Hunter Cattoor was in his closet choosing his outfit for the day when he got the call. He immediately broke down crying.
It was his mom, Kathy, breaking the news that Hunter’s dad, Rodney, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
“She basically said, ‘Hey, they did the scans, he’s got cancer,’” said Cattoor in October, recalling a conversation with his mom from November 2022. “It was one of those things where as a kid, you hear cancer and it’s such a scary thing, you don’t really understand kind of the whole process of it all, especially having it be my dad. You hear cancer and you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, what’s going to happen next?’
“When you hear that stuff, your mind goes to the worst things possible.”
A few days before, Cattoor was in Charleston, S.C., playing for Virginia Tech against Old Dominion on his birthday, Nov. 17. His parents were both in attendance and watched the Hokies gut out a 75-71 win over the Monarchs to start the season 4-0.
Rodney traveled to Georgia the next day to see some friends and then went home because he wasn’t feeling well. When Kathy returned from Charleston, he still felt off, so they went to the hospital. That’s when Hunter got the call.
Rodney had surgery, which had its twists and turns. The original procedure didn’t go well, Hunter recalled, and doctors were worried about it spreading, so he had to start the process over. Eventually, they finished the surgery and he started chemotherapy.
On the court in Blacksburg, Cattoor and the Hokies were thriving. Though they dropped the third game in the Charleston Classic, they ripped off six straight wins afterwards, including in their ACC opener vs. North Carolina. They even jumped into the AP Top 25.
Fortunes changed with a trip up to Boston, however. Trailing 55-48 with 4:53 to play, Cattoor caught a pass on the right wing and drove baseline. As he got into the lane, he made contact with Eagles forward Devin McGlockton while kicking a pass out to Tech point guard Sean Pedulla. He came down hard on his left elbow and could not return to the game.
After the overtime defeat, Cattoor flew to his hometown of Orlando to spend time with his family for Christmas break. While there, he got X-rays and a CT scan, which showed he fractured his elbow.
“It was tough,” Cattoor said. “Last year, kind of dealing with that, was probably the toughest year mentally, physically on my body, spiritually, that I had to go through. I found out late November that he got diagnosed, and then less than a month later I broke my elbow. Back home, I was in a sling going to doctor’s appointments, trying to figure stuff out. He had a mask on, he was getting ready to go through his chemo treatments.
“It was tough on our family. And then just having to leave home and go back to Virginia, away from it, was tough, just knowing what he was going through. I just had to continue my life, go play basketball, so there were times where I didn’t want to practice or I didn’t want to go play a game just because it was so tough mentally just thinking of my dad back home and everything he was going through, but he was such a warrior. He has such a big heart where he was fighting and you would never know he was going through that just looking at him.”
Growing up, his dad was his football coach. They would throw passes every weekend, whether it was in the field or the front yard, and Rodney took Hunter to different quarterback camps. Even when Hunter gave up football to pursue basketball, his father still supported him, making sure he woke up early to work out. Hunter said that’s where his work ethic originated.
“He’d come home from work and be like, ‘Did you do push ups today?’ I’d be like, ‘No, I didn’t.’ He was always pushing me to be the best I can be, and he still does,” Cattoor said.
He was very private about the situation, though, not wanting to draw attention. He leaned on Tech head coach Mike Young and his fiancée, Chloe Brooks, along with her family, including Hokies women’s basketball coach Kenny Brooks, describing them as “that family away from home.”
While he was a little bit lucky with his own injury — he didn’t need surgery or a cast; it just took some time to get movement back in his elbow — his thoughts often came back to his dad, who was dealing with something extraordinarily different.
Though he didn’t let any of it impact his play when he returned to the floor for the Hokies on Jan. 18 at Virginia, off the floor, it hurt. There were a few moments where he just needed to go into Young’s office and cry.
“That was the biggest thing, having those type of family people around me in such a tough time because there’s a lot of times where you don’t have that,” Cattoor said. “I was very blessed and fortunate. … They were there for me. They were crying with me, they were there to talk with me when I wanted to talk.”
“He came in the day his dad got the diagnosis,” Young said of Cattoor. “It’s been a very, very emotional, nervous time for him. [I was] just there to support him, somebody to talk to, a sounding board, if you will. I asked him often but didn’t pry. I knew it was serious, needless to say, but the range of emotions for all of us, I love that family and such admiration and love and respect for Hunter.
“But so typical of him, he’d never let it affect his play. It affected his demeanor at times, but when he was on the floor, he was all good, it was all gas. And I know that’s very hard for a young person, but that’s how he’s treated everything. … He’s an all-timer.”
Rodney found someone to talk with, too. Alise Svihla, who was Hunter’s student-athlete academic advisor at Virginia Tech during his first three seasons, was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer last October. She entered Phase 2 of her chemotherapy in September.
Though she’s now at Coastal Carolina, the connections Svihla made with those at Virginia Tech haven’t wavered. Former Hokies guard Tyrece Radford showed his support for her fight against cancer in January when he cut off his dreadlocks; the Virginia Tech and Coastal Carolina lacrosse teams made a video for her after scrimmaging in October. Hunter said he still chats with her weekly.
And after his diagnosis, Rodney and Svihla direct messaged each other on Instagram throughout the entire process, which warmed Hunter’s heart. He grew extremely close to Svihla in his early years as a student at Tech and considers her family.
“I know her and my dad were probably the closest ones during that,” Cattoor said. “...They were able to understand what the other was going through. I think my dad got his chemo on Monday and she got it on Tuesday, so it was one of those things where they could lean on each other and go through that.
“... She’s such a kind-hearted woman. She just cares for others, and she was such a great person in my life when she was here, not only on the academic side but just in my personal life.”
Rodney was able to join Kathy at Hunter’s senior night on March 5 vs. Florida State, the only other game he traveled to all season. But they received some news over the last few months, which Cattoor shared on his Instagram on Oct. 3: his dad was cancer free.
“His surgery was 12 hours long,” Cattoor said. “... It was a long day, just constantly checking your phone to finally get the good news, and then they finally said he’s in recovery. About a week later, … they finally said he was cancer free. It was just a crazy moment. You kind of sit there and thank God, everything we went through, to finally be able to push this to the side and move on from it.”
While his father is no longer fighting cancer, as he gears up for his fifth season at Virginia Tech, Cattoor has a new perspective on life. It’s common, many families are going through it and it’s a tough thing to deal with, but he believes it showed him how precious life is and how quickly it can change.
On the hardwood, he’s fully healthy again and ready to help the Hokies to another successful year, and he’s even more thrilled now to make a trip home to Orlando in November. Tech plays three games at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex over Thanksgiving, including Boise State, in a place Cattoor grew up playing. He’ll have plenty of family and friends there, too, including his dad.
For now, though, he’s cherishing every day, changed for the better by what his dad went through. And he’s ready to get to Charlotte on Nov. 10 for their battle with South Carolina to see Svihla, who is making the trip to see both the Tech women and men play in the Spectrum Center.
“When I told her, she was probably the most excited about anyone when she found out, and I literally told her, ‘I love you so much, you’re next,’” Cattoor said of Svihla. “... A lot of emotions, a lot of phone calls and things with both her and my dad, but it’s definitely put life into perspective for me.”