have it that bad. I got a, I got a tough deal, but I'm gonna be all right. But this little girl right here is going through a heck of a lot more, and if she can show up smiling and laughing, then why can't I?" I just think that thinking that a child who's going through cancer's life is all gloom, I think they have some of the best outlook because she's three years old. She doesn't know any better, and she's living life like she doesn't have anything different. their perception of life is gonna be drastically different than anyone else their age. They're experiencing stuff in some tough times, and they're... Once they're past it, hopefully they get past it, they are gonna have an amazing life. this three-year-old girl, I would play Uno with her and games, and there was one time I got caught cheating. and so we'll get- You cheated, really? I, we'll get to how I cheated. Okay. So we're playing Uno, and the, the childcare specialist was playing with her, and they had her cards placed down so she could see. And so she had two cards left. She placed one, and I could see that last card, and I laid down a card, and I'm like, "Oh, wait, she's gonna win." I pulled it back and then placed a different one. They immediately say, "You're really gonna cheat against a child with cancer?" I said, "I have cancer, too. It's just a child at that point." And so that's one of my funny stories from there. Um, their p- her parents got a chuckle out of it. She ended up winning. But, um, she ended up winning, right? Yeah. And so, but those two things cancel out, and she had a bigger impact on my life than I think she knows or will ever know. I sometimes, they, they still live in my hometown area, and I remember it was about a year ago, my mom's in the grocery store, and she's like, "Guess who I just ran into?" And it's a photo of her and, the young girl, and sh- I believe she's seven years old right now. that's the kind of story where it's like my story's nothing compared to hers. Hers is way more impressive just everything she was able to go through and is still going through. It's im- it's unbelievable to me How has this experience reshaped your priorities and the way you live your day-to-day life now? I think just any time you can say hi to someone, I think that's the most important thing. And my mom always tells me, "Makes today great for someone else." My grandma says it as well. And so if you can kind of go in with that mindset where it's like, I went through tough stuff, I don't know what half these people are going through. If I can make someone's day or... the best, um, things that I was told I have in qualities is that I'm never mad, I'm always smiling, and that my outlook on life is undeniably amazing, and those are the two best compliments I could ever receive right there. And so that's what I want people... I want them to get that energy off me, 'cause I want them to have that same outlook on life too. Nothing's ever as hard as you think it is. It's just what you're willing to do to get there Is it as easy as that? The engagement, the saying hello, a, a warm and friendly... Do we underestimate that in today's world? I think we do. Um, and so, like, the younger generation, we struggle with kind of embarrassing ourselves, and sometimes if you have to say hi to someone and they're not gonna say hi back, they might think about that later on and be like, they had a tough stretch going on on that day, too. They had a bad day. Um, something didn't go right at work, something didn't go right in school, personal life, and it's like, I still tried. that, that's something that's important to me. And so anytime you can socialize with someone or connect, um, before we were talking about the power of relationships. You can get anywhere in life if you know the right people and you have the right relationships, and it's about building genuine relationships. Y- You gotta be, be the guy, though, right? Be the one to proactively say hello, to do a, it's such a cliche, but a random act of kindness. And it, it's harder to do than to say it is. I struggle with it. I'm not always 100% like that. and that's okay. You don't always need to be 100% on. But as long as you make the effort every now and then at least, you're making a difference As we fast-forward to now, you're on the staff of the University of Minnesota Gopher basketball team. What's day-to-day look like in that position? It's just awesome. I, I, I truly don't feel I work a day in my life because I enjoy what I do, and I enjoy the people I work with and for. Working with college athletes, they are exceptional human beings. They put so much time and energy to what they do, that's, it's inspiring to be around. And some of their stories, their backgrounds, that's... It's f- they come from everywhere. We have international kids on our roster. We have local kids on our roster. We have people from across the country on our roster. And learning about everyone's background's one of my favorite things. And one thing that, um, Coach Medved always lives by is team together, and our staff and our players really buy into that. So when it's team together, it's everyone for one common goal. And when you can do that, and you can really get that togetherness, and everyone's kinda sacrificing their own thing for that goal, you can accomplish so much. And you've been busy over the summer. I think we forget that the preparation for basketball is going on right now, well before the season actually kicks off. we have summer practices right now, and so I always tell people that that first summer practice is like Christmas- in, um, in June. You get all the guys on campus. Um, your new players are in, your transfers, your freshmen. You get to see the staff again every day, and it's just like I enjoy my job so much that every time I see someone, I greet them, and I'm, I- I always got a huge smile on my face. I could've seen them eight hours ago. It's the best thing ever. What's the biggest mess, either literally or figuratively, that you've ever had to clean up at work with the team? Ooh, this is a good one. Um This is like a, a personal one that was like, my mom is not gonna be happy with this. But so we had some leftover Chick-fil-A in the fridge, and I forgot that there's aluminum in the, um, in the sandwich packaging, and I, so I put it on there. I thought it was paper, and it's alum- so in the f- microwave- Uh-oh it started on fire. And we had a visit that day. Not many people know about this story, so I pulled it out of the mic- I'm like, "That doesn't sound right." I look in there, and it's on fire. And so I pull it out, and I quickly put it under the sink. Fire's gone. It wasn't a big one, but it smelled like smoke, and so I'm like, "Okay, I gotta go. I'm here before anyone's here. I gotta run to Target quick and get a bunch of Febreze and make it..." And so people were like, "What's that new smell?" And you're like, "Ah, it must, cleaners must've done a new scent," but it was just that. And so that was one of the stories where it's like, I am not that smart as I think I am. It's like I should've known there was aluminum in there considering I took it out of the bag, Whew, we got past it, though." What are you ridiculously bad at? I am the world's worst speller. I cannot spell to save my life. Um- Well, you are a math guy, so you get a little freedom on that. It- Really? Yeah, a, a little bit. But so- Okay I, I am actually banned from whiting on, or writing on the whiteboard at work. Because they... First of all, my handwriting is pretty good if it's on pen and paper, but if it's on a whiteboard, forget about it. That's a whole different game. yeah. It's, I'm the world's worst speller, and I try to get better at it, but it doesn't get any better really. What is something that is legal that you could not be paid enough to do? Something that is legal that I could not be paid enough to do. Let's think about that My, my mom is, and some of my friends are gonna think this is hilarious, but if you told me I had to eat a bowl of yogurt, I couldn't get paid to do that. No? Why? I couldn't, I couldn't get paid to do it. Um, there's actually this story from elementary school. One of my best friends to this day, I told him I was allergic to yogurt, and so he told his mom that he can no longer have that at lunch, so she stopped packing it for him. And then she called my mom saying, "What's this?" And she's like, "Oh, he's not actually allergic. He just hates it." some of my coworkers when they're eating, I'm like, "Stay away." And they're like- Is it the texture thing? It's the texture. just not- Can't do it? Just not my thing. Nope. What overused word or phrase are you tired of hearing? There's really nothing that comes to my mind. I'm not really, like, a picky guy in terms of that. Like, if someone says something, it's probably gonna catch on to me if it catches on with them, so I don't get kind of annoyed by any of that stuff. Sometimes it just pops out of the blue, though. And all of a sudden it's stuck in your head. You hear it everywhere. May- actually, maybe it's someone telling me I'm impatient. That, that might be it right there. 'Cause I, I feel like I'm sort of patient, but I know I'm impatient to some stuff. Um, one of the things people will tell you about me is that I'm a fast walker, and I tell them, "I'm not walking fast, I'm just walking with purpose," just so that they kinda... Every- everything I do, I have a, I do it with purpose. That's just my way of saying I'm doing it fast and, um, so I guess I am a little impatient, but I hate people calling me out for it. You grew up in Wisconsin, went to school in Minnesota. You're a Midwestern guy. What part of the US would you never want to live in? I've been to California before for basketball. The only time I've ever been in LA. That traffic there is so bad. I don't think I could ever do it. Everywhere else in the world I think I could live. In the country too especially, I could live anywhere. I love nature. I could live in just like the boonies. I could live all the way out there on remote land as long as I can go back. I'm a city guy, but I could do it. I could find peace out there. I love going on hikes. I love being outside. anywhere but LA just 'cause of the traffic. High traffic areas. New York would be a little bit of a stretch for me, but you can walk everywhere. Yeah, four hours of traffic to run a simple errand is no way to live. That's, that's not an errand. That's a whole like side job there. Drew Evensen, you are amazing, my friend. if nothing else, we should all get out and help give back in the community wherever we can. the best spot you can make impact is in your local community. That's where I... I was from a smaller town, and my local community really s- stepped up for me and made everything as easy as possible, and I think if people really wanna make a difference in this world, you gotta start right where your feet are and that's nearby you. Help your neighbors, help your friends, people you haven't met yet, go meet them, go help them. Just, like, team together. That's one of the best sayings I ever came across. Um, that's where I work, that's where I live now, and so if you can just have that philosophy behind everything you do, um, that togetherness is something that is so valuable, and people underestimate what it can do