Some stories seem to write themselves before anyone realizes what is happening.
Looking back, Rylie Kuyper can see the way the pieces fell into place, one after another, each one exactly where she needed it to be.
Three months. That is how long the LSU Soccer goalkeeper had been in Baton Rouge before she found the lump in her neck.
She had transferred from Texas Tech that January, closer to her Madisonville home, closer to her family and, though she did not know it yet, closer to the very people who would help save her life.
“Transferring in is a God thing,” Rylie says. “God brought me to LSU for a reason. It all lined up. There is no explanation other than God.”
Finding a Lump
It was early March, and Rylie was driving home from spring break when she noticed the lump in her neck. She was 19, a Division I athlete in peak condition. Nothing felt wrong.
“I was definitely in denial,” she says. “I was in great shape. I didn’t think anything was wrong. I thought it was a swollen lymph node.”
Still, she got it checked. The LSU team doctor saw her that Wednesday. The following Monday, she went in for an ultrasound and a biopsy, just to be safe. Then, over the weekend, a second lump appeared on her chest.
That was not normal, and everyone knew it. A CT scan followed. That evening, Rylie walked into a meeting with three doctors, her athletic trainer and her head coach. It was 7 p.m.
“There is no way doctors are staying after hours for good news,” she says.
They told her it was probably lymphoma. Then they said the word out loud.
“Cancer. They had to say the word,” Rylie says. “My heart dropped. It was horrible.”
In that moment, she was not alone. Her coach held her. Her athletic trainer was right there beside her.
“To know I was supported meant so much,” she says. “It was a time of the unknown. You hear cancer and you think the worst.”
The Blessing of a Partnership
Here is where the timing turned into something Rylie can only call grace. Because of the Championship Health Partnership between LSU and FMOL Health | Our Lady of the Lake, everything moved fast. Her navigation team at Our Lady of the Cancer Institute turned a months-long process into a single week of expertly coordinated care.
Thomas Marsden, MD, performed the chest biopsy that confirmed Stage 2 Hodgkin lymphoma, one of the most curable cancers.
Then she met Nakhle Saba, MD, who built her treatment plan in coordination with a specialized radiation treatment program in Houston: four months of chemotherapy at the Lake Cancer Institute, followed by three weeks of proton therapy radiation.
Rylie’s case was complex from the start. A rapidly growing mass in her chest was pressing on a large vein connecting to her heart, so Dr. Saba worked closely with thoracic surgery to find the safest path for her port and treatment.
“Her resilience was remarkable,” Dr. Saba says. “Today, she is not just a patient who survived a frightening diagnosis; she is effectively cured of her lymphoma and fully equipped to step back into the vibrant life she has ahead of her.”
That kind of care can happen when a system is built around the patient, when the right people and resources are connected, and when a team is committed to walking alongside someone through one of the hardest moments of her life.
“Having those resources right here made such a difference,” Rylie says. “I didn’t have to search for what to do next. Everything was coordinated, and that meant I could focus on getting better and getting back to my team.”
The People Who Made Her Feel Seen
Ask Rylie about the hard parts of her journey, and she will tell you about the people who carried her through it.
There was Season Garms, RN, who was there for the chest biopsy and the port placement. When Rylie had her port removed, Season came to visit, even though she was not the nurse on duty that day.
There was Susan Jones, oncology navigator, who works alongside Dr. Saba, who provided ongoing support.
“Whenever I’ve been sick, I could talk to her and ask her questions,” Rylie says.
And then there was Holly Smith, RN, one of the infusion nurses. Holly gave Rylie her very first infusion and her last two.
“There is just something special about her,” Rylie says. “She was so kind. I got pretty sick during a couple of my infusions, and she was calm and patient with me. It means a lot when the person administering the drug that is making you sick is kind.”
Through it all, Rylie was never far from home. Her mom drove down for nearly every early-stage appointment, and the Scott family, her aunt and uncle, showed up with the kind of steady, quiet support that carried her through the harder days. Rylie was able to live at home during treatment before making the hourlong drive to the Lake for infusions.
That connection ran deeper than she expected. Her mom, a medical sales rep, is very familiar with the Lake.
“I grew up knowing what Our Lady of the Lake was,” Rylie says. “I never thought I’d be a patient there.”
An Unshakable Faith
Rylie grew up in a Christian home and attended Northlake Christian School. Faith was not something she picked up during the crisis. It was already the foundation beneath her feet.
“God has blessed me with such a peace,” she says. “I never felt like, ‘Why me?’ I never felt upset with God. This is what you’ve given me, so let’s persevere. I know good will come from it.”
She believes her path to LSU, arriving just before her diagnosis, close to home and close to the care she needed, was no coincidence.
“That could not have happened any other way,” she says. “He’s given me an opportunity, and I believe if God gives you a gift, you better use it. As hard as it is to find silver linings, God will give you gifts through hard times. He is not going to give you something too big for you to handle.”
From 80 Followers to A Story That Went Everywhere
Rylie never planned to become a voice for anyone. Before her diagnosis, she had about 80 followers on TikTok, mostly friends from Texas Tech, and a couple of dance videos to her name.
“I wasn’t trying to blow up,” she says. “I was just letting them know about my diagnosis.”
Then her story went viral. People latched onto her honesty, and Rylie quickly understood why. When she first searched online for others living with Hodgkin lymphoma, she found only extremes.
“It was too polar. Either someone crying all the time or someone acting like everything was okay,” she says. “There is no way that is the whole story. I wanted to document it in the realest way I could.”
So, she showed the hard days and the good ones. And people across the country answered. They commented, they sent messages, and some told her they got checked because of her.
“Without being able to get that support, I think I would have struggled a lot more this summer,” she says. She now has more than 102,000 followers cheering her on.
A Tiger, On and Off the Field
Rylie grew up a Tiger fan in Louisiana. What she never imagined was what it would feel like to be on the receiving end of that support.
“To know my coaches care about me as a person and not just as a player,” she says. “They genuinely care about me. That is what the program stands for. I couldn’t be at a better place.”
Her teammates proved it all summer long. While they scattered to hometown leagues, they kept reaching out and checking in.
“They put effort into making me a part of the team and a part of LSU,” she says. “The summer felt less like solitude.”
On September 26, Rylie will be recognized as an FMOL Health | Our Lady of the Lake Geaux Hero during the LSU Football game against Texas A&M, celebrating her courage, her faith and the fight she carried with so much grace.
What Comes Next
Today, Rylie is cancer-free. The road ahead now includes tests to make sure her heart and lungs are strong, then a slow rebuild of strength, endurance and touches on the ball.
“It’s like an atomic bomb went off in my body,” she says. “Now we make sure everything is okay going forward.”
As she pursues a major business and LSU with plans for a nursing program to follow, it is not hard to imagine where her heart is pointing. Having been cared for so tenderly, she may well spend her life caring for others.
“I love the Lake,” she says. “I’m y’all’s number one fan, literally.”
