GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — Last spring, UW-Green Bay volleyball captain Kendall Schara thought she was recovering after emergency wisdom tooth surgery.
Instead, the 21-year-old learned she had acute myeloid leukemia, an aggressive blood cancer that required months of chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant from her younger sister.
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More than a year later, Schara is back on the volleyball court preparing for her final season with the Phoenix.
"Never, never in my wildest dreams did I think that a cancer diagnosis was coming my way," Schara said. "It was shocking, and right away I had to ask, 'Is this something I can survive?'"
Schara had always been healthy. Last spring, she experienced her first migraine, followed by a series of infections, including one involving her wisdom teeth that required emergency surgery.
After returning to volleyball activities, she became sick again. Doctors initially diagnosed her with the flu, but her symptoms continued to worsen.
"I had never had health issues before, and they all just kind of came out of nowhere," Schara said.
When she went to the emergency room, doctors believed she might have liver complications from medication and even discussed removing her gallbladder. Blood work instead revealed abnormalities that led to a bone marrow biopsy.
The next day, Schara was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.
"It's a hard reality to accept, having to make so many phone calls, so many horrible phone calls," she said. "There's a lot of phone calls that I'll never forget."
Schara was transferred by ambulance from Aurora BayCare Medical Center in Green Bay to Northwestern Medicine in Chicago so she could be closer to home while beginning treatment.
"I dreaded that ride so bad because I knew the second I got to Northwestern my whole life was about to change," she said.
Schara underwent chemotherapy, which put her leukemia into remission. Because of the genetic features of her leukemia, her doctors recommended a stem cell transplant to give her the best chance of preventing the cancer from returning.
That meant finding a donor.
Dr. Kehinde Adekola, Schara's hematologist and stem cell transplant physician at Northwestern Medicine, said siblings have about a 25% chance of being a perfect match.
Schara prepared herself for the possibility that neither of her sisters would be.
"I kind of thought, 'It would be just my luck that neither of them would be a match,'" Schara said.
Instead, her younger sister, Elle, found out that she was a perfect 12-of-12 match.
"She called me and told me she was a perfect match," Schara said. "I was like, 'Oh my God, something good has come out of this process.'"
For Elle, there was never any hesitation.
"Obviously I was going to do it to save Kendall's life," she said. "Whatever I have to go through is going to be nothing close to what my sister has to go through."
Before the transplant, Schara spent about a month in the hospital, where visits from family looked much different because of her weakened immune system.
"It's just so weird having to talk to your sister in a mask and gloves and have all this extra protection," Elle said.
The transplant was successful, but recovery took time. Schara said rebuilding her strength was one of the biggest challenges.
Instead of participating in senior night, she decided to return for one more season.
"I don't want to deprive myself of the opportunity to try again and look back and regret not playing," she said. "I'm lucky to be able to do this again."
This summer, Schara traveled with the team to Italy and returned to the court for exhibition matches as she continues preparing for the upcoming season.
"It's remarkable," Adekola said. "She's back to school, she's playing volleyball, she's enjoying life, and it's really beautiful to see."
Schara said her experience has changed the way she looks at everyday life.
"You go one day from being a college athlete that's hanging out with her friends and being independent and about to apply to grad school, and then the next day you're living in a hospital bed," she said. "I feel that I'm very well equipped to handle any challenge that comes my way now."
While she continues working to regain strength, Schara said she's grateful for the opportunity to finish her college volleyball career.
"I, for the most part, am back to normal," she said. "Normal is hard to say because no part of me is the same person I was before, but who I am now feels pretty good."
