JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Tyler Lacy’s phone lit up during the NFL draft with a 904 number on the screen.
It was a call from the Jaguars to let Lacy know that they were going to take him in the fourth round of the draft. It was the biggest milestone in Lacy’s football career and his support system was right there with him to celebrate it.
The first thing Tyler did after the call was hug his mom, Veronica. He says that moment was special for his entire family, symbolizing their ultimate success over a life-threatening scare.
“The Lacy family, we’re a pretty close-knit group,” Tyler said. “I call them every single day. I love my sister, my whole family, everybody.”
When the Jaguars (2-5) take the field Sunday at EverBank Stadium to face the Packers (5-2), the day is no doubt a bit more personal for Tyler and so many others both in and out of the stadium. The Week 8 clash is the Crucial Catch game, a partnership between the NFL and the American Cancer Society that has raised more than $27 million since its inception in 2009 to promote early detection and increase access to cancer screenings.
Not a day goes by where Lacy doesn’t speak to his family. He may be a thousand miles away from his hometown of Murphy, Texas, but Tyler always finds time to check in with Veronica, his dad, Marvin, and his only sibling, Azia who he also calls his best friend.
“It has not been a moment that we have not laughed,” Veronica said.
“She is [the rock of the family],” Tyler said. “She holds everything down. If we’re traveling or something, she’s the one that’s planning everything. She’s the one that knows every [piece of] information.”
Cancer diagnosis was jarring
You can imagine the shock and confusion Tyler felt in December 2006. Just one month after turning 7 years old he found out the rock of the family was shaken by a diagnosis of breast cancer.
“I didn’t know what she meant,” he said. “At first, I thought she was pregnant or something. I thought I had another brother coming or something. Then she explained it to us, and that’s when reality set in.”
Veronica detected a lump in her left breast when she was 37 years old. A doctor told her not to worry because he said women didn’t need to have mammograms until age 40. But she knew something was wrong. Veronica’s mother had died of pancreatic cancer, which put her even more on edge about her own discovery. Ultimately, she found a different doctor. After a mammogram, a biopsy confirmed that she had breast cancer.
“I just immediately started crying, but it was like something came over me that said ‘I got you’,” Veronica said. “That was the only time I cried. I called my husband. I told him I’m on my way home and that we need to tell the kids that I’m going to have surgery. We just kept it normal.”
Like a true warrior, Veronica took on the fight of a lifetime without slowing down.
“I know they probably saw me tired, let’s say that,” Veronica said. “I would say, ‘yeah, mom’s tired, but you know what, we’re going to do this and then I’m going to come back and get some rest.’ But they never saw me in my bad moments.”
“You really couldn’t see it on my mom’s face,” Tyler said. “I mean, she was taking me to practice. Taking me to school. Doing her work. She was doing everything. You really couldn’t see that she was dealing with something on the side. I’m really proud of her for that.”
‘She’s my hero’
In February 2008, 14 months after her diagnosis, Veronica received the news that every cancer patient prays that they hear.
She was cancer free.
Tyler was with his mother the moment that she received the news and said it remains burned in his memory as a day of celebration.
“Oh that day was amazing,” he said. “I actually went up to the office with her. We were expecting great news so we brought cupcakes and stuff up there. I was with her when she rang the bell. It was such an exciting moment. Especially seeing that big ‘ol smile on her face. It was just surreal. So surreal.”
Veronica said that memory remains one of the most poignant and powerful in her life.
“To have Tyler there and to ring the bell with me my last day of treatment and cancer-free, it was phenomenal,” she said. “It was next to the most important day of my life. Especially getting married, having kids, and then that.”
Sixteen years later, Veronica is still cancer free.
Reminiscing on what he currently would tell 7-year-old Tyler about what his mom and family is about to go through, he doesn’t dress it up. It’s one of the most emotionally jarring phrases that a family can hear.
“A rough time right now, but then you’ll see the light of day,” he said. “It will come, just keep your head down, keep pushing, and keep the main thing, the main thing. Love and support each other.”
Each Sunday when Tyler suits up for the Jaguars and during each phone call with mom, the memories of her 14-month battle are never lost.
“She inspires me every day,” Tyler said. “When I wake up in the morning to go to practice, even those days when I don’t feel like going, I still think about my mom. I think about like what things she went through in her life. It’s easy for me to wake up and go to practice.”
Veronica said that she’s moved by her son’s memories of that time and how her battle continues to inspire him.
“That’s special that he remembers after all of these years what I went through and that it pushes him,” Veronica said. “That’s a testimony that I think I’ll never forget.”
Looking back, Tyler says what his family endured, did bring them closer.
“She’s my hero,” he said.