Survivor Series: David Fadely – LaPorteCounty.Life

Portage resident David Fadely has coached the Pop Warner football team in Portage for 14 years and even led the Portage team to its first national tournament appearance. In 2019, Fadely began feeling ill, which he attributed to the stress of coaching football. He felt stomach pains that did not improve even after participating in the tournament.

“It wasn’t getting better, in fact it was getting worse,” Fadely said. “I was driving down the road and I hit a bump and I could feel it really hurt. Eventually I went to my doctor, who ordered a colonoscopy. It didn’t get very far because there was a huge tumor blocking my colon.”

After a series of tests and biopsies, Fadely was diagnosed with colon cancer. Fadely began his treatment at Northwest Health – Porter. To this day, Fadely remembers his first meeting with Dr. Tareq Braik, when the doctor explained all the stages of cancer to Fadely.

“I remember sitting in the room and Braik said, ‘Okay, David, this is stage I cancer. This is stage II cancer. This is stage III,’ and he just kept going,'” Fadely said. “I’m sitting there with my wife. I’m squeezing her hand and freaking out.”

Fadely had a friend who died of stage III colon cancer and did not survive two years after diagnosis, which frightened Fadley at the time of diagnosis. Braik additionally diagnosed Fadely with stage IV colon cancer and also discovered that he had cancerous patches on his liver.

“I remember the first thing I said to him was, ‘So you’re telling me I’m dead,'” Fadely said. “He said, ‘It’s been a long road, but we think you have a good chance of treatment. You’re young.’ I was 39 at the time. I remember thinking I was dead.”

Braik developed a plan that ultimately required Fadely to undergo 12 sessions of chemotherapy and surgery to remove the tumor in his colon and liver. The plan began with four sessions of chemo, which were tough for Fadely. However, the treatments worked so well that some of the tumors in his liver disappeared.

After the four chemotherapy sessions, Fadely needed surgery. Braik gave Fadely two options: see a doctor at Northwest Health or another doctor at Indiana University Health in Indianapolis. He eventually chose the doctor in Indianapolis who was named after a character from the television series “House Doctor,” one of the first shows Fadely and his wife watched together as a couple.

“That was a sign,” Fadely said. “In September 2020, I had surgery. I left the football field where I was coaching my Pop Warner team, got in the car, drove to Indianapolis, and had surgery the next morning.”

He stayed in Indianapolis for a week while he recovered from surgery. Once he recovered, it was time for more football, so Fadely got back in the car to return to Portage. He was given a cane and a chair, which was enough for Fadely to coach the game.

“After my surgery, I couldn’t work for a while,” Fadely said. “I was just coaching youth soccer at the time. Those kids are great. Coaching that team actually helped me get through it all.”

Unfortunately, Fadely lost his job at DirecTV due to time constraints. He was offered a new job, but decided to go back to school, as Fadely had originally dropped out of college to take care of his family. Fadely went to Indiana University Northwest and studied graduate education.

“One of the blessings of the whole thing was that I was able to go back and finish school,” Fadely said. “My wife was great. She held down the fort while I did that. I finished school and ended up becoming a teacher at Willow Creek Middle School.”

Another blessing was that Fadely was given the opportunity to join the coaching staff of the Portage High School football team. The kids, who were 12 at the time of his battle with cancer, were able to stay with their coach at the high school level.

“Everyone at the middle school has been great and supportive when I went for my checkups,” Fadely said. “The new coach at Portage High School really supports me the whole time and he’s actually the one who got me this teaching job. I’m very thankful for that.”

In the spring of 2021, one year after his diagnosis, Fadely was declared cancer free. With the support of his wife, children, and his entire family and friends, he won his battle against cancer. He also couldn’t have done it without his professional wrestling family and fans. Fadely has been a professional wrestler for 20 years, but had to stop during his battle with cancer. One of his main goals during his battle was to get back in the ring to finish on his own terms. Now that he is cancer free, he is able to do that with all the support behind him.