Super Bowl Sunday is extra special this year for a North Texas football coach.
Carlos Lynn, the head coach at Cedar Hill High School and his family have endured an off-the-field battle to save his son’s life for months.
The family held a small watch party at their Cedar Hill home on Sunday afternoon.
“We’ve got seven minutes left in the first quarter,” Lynn said looking at the timeclock.
Lynn knows the value of every second on and off the field.
Time is especially precious in his household.
“When adversity comes into your personal space you learn to cherish that time,” he said. “You learn to really embrace every moment and make everything count.”
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When it comes to his son Caleb, the coach is optimistic despite early setbacks.
“If we’re looking in terms of Caleb’s life you know, it’s just the first quarter,” said Lynn. “It’s just been a rough one.”
In his 13 years of life, Caleb has faced the same diagnosis two times.
“Being diagnosed at the age of eight and not really knowing what’s going on and then battling through that and being cancer-free for a moment then it comes back,” said Lynn.
Rhabdomyosarcoma, a tumor of the soft tissue and muscle.
A rare but beatable cancer, just ask Caleb.
“I’m just happy to be alive,” said the teen. “People go through this stuff, some people actually die from it. Some people can be affected by it and I’m just not that one.”
“He has one more chemo treatment this week Thursday and Friday and he’s done,” said Lynn. “Everything now is showing he’s clean and cancer free.”
The Lynn’s are now moving forward onto the second half, of life.
“All the precious moments in life that you look forward to for your child, those things are still ahead of him,” said Lynn. “I tell him he needs to hurry up and get back to school so he can find a date to the 8th grade prom. We got to work on a date now.”
“I have so much left ahead of me,” said Caleb.
Caleb enjoys playing video games and baseball. He hopes to attend LSU after high school.
