Kean volleyball player Steven Zarzycki spikes cancer

By Steven Merrill | Published by February 17, 2020

It was throughout last season when Kean Men’s volleyball player Steven Zarzycki felt a nagging pain in his back.  

After receiving an MRI on his lower back in mid-April when the season was over, a mass was revealed. In late May, just two weeks into summer classes at Kean, Zarzycki received a call from his parents and could tell something was wrong by the way his mom’s voice sounded.  

A biopsy showed that Zarzycki had cancer and was diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma, a rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He needed to return to his hometown of Rochester, NY to start treatment. 

“Cancer was literally the last thing on my mind,” Zarzycki said when discussing the diagnosis. “I didn’t even want to believe it. After about an hour of just sitting there in silence, I texted my parents. So sending that text made me kind of believe in myself that it was the worst news I’d ever gotten, but that one day it’d be gone.” 

A month after his diagnosis, Zarzycki started chemotherapy. His gallbladder had to be removed due to a piece of the mass being attached to it. Doctors also performed a bone marrow biopsy to see if it was in his blood. Fortunately, it never spread there. 

“It’s pretty awful when anybody in your family or friends gets cancer,” said Zarzycki’s mother, Debbie. “But when it’s your own child, it just rips you apart. It was very difficult.” 

Zarzycki went through six rounds of chemo. Although the first round consisted of him being in the hospital for five straight days, it went well. Zarzycki was able to do the rest of the therapy at home with a backpack pumping chemo through his body. During the entire process, he had to see the doctor for spinal taps and each week he did chemo there were countless appointments.  

Throughout this difficult journey, Zarzycki was not alone. An overwhelming amount of support poured in from all over, varying from Olympic skier Mikaela Shiffrin to New York Mets minor league affiliate Binghamton Rumble Ponies to random people keeping him in their thoughts.  Zarzycki said it would take an entire day to respond to messages, but he replied to everyone, usually when he was at the hospital. 

Kean Athletics started the motto ‘#StevenStrong’ on social media, posting it in every tweet that was sent out. The women’s volleyball team dedicated its game against William Paterson on Sept. 24 to Zarzycki as it was his first time back on campus since being diagnosed with cancer. His family from Syracuse, Rochester, Binghamton, and Virginia all came for the game. 

“It was amazing,” Debbie Zarzycki said. “We just can’t describe what that meant to our family and to Steven. Just to have everyone there to recognize him and recognize what he was going through meant a lot.”  

His biggest supporters were his family. Already tight, Zarzycki became even closer with his younger brother Matt last summer. His parents were also with him every step of the way, telling him to take it “one day at a time.” Debbie would show her son different quotes from a booklet or send them to his phone. 

“Anything to stay positive and just keep pushing forward to get through the bad days where he wasn’t feeling good,” she said. “It was something to get him through the day and keep him focused. Mentally we stayed strong for each other. That’s what really got us through most of it.” 

Then on Nov. 5 of last year, the Zarzycki family’s hope became a reality. After nearly a six-month battle with Burkitt lymphoma that included six rounds of chemotherapy, roughly 15 days of admittance in the hospital and times where he couldn’t leave his bed or even move, Steven Zarzycki was cancer-free. 

“It was awesome. I saw my oncologist in the hallway and I didn’t even want to make eye contact with her because I didn’t want to see like a little smile or a smirk,” Zarzycki said. “I didn’t want to get any weird hints so I looked at her a little bit and I knew I shouldn’t have and she had the straightest face and I was like ‘wow it’s not going to be it.’ And then we went back to the room about 10 minutes later and she came in and took one step and just said ‘congratulations.’ I was like ‘thank you so much for everything.’” 

Roommate Dylan Colatrella was easily inspired by Zarzycki’s fight. Living off-campus with him, he saw some of his worst days up close. He knew it couldn’t have happened to a stronger, more determined person than Zarzycki. 

“The best thing about him was that he rarely ever let it affect his personal life,” said Colatrella. “He would go to the gym while receiving chemo treatments and when you were around him it was like nothing was wrong. I know there were tough days but he wouldn’t let anyone hear about it.” 

Zarzycki knew he couldn’t battle alone and gave thanks to everyone who reached out along the way. He wanted to especially thank Cori Dengel, a recent Kean graduate and women’s soccer player for doing a lot of work to make custom bracelets on his behalf and sending them out to people. 

Now three months cancer-free, Zarzycki still deals with effects from chemotherapy such as nerve damage in his hands and feet. Earlier this month, Zarzycki returned to Rochester for his first quarterly checkup with doctors. The appointment went well and doctors found no signs of cancer coming back. 

“It’s going to be a long process,” he said about dealing with the nerve damage. “I’m doing acupunctures right now and I’ve already noticed the difference with that so hopefully I just take my time with it and it gets better.” 

Zarzycki added that he is once again working out every day and gaining back the 30 pounds he lost from being sick. He will make it to as many volleyball matches as possible this season and stay in touch with teammates while doing so. After taking the fall semester off, he is back at Kean taking classes and working at Panera across from the main campus. 

Zarzycki, 22, still wants to play volleyball and hopes to return to action with Kean’s team next season. When he does, he will not be the lone senior because three of his teammates are sitting out this season so the group can finish what they started three years ago. 

Jay Bynum, Ian Capp, and Jake Milnazik will not play this year for Kean Men’s volleyball and will complete their final year of eligibility on the court next season with Zarzycki. They also plan on graduating with Zarzycki in the spring of 2021.  

“We’ve all been very close since freshman year, and last year was so tough for Steve so we wanted to be able to go out without any ‘what if’s,’” said Milnazik, who also lives off-campus with Zarzycki. “We are dedicated to making it worth it.” 

Once he completes his degree at Kean next year, Zarzycki wants to work in the human resources field or be a college volleyball coach. While being sick, he helped out with his high school’s varsity volleyball team to already start gaining experience.  

As a human resources major, Zarzycki sees himself specializing in recruiting or doing payroll for a big company. 

“I like interacting with people and fixing problems so I think it will work out well for me,” he said. 

With cancer in the rearview mirror, Zarzycki is on the path back to having a normal life, remaining determined and family-oriented, the way his mom said he always has been. His story has impacted and touched many lives, and the Kean community and beyond remains Steven strong. 

 

 

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