Every athlete has a moment on the field they’ll remember forever. For some, it’s their first home run. Others, their first strikeout. For 17-year-old Brody Turer, it was when he returned to the mound for Wharton High School (Tampa, Fla.) after battling and beating two forms of leukemia.
On March 4, about 10 months after being diagnosed with mixed phenotype acute leukemia with myeloid and B-cell phenotype (MPAL), and about four months after his initial bone marrow transplants, Turer made his junior year debut. He pitched 1.2 innings of scoreless ball and struck out a batter. It was a long trek: a battle of will and determination against cancer and the expectations of doctors.
“It’s just the principle of being back out there after so many people told me I wouldn’t,” Turer said during an interview with USA TODAY High School Sports.
Turer’s journey back to the diamond — which included removing the end of the hospital bed to use as a weight and regain strength as fast as possible — started a decade earlier with him not particularly eager to play baseball.
‘Fly the W,’ indeed: The origin
When he first started playing the sport, Brody’s dad had to make him go to practices and games. It wasn’t until Turer was around 8 years old that he realized a passion and joy for baseball, and a desire to play. As a Cubs fan, it coincided with Chicago winning the 2016 World Series, when Turer started to imitate his favorite players like Anthony Rizzo.
Seven years later, he would begin playing at Wharton as a freshman. After a first strikeout for the Wildcats, Brody was hooked.
“It just seemed like that was going to be the start of something,” he said. “Starting with the new high school team that was going to be my home for the next four years… I feel like that was a good starting point for me.”
Mother’s Day 2024: The diagnosis
As a sophomore, Turer saw time on the diamond with the varsity team, playing alongside his brother, Jake, who was a senior. Brody appeared in two games, one of which came against Middleton (Tampa, Fla.) where the right-hander struck out the side.
With Jake committed to the University of Tampa Spartans, Wharton went 11-15 on the season.
It was a positive progression that would certainly help create a path for Brody heading into the summer and then, his junior year.
Then, things changed.
Shortly after the Wildcats’ final game of the season, over the weekend of Mother’s Day in 2024, Turer felt ill. The family initially thought it was a cold or perhaps mononucleosis and made plans for him to visit the doctor on Monday, May 13, 2024. After going to the emergency room near Wharton High, he was sent to St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital in an ambulance and, the next morning, was told he likely had leukemia.
“When you hear the words like leukemia or cancer, it just doesn’t feel real,” he said.
It was confirmed on Wednesday he had a rare combination of two forms of the cancer that affects fewer than 3% of leukemia patients, according to the National Library of Medicine.
“It’s harder on the people around you because you know you can’t do anything for them,” Turer said. “Just hearing [cancer] makes your stomach drop, and everything around you just stops moving.”
Among Turer’s first questions was when he could play baseball again. Doctors warned him of a long recovery, saying he wouldn’t be able to play in 2024 or 2025.
“I told them, ‘That’s not going to happen; I’m going to get back on the field.’”
Three days after his first doctor’s visit, Turer had his port surgically implanted. The next day, he started chemotherapy.
He would go through three rounds of chemo before he showed no signs of cancer, a needed step before he could receive a bone marrow transplant. As the doctors sought a bone marrow match, Turer continued undergoing “maintenance chemo,” his mother Danielle said, to ensure he remained in remission.
To keep up his strength, Turer walked about a mile per day through the hospital, and had weights brought in to lift. And of course, he used the end of his hospital bed as a makeshift weight.
“They didn’t think I was a normal kid — they thought I was crazy — but when you have passion for something, you’re just gonna put their words aside and do what you can,” Turer said with a laugh.
“We had many talks with his nurses and doctors,” Danielle said. “They would tell us that his body would let him know what he could and could not do, so he had to listen to his own body.”
While in the hospital, he received messages from prominent figures, including a video message from boxer Jake Paul, a video from a Wade Boggs (shortly before the former MLB star’s diagnosis with prostate cancer), a meeting with local Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans, and a phone call with baseball legend Ken Griffey Jr.
That conversation with the Hall of Fame outfielder included Turer asking if he could throw out the first pitch at a Seattle Mariners game.
“He said yes, so we’re going to hold him to that,” Turer said.
During this time, Brody also received the best message of all: The bone marrow matching came back with positive results. Turer said he had 50 matches for 100% compatibility, allowing him to get the transplant and take the next step toward his recovery.
On Nov. 6, 2024, he checked into John Hopkins’ All Children’s Hospital and underwent one more round of chemotherapy before the transplant on Nov. 15.
The Turers were told he would need six to 10 weeks before getting out of the hospital, but on Dec. 13 — less than a month after the transplant — he was released.
In total, Brody’s had three bone marrow transplants, with all three showing he’s still in remission. He will have two more, his mother said.
“We are forever grateful for the anonymous donor that has given my son the gift of life,” Danielle said. “We hope that someday we will be able to thank them in person.”
On Dec. 30, Turer was back on the baseball field for his first practice and workout with the team.
2025: Returning to the field – ‘The cancer was on Brody’s terms, not the other way around.’
Tuesday, February 11, 2025, would stand out as a milestone achievement in Brody’s incredible journey and battle over the past 10 months. Dressed in his Wildcats uniform, he stepped onto the mound and threw a ceremonial first pitch.
While it wasn’t at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, that pitch was no less meaningful. And it wasn’t the end to his comeback, either.
Turer told his coach, Anthony Markle, that he planned to be back for the March 4 game.
“It was straight to the point,” the first-year head coach said. “He got his diagnosis, made his goal dates and went right after it.”
As Turer practiced with the team and his return goal neared, the Wildcats were at the beginning of what was already becoming the best season in program history. The team rallied around Turer’s diagnosis and recovery, starting the year with seven wins in eight games.
“Brody’s situation was a big reality check for our young athletes. They were given something more serious than they’ve ever dealt with before,” Markle said. “Our team knew there wasn’t anything they were going through that was comparable to his. They took that and made sure everything they did, they did it with a purpose. They got closer as a group; they had one mission every day. Bstrong for Brody. It made us a different team.”
After battling cancer for 7 months, I made my first appearance back on the mound
1.2 innings 1k no hits no runs pic.twitter.com/fLFbmkrt1O— Brody Turer (@BrodyTurer2026) March 5, 2025
On March 4, with a 7-1 record, Wharton went up against Middleton. It was an 18-2 walloping for the Wildcats, improving their record to 8-1, and more importantly, featured the return of Turer. His 1.2 innings of scoreless ball set the tone for the rest of the season.
“All of his goals, all of his hard work, all of his toughness going through treatments brought him back to the baseball field exactly when he wanted to,” Markle said. “The cancer was on Brody’s terms, not the other way around.”
Over the course of the season, Wharton broke a program record with 27 wins and won the district championship with a 6-0 shutout over Wiregrass Ranch (Wesley Chapel, Fla.) and an 8-4 win over Sunlake (Land O’Lakes, Fla.).
“I’ve heard from a bunch of the players that my story really inspired them and inspired the team and gave them an identity for the first half of the year when I wasn’t there,” Turer said. “When I was back, it seemed like the team kicked it into another gear.”
Wharton, behind hitters like senior Justis Meadows (.414 BA, six home runs, 42 RBI), senior Antonio Fawcett (.320 BA, eight home runs, 25 RBI) and junior Chase Anello (.343 BA, six home runs, 34 RBI) and a group of pitchers that put together a team ERA of 2.41, according to MaxPreps, won a trio of best-of-three playoff rounds before falling in the state semifinals.
Turer finished the season with three appearances, in which he did not allow an earned run and struck out three batters over 3.1 innings.
The next chapter: A hero’s story that is just beginning
Brody plans to continue improving his strength and endurance to come back at full ability next season, saying he believes he can be a “real asset” to the Wildcats.
Now, six months out of the hospital, he and his family continue working their way back into everyday life.
“Each day gets easier to get back into a normal life. Even small things like being able to go to the store, or him taking his girlfriend out on a date, or going to practice for baseball, are milestones in themselves,” Danielle said. “He has had to balance his illness with wanting to be a normal teenager for the past year. Much like learning to trust him with pushing himself, I have had to sit back and trust him in becoming a normal teenager again.”
As a teenager, Turer showed his maturity in his recovery, spirit and his actions with the younger kids at St. Joe’s. He joined the Buccaneers in early June at their annual “Cut & Color Funds The Cure” event alongside the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation, during which the NFL team presented the Tampa-based organization with an $85,000 check.
Wrapping up his interview with USA TODAY High School Sports, Turer gave advice to others fighting cancer and other diseases.
“Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t. It could be a doctor, it could be a parent, it could be yourself telling you that you can’t. But in the end, it’s really how much you want it and how much you will do to be back to where you were, and if you can be back to your normal self,” Turer said. “It’s terrible when you’re not with your friends or just even living, so if you really push yourself to the highest limit that you can, I feel like no one can stop you.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY High School Sports Wire: Brody Turer’s cancer fight and gripping journey back to baseball