Around Christmas Day in 2017, ASU senior softball infielder Halle Harger found a small bump near her left groin.
The bump continued to grow, but Harger played out her entire freshman season at Boise State and opted to get it removed after the season ended. Just two days after getting the bump removed, she received a biopsy and the results showed she had cancer.
Harger then moved to Los Angeles and received six weeks of therapy at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. After going through treatment, Harger announced in August 2018 she is officially cancer-free.
According to Harger, there were two main factors that got her through treatment. The first was her friends and family who came to visit her during treatment on multiple occasions.
“It was just knowing that we had each other, and they were my biggest support system," Harger said. "It’s a scary situation. But being around each other and having a lot of people come visit was the best way to keep it positive.”
The second factor that kept Harger motivated was her goal of getting back on the softball field. She said it pushed her through her treatment and something her doctors kept in mind when constructing her regimen.
“Knowing that I had something to look forward to; I was trying to get back to something, so I had a goal,” Harger said.
After being cleared to resume athletic activity from her doctors, Harger worked her way back to the field her sophomore year, but she did not feel the same physically. After appearing in seven games for the Broncos, she decided to sit out the rest of the season.
Following her sophomore year, Harger decided she needed a change in scenery. Her father, Jeff Harger, had recently been promoted as an assistant coach at ASU. He and head coach Trisha Ford decided Halle would be a good fit for their team.
Halle Harger and Ford talked together before she joined the team and discussed how she needed to take care of her "physical, emotional and mental being."
“One of the things that’s pretty common, especially in young people, is they beat (cancer), so they physically have recovered, but they haven’t dealt with it from an emotional standpoint," Ford said. "That was my challenge to her is to make sure that she continued to face the reality that she beat cancer."
Although Jeff Harger is Halle's father, he said the coaching staff did not bring her in to give her special treatment. He said his daughter had to earn opportunities just like everyone else on the team.
“We needed some depth in the middle infield, and she actually got to play more than we anticipated,” Jeff Harger said. “Once the kids saw, 'Hey, this kid can play, she’s not just here cause her dad’s coaching,' then it was a pretty seamless transition.”
Halle Harger played in 15 games in her first season at ASU and started in eight of them. Although the season was cut short to limit the spread of COVID-19, Halle left her mark in the shortened season. She batted .364 in 22 at-bats and led all non-starters with seven RBIs.
Ford said Halle Harger was earning her way into being a consistent starter before the season was canceled, saying, “Offensive production-wise, she put up the numbers to get into the game.”
Although Halle Harger was nervous to come back at first, being a contributing factor to last year’s team proved her hard work paid off.
“Being able to step out there knowing that it’s all over with and that I beat it (cancer); I felt grateful just to be there," Halle Harger said.
Jeff Harger said it is "a blessing" to wake up and see Halle each and every day. From a father's standpoint, softball is "the least important part of it all."
“When you get the phone call from the doctors in Boise saying that your daughter has cancer, the worst things run through your head," Jeff Harger said. "Watching her walk, build herself back up, get back on the field makes me as proud as I can be.”
Ford said Halle Harger focused extensively on improving her strength over the summer, mobility and stability. She expects Halle Harger to take a big step next year if a season comes.
“Building off of last year and moving into this year, she’s going to compete for a spot,” Ford said. “I’m hoping that’s what motivated her a little bit this summer, is that she can taste the field. She can taste those opportunities coming.”
Reach the reporter at cfahrend@asu.edu and follow @chris_drop_ on Twitter.
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