DU QUOIN — Just a few days before Christmas, the Darnell family had their world turned upside down.

“Life changes in an instant,” said Lindsay Darnell, the mother of Lady Indians’ junior Addi Darnell. “She woke up that morning saying she slept on her neck wrong.”

By midnight there was a large mass on Addi Darnell’s chest and neck, so her mother took her to the ER.

The diagnosis for Addi was stage 3A bulky Hodgkin’s Lymphoma–bulky because it was a large chest mass that had spread to her spleen.

“That’s a conversation a parent should never have to have,” Darnell said. “You should never have to have life expectancy at five years, ten years conversations for your 16-year old child. That’s a conversation of my darkest days.”

Addi has taken it all in stride.

“It’s just something that someone has to go through,” Addi said. “I think everyone has to go through some hard thing in their life, but it’s just a bump in the road. And there’s more road after the bump.”

For more than a decade, schools have been playing pink out or Volley for the Cure games to raise awareness about breast cancer. Cobden and Du Quoin did a variation on a theme Monday night. The Appleknockers wore special hair ribbons, and the Lady Indians ventured away from the traditional red and black.

You see violet is the color used to promote awareness for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, the type of cancer Addi is battling.

Doctors told the Darnells Addi would need 12-18 months of treatment. For the first part of that treatment, Addi qualified for a clinical trial. She goes to St. Louis every other Friday for chemo.
There are 12 rounds with the last one scheduled in June just days before her 17th birthday.

“You think about one game, then the next,” Addi said. “So I think about one treatment, then I don’t worry about it until the next Friday. You just take one thing at a time, and then you master it, and then you move onto the next.”

At diagnosis, Addi asked her doctor if she’d be able to play volleyball–he said probably not. At that point though, a high school season appeared doubtful. Between her second and third rounds of chemo, the news came that the IHSA volleyball season was a go. So she asked her doctor again.

This time he said yes, but with limitations both physically and mentally, namely tempering expectations.

“I have not tempered them at all,” Addi said. “I have certain rules to follow, like I can’t get hit in the head. I can’t dive for the ball so when I’m up at the net, I have to watch the server, stuff like that. It’s just small routine changes, but nothing that stops me from playing.”

“When I first found out she had cancer, one of my first thoughts was ‘she’s not gonna get to play volleyball, and Addi loves volleyball,'” teammate and close friend Olivia Dill said. “I’ve played with her since we were little. When she told me her doctor cleared her to get to play, I was so excited. I’m excited I get to be back on the court with her again.”

Addi plays on the Lady Indians’ junior varsity team while continuing her chemo. Last week, she played three matches in four days before going to St. Louis Friday for treatment number seven. She was back with the team for Saturday’s match against Carbondale. The thought of not being there for her team was not an option.

“Well they’re my team. They’re my family. You have to support family,” Addi said.

“Addi is very alive at practices and games,” Dill said. “Even on the bench, she’s cracking jokes just being super energetic.”

“It’s so fun and exciting when you get on the bench, and she’s there,” said teammate and close friend Jalynn Wood. “She’s always there with her elbow out since we can’t touch hands. She’s always cheering us on, even if we’re having a bad game. She’s always the number one supporter for sure.”

Then Monday night Addi was back playing–her team playing in special jerseys that other school athletic programs chipped in to buy–jerseys the team didn’t know about until they arrived at the gym. Addi even got a chance to start varsity on a night she was the center of attention, something that wasn’t terribly comfortable for her.

“It’s very nerve-wracking. It’s very overwhelming,” Addi said. “I don’t like crowds a whole bunch, but it’s just so much love and support from my community, my family, and my volleyball family.”

The rest of the school and the community have joined in supporting Addi as well. You can drive down Main Street at night to see one of the ways. The FCCLA Club at the high school reached out to Du Quoin Mayor Guy Alongi asking that if they bought purple bulbs, would the city install them to support Addi. And that’s exactly what they did.

“It’s so nice, because they don’t have to do that,” Addi said. “They do that out of the goodness of their hearts, and that’s why I love playing southern Illinois volleyball.”

“It’s just so much love. It’s insane that many people care.”