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ST. FRANCIS, Minn. (KARE) - A three-sport high school athlete from Minnesota says playing sports was his entire life until a rare bone cancer diagnosis changed his world. Planning is certainly key in football, but you always need to be ready to adapt. St. Francis High School football player AJ Walker, 16, is known for not sticking with the original plan – just ask his dad, Derry Walker, who coaches him. “Every situation, he molds quickly. He’s like water. He just stays fluid,” Derry Walker said. That adaptability became even more important last season when AJ started feeling aches and pains that didn’t seem right. Doctors at M Health Fairview Masonic Children’s Hospital found he had a rare, aggressive form of bone cancer. “The diagnosis was high grade osteosarcoma in my femur, and I had several other metastases in my body,” AJ said. Dr. Aarti Kamat, a pediatric specialist who has worked closely with AJ, says the teenager’s first question wasn’t about treatment but about when he could get back to playing sports. “His question was always, ‘Can I get back to wrestling? Can I get back to football?’” Kamat said. Unfortunately, doctors had to remove 10 inches of AJ’s femur, and the teen was told that returning to the sports he loves wouldn’t be possible. “Not being able to participate in something that you had such big plans moving forward after high school, it was just devastating,” AJ said. Instead of mourning what might have been, AJ pulled an audible. He found a creative outlet on TikTok by making sports videos and edits that have hundreds of thousands of views. The montages keep him connected to the world he loves and keep him busy in his hospital room. Still, the months of treatment were grueling — 10 rounds of chemotherapy, long hospital stays and difficult conversations about death. Always the steady presence for his family, AJ sat his parents down one night. “I just want you guys to know that I’m OK with dying,” he told them. This week, AJ and his family received the news they’d been waiting for: he’s in remission. The teen now has his sights set on the future, and there’s no telling what he’ll do next. “I’ve been looking at different alleyways to still be involved in sports,” he said. “Like sports journalism, sports therapy or sports broadcasting.” Because for AJ, while the play might change, the passion never does.
