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Support helped McCarthy beat cancer
Former Mooney, ND
standout won battle
against cancer
By Joe Scalzo
Beating cancer took Kyle McCarthy’s hair, his energy and his appetite.
It didn’t take his sense of humor.
“I’m 28 years old and I don’t think scars are that cool anymore, but if I was younger, I’d think I have some pretty cool scars,” he said.
Four months after being diagnosed with Stage 3 testicular cancer, the Cardinal Mooney High graduate got a clean bill of health this week, ending the toughest — and, in some ways, most inspirational — stretch of his life.
“Through this entire process, it’s incredible the amount of people that have reached out to offer their support and love and prayers,” he said, speaking by phone late Tuesday night from South Bend, Ind., where he serves as a Notre Dame graduate assistant and safeties coach. “I’ve just been so thankful.
SDLqIt’s made this whole thing a heck of a lot easier on me.”
McCarthy first noticed his cancer symptoms in the spring. His energy was low and he was suffering “terrible” back pain. Since the diagnosis, he’s had two separate surgeries and 21 sessions of chemotherapy.
And while he knew he had a treatable form of cancer, that didn’t change the fact that the treatment is pretty awful.
“It was difficult at times but you don’t really have an option of what you can do,” he said. “I had to follow the doctor’s game plan and execute it and go at it full force. I was fortunate to have great doctors and great support through the whole process.”
Much of that support came from Youngstown. His sixth grade football team sent him a signed football. His eighth grade football team sent a signed jersey. Cardinal Mooney sent a signed banner the size of a bedsheet.
“And I got an incredible amount of texts and calls and letters,” he said. “It’s just a testament to the community we have back home and the support system I’ve been blessed with. It’s something I’ll remember for a very long time.”
After a standout career as a Notre Dame safety, McCarthy signed with the Denver Broncos as an undrafted free agent in 2010 and also played for the Chiefs and Raiders over the past two years. He retired in January following his fourth knee surgery and was hired as a graduate assistant at Notre Dame. McCarthy stayed in South Bend during his treatment, working with the team as much as his doctors and his body would allow.
“Coach [Brian] Kelly and the staff have been extremely understanding of my situation,” he said. “They’ve allowed me to still coach the safeties through this and be around the team and help in any way I could.”
McCarthy announced that he was cancer-free in a statement on Twitter and Facebook on Tuesday afternoon, garnering more than 2,000 responses in less than 24 hours.
When asked on Tuesday night how many text messages and phone calls he’d received, he laughed and said, “I really don’t know. I haven’t honestly had a chance to look through them all. We had practice and meetings after that, but it’s definitely been a bunch.
“Again, it’s been super humbling and amazing to see all the support. To those people who reached out, I really can’t thank them enough. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to repay people and explain how helpful they really were.”