After more than a year of battling Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Mitchell Meyers is back with the ISU football team, and ready to return to the field. 

Meyers was at the team’s practice Tuesday, talking with trainers and support staff. He said he was catching up with people who had been there for him through his tumultuous battle. 

“It was a pretty big milestone for me to come back,” Meyers said. “So when I was in Houston, I thought about coming back every day. So when I got back in Ames, I was on the other side of it. Now that I’m back, I’m ready to hit the ground running and start working out.”

Meyers was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in February 2015. He stayed in Ames after the diagnosis to undergo chemotherapy treatments, but after a scan in the summer showed more cancer, Meyers moved to do treatment in his home state of Texas.

He attended a hospital in Houston to undergo a myriad of treatments, including a stem cell transplant. The treatments seemed to have worked. Meyers said he underwent two recent PET scans — both were clean. 

He will return to Houston in June for a checkup, but everything looks good to go for Meyers to start his return to playing on the ISU defensive line. 

13 months later…finished! pic.twitter.com/PUJvBCjvd7

— Mitchell Meyers (@MeyersMitchell) March 9, 2016

“Basically, I’m in the best situation I could be in right now,” Meyers said about his health. “It’s a good feeling.”

During all of his treatments, Meyers had to be away from the football team. That included when former coach Paul Rhoads, a large supporter of Meyers’ fight, was fired last November.

He also couldn’t meet new coach Matt Campbell when he was first hired, but that didn’t stop Campbell from taking notice of Meyers’ fight. 

After Campbell found out he had the coaching job in late November, Meyers was the first person he reached out to. 

“The fact that I want guys that love to play football, and here’s a guy who fought for his life to come back and play football,” Campbell said of his reason for calling Meyers. “That’s love of the game of football.”

Meyers said Campbell wants him to be a leader and help his teammates learn from the battle for his life. 

“It meant a lot for him to call me,” Meyers said. 

Meyers found support in many parts of his life: his roommates Luke Knott and Grant Rohach, Rhoads and the team’s support staff, just to name a few. But Meyers also found support with another athlete who went through a similar experience. 

It was an honor to play for Coach Rhoads. He’s been by my side this whole way and I can’t thank him enough. pic.twitter.com/HBBTV6aUg2

— Mitchell Meyers (@MeyersMitchell) February 15, 2016

Northern Iowa’s Katelyn Kinnetz, a softball player, also went through a bout with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She reached out to Meyers when he was first diagnosed last year. 

“She went through stem cell transplant as well,” Meyers said. “So I’ve kind of gotten tips and advice from her as well. That was good and we’ve kept in contact. She reached out to me. Right when I was diagnosed in February, she messaged me on social media and we’ve kind of talked on and off since then.”

Meyers also met Campbell in person for the first time Sunday in the middle of a staff meeting with about 30 other staff members, Meyers said. 

“I was pretty nervous,” Meyers said. “It was good to meet them. I talked to coach Campbell on the phone a lot so it was nice to meet them.” 

There are some restrictions on Meyers for the rest of the spring semester, though. Since he isn’t enrolled in spring classes, Meyers can’t partake in team activities because it would be a violation of NCAA compliance rules. 

But that isn’t deterring Meyers from getting back to peak strength. He is still allowed to work out with the team’s training staff and on his own. And he plans to make the most of it to make his return to the gridiron in the fall. 

“He’s not coming back for the story,” Campbell said. “He’s coming back to start.”