Southern Utah volleyball community serving one of its own amid fight with rare cancer

ST. GEORGE — The volleyball community in southern Utah is coming together to support one of its own who was recently diagnosed with a rare, aggressive cancer.

In December, Kody Campbell, who was 19 at the time, had taken a drink of water that seemed to have gone down the wrong throat.

"He kind of choked, and then when he coughed, he said, 'Oh, my rib hurts,'" Campbell's mom, Shauntel Campbell, recalled. "We were kind of giving him a hard time and were saying, 'You can't displace your rib from coughing.'"

The next morning, Campbell told his mom that he was having a really hard time breathing and that his rib still really hurt. So, they went to the Instacare to see what was going on.

"We went in there and got an X-ray, and they're like, 'Man, I think you have a collapsed lung because we can't see the bottom half of your lung,'" Shauntel Campbell said. "We were sent to the emergency room, and they came back and said that he had a tumor in his chest that was attached to his rib that was 6 inches by 6 inches."

Several tests were performed, and it was found that Campbell had Ewing's sarcoma, which is a rare, aggressive cancer that forms in bone or soft tissue, and primarily affects teenagers and young adults.

The turn of events was sudden for the family. The year prior, they watched their son win the first-ever Utah high school boys state championship volleyball game with his Pine View High School team. They were seeing him grow into adulthood, and this diagnosis, they said, has been difficult.

His high school coach Josh Warner told KSL that when he heard the news of the diagnosis, it broke his heart.

"It's never fun to hear that a young man with so much life ahead of him is going through this," Warner said. "No 19-year-old kid should have to worry about this. It's difficult seeing a portion of their life being temporarily taken from them."

Warner reflected on his time coaching the young athlete and described him as a key player who also brought a level of calm to the court.

"He was an outside hitter, and that's an important position in volleyball due to the fact that they touch the ball a lot," Warner said. "That position is critical, and he was very good at it.

"Kody is like that turtle in 'Finding Nemo,' like a surfer dude laid back," he continued. "Nothing ever phases him. He was always kind of steady Eddy, and just because of his personality, he allowed his teammates to play pretty loose because he didn't get worked up. He was just a really calming influence."

The volleyball community in southern Utah is tight-knit, with the sport being fairly new to boys in the area. Desert Hills High School coach Josh James said he and many local high school coaches had also gotten to know Campbell through club tournaments when he was a child. James said that when he heard of the diagnosis, he set out to have the school's annual cancer fundraiser benefit for his young friend.

"I coached against Kody, and he was one of the greatest," James said. "He was the loudest cheerer for all on the court.

"We run a cancer game every year where we wear pink checkered uniforms; we pull out once a year for an event like this. I talked to our school administration and said that I want to make this the biggest fundraiser we've ever had. They said that we will get all the money collected and write a grand check to the family at the end."

The fundraising event will be held Thursday at the 7 p.m. at Desert Hills High School during the boys varsity game against Pineview High School. The game is free, and any money donated at the entrance will go toward Kody Campbell's cancer treatments. The school is also collecting donations via Venmo @Deserthillsthunder2008 and ask donors to put "Campbell family" in the memo.

Shauntel Campbell said her son is hoping to make an appearance tonight, adding that he is in the middle of his fourth round of chemotherapy and he just experienced an infection.

"It's been a blessing for Kody to have something to look forward to," she said. "The game tonight will give Kody a visual of how many people are rooting for him.

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