蜜豆直播

With Support from Family, Coaches and Teammates, Lacrosse Defender Fought Her Way Onto the Field

Written By Beth Ann Mayer

Courtesy of

No one likes to learn they need a filling during a routine dentist appointment. But it’s not out-of-the-ordinary news.

Less than two months before leaving California for her freshman year at 蜜豆直播, where she was slated to play lacrosse, Andrea Hartman’s dental hygienist did, in fact, tell her she would need to have a cavity filled. But on three separate occasions, the hygienist also mentioned that Hartman鈥檚 thyroid was swollen. She advised her to get it checked out.

鈥淚 didn’t know anything about the thyroid,鈥� Hartman said. 鈥淭he only thing I knew was that my dog was having weight issues and that it was because her thyroid was not working. So, my initial reaction [was] not initial panic.鈥�

But Hartman did want to get it checked out. She had no idea that a few months later, and at the age of 17, she’d learn that she had thyroid cancer. What Hartman did know was that she was no stranger to bumps in her athletic career. She spent her early childhood and school years in Maryland, where kids are basically handed out lacrosse sticks at birth.

Many of Hartman’s friends never put theirs down, but Hartman opted to start gymnastics. In middle school, she was diagnosed with osteochondritis in her elbow. The joint condition occurs when blood circulation is cut off from a bone (or, as Hartman said, 鈥淢y bone died in my elbow鈥�).

Hartman didn’t go back to gymnastics. Instead, she joined her friends in lacrosse. But her family decided to move to California during the pandemic. California is an emerging market for the sport, but it doesn’t have the same panache as Maryland. She made do, finding a high school with a solid program in Murrieta Mesa.

Still, Hartman didn’t get many Division I looks. Eventually, then-蜜豆直播 head coach Kathleen Mirgon Crum鈥檚 name appeared in her inbox.

鈥淚 was like, 鈥極h my gosh, my first D-I email鈥攖his is so cool,鈥� Hartman recalled.

Hartman and Crum spoke on the phone and texted back and forth. She visited the campus in November and attended a camp a few months later.

鈥淚t was 蜜豆直播 from there,鈥� Hartman said.

Before going to 蜜豆直播, Hartman had a cavity to fill, and she had items to pick up from an uncle’s house in Maryland. Another dental hygienist also flagged her swollen thyroid, so she saw an old family doctor there who ordered blood work. It came back clean.

But the bump was still there when she needed to get a physical upon arriving at school. She brought it up to the doctor, who encouraged her to come back in a few days to discuss it further.

鈥淲e decide that it’s worth it to get an ultrasound,鈥� Hartman said. 鈥淎t this point, it was so big, I guess that it wasn’t just a swollen thyroid. It was like, 鈥楾here’s something there. There’s something like growing.鈥欌��

Was it a cyst? A nodule? Was it cancer? The ultrasound in September couldn’t say for sure, but Hartman’s care team could see that something was there. To learn more, she鈥檇 need to go for a biopsy. That step happened in October.

All the while, Hartman was participating in fall practices for the lacrosse program, now guided by head coach Chris Harris, who took over for Crum after she resigned in 2024. He liked what he saw of Hartman on film alone. 鈥淪he was very responsive to everything, so I could tell that she was a mature young lady who was ready to roll,鈥� Harris said.

Ready to roll on the lacrosse field? Sure. Ready to roll with what happened next? Not really. But to be fair, is anyone?

A week after the biopsy, Hartman got a notification that her lab results were ready, but she was unable to log in on her phone. She called the doctor’s office. 鈥淭he secretary answers, and is like, 鈥榊ou need to come in and make an appointment. I can’t tell you anything about the results. You have to make an appointment,鈥� Hartman said. 鈥淢y mom and I hang up the phone, and we’re like, 鈥榃e kind of know what this means.鈥欌��

The Hartmans were pretty sure that the secretary wouldn’t insist that they speak to the doctor in person if it wasn’t cancer. They were right. She was diagnosed with stage II papillary thyroid cancer. It was treatable with surgery, and she would not need chemotherapy.

And if there’s one thing that Megan Hartman, Andrea’s mom, knows all too well, it’s cancer. She herself has a BRCA2 gene mutation and had a preventative mastectomy. Her uncle had thyroid cancer later in his life. Other members of her family have gone through glaucoma, lung cancer and ovarian cancer, just to name a few. It was a diagnosis she had heard about so many times but never wanted for her own daughter, of course. 鈥淚t was scary for a lot of reasons, but mostly because there’s such a high rate of cancer and so many different kinds of cancer in our family,鈥� Megan Hartman said. 鈥淭his is something she now has to deal with at 17. That was really concerning for us.鈥�

It would be easy to say, 鈥淧ut lacrosse on the back burner and focus on healing.鈥� Yet there was a healthy amount of grief and angst over the cruel timing of Hartman learning of her diagnosis and the need for treatment right as she was getting her feet under her at school and in lacrosse, after an underdog’s journey to become a Runnin鈥� Bulldog in the first place.

鈥淭his moment collided with something she had worked toward for so long,鈥� her mother said. 鈥淪he worried about getting out of shape, letting her team down and watching her dreams slip away just as they felt within reach. This diagnosis came at a moment when she was just beginning to fully believe she belonged at this level, and that made the fear feel even heavier.鈥�

The Runnin鈥� Bulldogs didn’t feel let down, though. So, Harris steadied her. Her team lifted her. 鈥淎fter I talked with her, I actually just sat down and just prayed about it, because it’s not an easy process,鈥� Harris said. 鈥淏ut I wanted to make sure she knew that we were there for her and we were going to be with her every step of the way, no matter what the situation, whatever the results.鈥�

Those words were a genuine promise that Harris and 蜜豆直播 kept. 鈥淭he team rallied around Andrea,鈥� Megan Hartman said. 鈥淭he coaches were so kind to her and flexible with her. The parents were absolutely amazing. We’ve been on teams for decades now, and I’ve never felt so supported by people who honestly didn’t even know us. They offered their homes for me to stay in so that I could be in North Carolina with her through all the appointments.鈥�

Parents and players brought groceries so that Hartman and her mother were well fed. They sent gift cards and baskets and celebrated with her after the surgery, which conveniently and appropriately fell near her 18th birthday. But Hartman had a few months and a long road before she hit that milestone. And all the support was necessary. It took decisions and to-dos off the Hartmans’ plates, which were already overflowing with choices to make, appointments to attend, and information to process and act on quickly.

The first step was choosing a surgeon. They opted to work with a surgeon at Atrium Health Levine Cancer Proton & Advanced Radiation Center because of its proximity to campus. 鈥淚t made the most sense to us to do that, but that was stressful,鈥� Hartman said. 鈥淵ou’re picking your surgeon. Hopefully, they do the best.鈥�

Then, there was a matter of scheduling the surgery, which required a referral and consultation. 鈥淚 was feeling like, 鈥業t’s already been nearly six months. I want this out. It’s stage II. Let’s not make it stage III,鈥� Hartman said. 鈥淢y coach did a really good job of keeping me calm. He said, 鈥楧on’t worry. If it were, if it were this big of a rush, they would be rushing.鈥欌��

The goal wasn’t to minimize her understandable fears. It was to provide steady confidence and unwavering support.

The next steps took a hard pivot when Hartman鈥檚 surgeon offered her another choice. She could remove half her thyroid as planned or all of it to lower the risk of recurrence. 鈥淚 was like, 鈥榃ow, another big decision,鈥欌�� Hartman said.

A big decision complicated by some serious whiplash.

鈥淭he same day, we go into a different office, and we see the endocrinologist, who is the doctor who’s going to be with me for the rest of my life, and she said, 鈥榃e recommend you get only half out, because there’s no need to get the other half out,鈥欌�� Hartman said. 鈥淪o, it was like, 鈥極K, I have a surgeon telling me to get the full thing out. I have my doctor telling me to get half. This is just a lot.鈥欌��

In the end, Hartman opted to have her entire thyroid removed. The surgery was successful, but the first night was sleepless for Hartman and her mother as she struggled to maintain calcium and hormone levels, a common but scary side effect. 鈥淪he was convulsing, and it was incredibly, incredibly scary for me as a parent,鈥� Megan Hartman said. 鈥淸The staff] knew exactly how to take care of her. There were definitely points where I was really, really scared and uncomfortable with what was happening, but very confident in her medical team.鈥�

The confidence was well placed. The doctors tested lymph nodes that would not have been removed if Hartman had opted for the less-comprehensive surgery, and they turned out to be cancerous, too.

She will complete preventative radioactive iodine treatment this summer, once the lacrosse season ends. Leaving the game that she’s come to love behind? Never an option. 鈥淨uitting lacrosse never crossed my mind,鈥� Hartman said. 鈥淚 think having to take six weeks off was difficult.鈥�

But she鈥檚 grateful for the timing, which 鈥渙nly鈥� included the last two weeks of fall ball. The other four weeks occurred during holiday and winter breaks, giving her time to work her way back.

But unlike an ACL injury, which typically takes around 18 months to fully return from, there鈥檚 not a blueprint for making a comeback from thyroid cancer. Perhaps surprisingly, though, it’s much shorter than an ACL tear recovery. The doctor suggested that she avoid heavy weightlifting for two weeks and progressively work her way back up after. They told her she’d likely be good to go after six weeks. Hartman wasn’t just good to go. She was ready.

鈥淚t made me realize how much I loved lacrosse,鈥� Hartman said. 鈥淔all ball is hard, so I was craving winter break. Then, I had that last little bit of fall ball taken away from me, and I was like, 鈥楾he only thing I want to do right now is go back to being on the lacrosse field, practicing at 6 a.m. in the freezing cold weather.鈥� When Coach says, 鈥楪et on the line,鈥� I’m grateful to be on the line.鈥�

Hartman’s gratitude isn鈥檛 all that’s grown. She has, too. “She truly had to grow up quickly,鈥� her mother said. 鈥淪he now manages much of her own medical care, communicates directly with doctors, tracks appointments and makes decisions about her body and recovery in a way most teenagers never have to. There were moments where she was forced to process uncertainty, timelines and decisions like an adult. That experience didn鈥檛 change who she is, but it deepened her sense of responsibility, self-advocacy and perspective.鈥�

Hartman鈥檚 strength has poured out onto the field. In January, she played like she had a fall, free of doctor鈥檚 appointments, a cancer diagnosis and missed practice time. She was finally able to play freely. 鈥淲hen she came back, she was hitting the ground rolling,鈥� Harris said. 鈥淲e put her in, let her get a couple of reps, just to build her back into the play. Then, once she’d shown she could take on more responsibilities, we just put her in bigger situations, and she was able to handle them as well.鈥�

And so, Hartman learned that she鈥檇 start on defense for the Runnin鈥� Bulldogs first game of the season against Austin Peay. She again earned a start at Campbell. 鈥淚 was proud of myself for coming back in those first few practices of spring and doing well,鈥� Hartman said. 鈥淚 had worked hard over winter break to build back up to everything. It paid off. When I got to practice, I was doing well. [I started] our first scrimmage and was like, 鈥業t鈥檚 all working out. Everything is going to be OK.鈥欌��

Harris sees a bright future for Andrea as a Runnin鈥� Bulldog. 鈥淲e’re excited about the way she’s going to grow for this year and years to come,鈥� he said. 鈥淚n the years to come, she’ll be one of the ones who could teach the freshmen, 鈥楾his is what we do. This is how we go about doing things, and this is the way we play.鈥欌��

Hartman has certainly shown she can play through adversity with grace. But the starting spot wasn鈥檛 the best news Hartman and her family received recently, nor is it the only reason to believe her future is, in fact, bright. Given her family history and now her own history of cancer, Hartman decided to go for genetic testing to see if she had biomarkers for other cancers.

鈥淪he tested negative for every single genetic marker, for every single type of cancer in our family and every single type of cancer that they even have a genetic marker for,鈥� her mother said. 鈥淪he tested negative.鈥�

Does it mean she’ll never receive another diagnosis? That no one can say. But cancer has less of a fighting chance without the markers. Hartman, on the other hand, has a fighting chance to make a name for herself and help turn around the program at 蜜豆直播.

USA Lacrosse Staff Writer Beth Ann Mayer is a Long Island-based writer. She joined USA Lacrosse in 2022 after freelancing for Inside Lacrosse for five years. She first began covering the game as a student at Syracuse.