Lomu strong: Cedar Valley football senior Joe Lomu setting courage standard with cancer fight
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- Cedar Valley sophomore running back Joe Lomu scores a touchdown during the nonregion game at Provo on Friday, Aug. 27, 2021. (Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald)
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- Cedar Valley senior Joe Lomu poses for a photo with his parents after being honored at BYU football practice in Provo on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023.
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- Cedar Valley senior Joe Lomu rings the bell celebrating completing cancer treatment in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023.
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- Cedar Valley senior Joe Lomu smiles for a photo with his crutches at his home in Eagle Mountain.
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- Cedar Valley senior Joe Lomu holds his father’s hand while going through cancer treatment.
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- Cedar Valley senior Joe Lomu rings the bell celebrating completing cancer treatment in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023.
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- Cedar Valley’s Joe Lomu poses for a photo with family after a football game at Cedar Valley in 2022.
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- Cedar Valley’s Joe Lomu carries the football during a game in 2022.
Like all football players, Cedar Valley senior Joe Lomu knows well the sounds associated with the gridiron, things like pads crunching, referees blowing whistles, fans cheering and the band playing the Aviator fight song.
But on Thursday, the sound that meant the most wasn’t on a football field. It was the clear tone of a single bell.
Lomu got to be the one to ring that bell, signifying that nearly a year after discovering he had cancer, he had won the first battle with the disease and his body had no sign of it remaining0.
It’s a moment of triumph he and his entire family will savor, particularly after the long months of struggle.
“It was crazy,” Lomu said Wednesday. “I never thought it would happen. It was hard, especially at first, but as I went through it got easier. I got a lot of help from my family.”
He was also incredibly appreciative of being invited to visit BYU football’s practice on Wednesday, where he was presented with gifts including a signed football, a signed Cougar jersey and a BYU cap.
He grinned as he looked down at the blue-and-white apparel, saying, “actually I’m a Utah fan.”
But Lomu said he was touched by the kindness and generosity of the Cougar players, coaches and staff.
“Hearing the players shout my name was pretty tight,” Lomu said. “It really lifted my spirits.”
Lomu admitted that there have been a lot of times over the last year when it’s been hard to stay positive as his body has fought cancer.
He didn’t have any idea he had it until a football injury during Cedar Valley’s run in the 2022 playoffs.
“Against Viewmont in the first round, I got hit in the leg and it started hurting,” Lomu said. “After the game, I couldn’t really walk but when I got home and stretched it out, it was better. But the next week we played Stansbury and it got worse.”
Cedar Valley lost to the Stallions in a hard-fought game, ending their season — but Lomu found that the injury didn’t seem to be healing.
“As the weeks went on, my knee started getting fatter and fatter,” Lomu said. “At first they thought I had torn my ACL, so they took an MRI. That’s when the doctor said that I had cancer.”
Not surprisingly, Lomu’s first reaction was immediate denial. It’s not something a powerful running back expects to hear. A second MRI, however, confirmed the initial diagnosis.
“I was like, wow,” Lomu said. “But it wasn’t until the surgery when it really hit, when I looked at my leg and it wasn’t there.”
Having a leg amputated was a tough reality to accept for Lomu.
“I thought it was a dream,” Lomu said. “I was like, I can’t play football any more? That went on for months.”
The Aviator senior said that during those difficult times, he found strength in his family and his faith.
“It was just coming closer to God that helped me face it,” Lomu said. “My parents told me to follow Jesus Christ and what he’s teaching, to just focus on being alive now. They said life is not all about football. It is about other things. That’s when it really hit me.”
Lomu expressed gratitude to the many people who have supported him on this journey, including Cedar Valley.
“They did a lot of stuff for me,” Lomu said. “They let me ride in a helicopter. They put ‘Lomu Strong’ on their helmets and said they dedicated this year to me. It was tight.”
Aviator head coach Weston Zabriskie said in a phone interview on Friday that Lomu has taught the team an important lesson about resiliency but has also continued to be a presence for a team that is going through a lot of adversity.
“We talk about being grateful,” Zabriskie said. “He got to bring the game ball in a helicopter to our homecoming game, and it was cool to see the crowd explode. It was such a cool moment.”
He said that while the kindness has been amazing and he loves going to games to be with his team, it’s still difficult to be on the sideline instead of doing what he loved to do on the field.
“I’ve been playing with my team since I was little,” Lomu said. “Now our final year together we can’t play together. It’s been really hard. Just seeing them play has made me happy though.”
Zabriskie lauded how Lomu has handled the challenge.
“He’s been so great,” Zabriskie said. “You go stand next to him and he might take a minute to warmup, but when you see that big Joe Lomu smile, you can’t help but love that kid. I tell him that he will have a bigger impact now than he did playing football.”
Visiting the BYU football team on Wednesday was a precursor to the bigger moment of getting the scans back on Thursday showing that the treatment has worked and there is no sign of cancer in his body.
That meant on Thursday he got to ring the end of treatment bell, which symbolizes the end of radiation treatment and being ready to get back to normal life.
Part of that process for Lomu is getting a prosthetic leg, which he already tested on Monday.
During these months of treatment, Lomu said he has thought a lot about the future.
“I had so many dreams of going to the NFL and things like that, but those are crushed,” Lomu said. “I think I need to start with the present.”
He said he’s thinking about serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when he finishes high school and then going from there to decide about going to college or working.
He took a moment to reflect on what he has learned from his experience and what advice he would give to someone facing a similar difficult road.
“Stay strong,” Lomu said. “There’s more to life than just football. Your family has your back. Everyone has your back in your community. You’re not by yourself. There’s a lot of people that are going through stuff, so reach out if you’re ever feeling down. There are going to be days where you’re feeling down. You’ve just got to keep your head up because there’s more to life than you know.”
The Lomu family is dealing with the financial burden of the medical treatment, so any contributions would be welcome to help with those costs.
Donations can be made through the HayesTough Foundation, which can be found online at http://hayestough.org, or through Venmo at @TheHayesToughFoundation.
