Guest Column: by MSU Women’s Golf Coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll
Editor’s Note: It seems as if it would be easier to win the lottery than to have to face the horrible challenge of two young, vibrant, athletic players at one college golf program contracting cancer in the past decade – and both graciously coming out survivors. MSU coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll shares the MSU story in her own words below.
When I think of what it means to be a Spartan, many words come to mind. Tough, disciplined, courageous, strong, brave & a warrior. In November of 2012, being a Spartan took on a completely new meaning for our team. Liz Nagel, one of our superstars, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.
It was an ordinary day in the weight room. Our team had gathered for our daily conditioning session, Liz came to me and said she wasn’t feeling great and that she had been coughing a lot. We sent her to see our team doctor, as he is located in the same building and is always accessible. 
Some red flags immediately went up and a few days later we had the diagnosis of thyroid cancer. Pretty shocking for all of us; for the players on the team, for the Spartan community, for Liz and her family and for me as her coach.
When you haven’t gone through something of this nature, it sure hits you like a ton of bricks. But you soon regroup, and the fight begins. Where will Liz get the best care, what is thyroid cancer, how will the team respond to this, when will Liz play again? There were so many questions and you want to make all the right decisions as this was a very special young person with a very bright future.
We had a tremendous amount of support and help, so Liz and her family could make the best choices for her care. Liz wanted to have the surgery to remove her thyroid as soon as possible so she could get on the road to recovery…the pleas to the doctors were sincere. Liz had a tournament to compete in soon after the New Year would begin!
That December “Spartan Strong” was born. Liz had surgery late that month and she was on a
plane with our team in February 2013, equipped with her golf gloves that bore the slogan “Spartan Strong” and the documentation for the airport security that she was still “radioactive.” The support that Liz received from the MSU Family was awesome and the motivation she had to get through the treatment and recovery was amazing. I was so proud of how she handled the whole situation. Liz is now pursuing her dream (cancer free) … playing professional golf while knowing just how “Spartan Strong” she truly is.
Fast forward to August 2017…
It is just before school starts and Jac Setas is up north enjoying one of her favorite places on earth, Bay Harbor. I get a call from her to tell me she woke up with a weird lump on her collarbone. We set Jac up to see our team doctor as soon as she got back into town and after some testing, we received the diagnosis of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
Everyone deals with illness differently; there are so many feelings and emotions that go along with hearing the words “cancer.” I remember being upset and in disbelief because this was our second player that was going to go through hell and back, upset that we cannot find a cure to this ugly disease that affects so many lives and upset that this young, strong athlete had to deal with this at such a young age.
However, the Spartan Family came through once again. Jac’s close golfing buddy had plenty of green bracelets with “Setas Strong” printed on them to support Jac in her battle. The bracelets showed up everywhere as well as the support for Jac in her fight. Those bracelets were on golf bags across the country, on desks as a constant reminder, on backpacks and even on National TV as Coach Izzo wore one during the season in support of Jac.
Jac was a trooper and I could not have been more proud of her and her teammates that rallied around her, making sure she knew that her Spartan Family would be there for her no matter what. Our players visited as much as possible; to spend time with her, watch a TV show or a MSU basketball game or just talk about what was happening with the team or on campus.
Watching her life as a Student-Athlete be taken away was heartbreaking and it didn’t seem fair. It changed our outlook on life. We were all made more aware of the necessity to be kind, to be thankful, to know that something so small can make a difference in someone else’s life, to remember everyone is going through something, to enjoy each and every day and not to worry about the small stuff.
Jac is such a fun person to be around, she is happy, funny, kind, caring and she makes others smile. Jac Setas is that same person, but now with a new perspective on life. We are happy to report that Jac also is cancer free; she came back to the team this past fall (2018) to reclaim the year she missed while going through treatments. She will graduate in May and will head to New York for a summer internship.
As Spartans, we battle each day in our quest to be the best; on the golf course, in the classroom and as members of our community. Most of our daily battles can’t hold a candle to what these two courageous young Spartan golfers went through during their college careers. These experiences have helped our players and coaches put things into perspective; reminding us to always be “Spartan Strong”, no matter what life throws at you.
Editor’s note: To watch a video on Setas produced by MSU and featuring comments from Alabama coach Nick Saban, click here: https://msuspartans.com/watch/?Archive=3988&type=Archive
