A redshirt freshman led the George Washington University men’s basketball team to victory in its season opener just months after completing chemotherapy for a rare, aggressive benign tumor.
Garrett Johnson led the Revolutionaries with 21 points and nine rebounds in an 89-44 defeat of Stonehill College Monday. It was the guard/forward’s first organized basketball game in two-and-a-half years.
He first noticed something was wrong in high school.
“Throughout my senior year, I was starting to get some weird tightness in my hip, in my left hip, and it seemed kind of abnormal,” the Oakton, Virginia, native said. “From there, we found out that I had a mass in my hip.”
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“There were days I felt like I couldn’t walk up the stairs or get out of bed,” Johnson said.
“I had a lot of difficulty just putting my sock on for three, four months,” he said.
The diagnosis changed his outlook on life.
Sports
“You kind of feel like you’re on top of the world a little bit, like you have your whole life ahead of you, and it kind of switched my whole perspective in a second,” Johnson said.
Originally attending Princeton, Johnson never took the court for the Tigers, eventually withdrawing due to his health. He underwent multiple surgeries and nine rounds of chemotherapy for which he chose the jersey number nine.
The desire to play the sport he loved fueled Johnson in his recovery.
“That’s the one thing kept me going was the hope of one day getting back on the court,” he said. “That was my light at the end of tunnel, honestly. There’s definitely days I didn’t think I’d play basketball again.”
His post about his comeback on X, formerly known as Twitter, resonated with many.
“It kind of felt like a surreal moment,” Johnson said about his first college game. “It was everything I dreamed of my whole life.”
His triumphant return warranted a big celebration in the locker room after the game.
“To see the joy in the guys’ faces for Garrett I think was really special and a moment that I think I’ll never forget,” coach Chris Caputo said.
“Coolest thing for me has been seeing the reactions of people who are going through cancer right now, going through tough times, have family members going through cancer, and being able to be some type of inspiration for them,” Johnson said.
He has to stay on top of his health but said he currently feels great.
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