This story is part of the USMC/AVCA Battles Won Award series. This new award recognizes volleyball players and coaches who are overcoming obstacles, both on and off the court.
Haley Hallgren, volleyball player
Beach at USC, 2018–21; Indoor at Michigan 2021–22; and Beach at UCLA, 2023
In September of 2021, doctors discovered Haley had a mass and determined it was a slow-developing form of lung cancer that had been growing for several years.
When did you find out you had lung cancer?
“I was diagnosed with lung cancer in the fall of 2021 a few months after arriving at Michigan, this after five years of misdiagnosis and clear chest X-rays. When I first got to Michigan I was diagnosed with pneumonia then, after about a week and a half, my chest X-ray was clear and I was cleared to return to volleyball. Almost a month and multiple doctor visits later, I still had an aggressive cough and strained the muscles between my ribs.”
“I went to the hospital and got the same X-ray I had two weeks before. They told me my lung completely collapsed due to a mass blocking my airway. They didn’t know what it was, so I was admitted, and they did a scope surgery to remove the mass and have it tested.”
“Two weeks later, I got the call… it was cancerous, and I’d likely had it for about five years. In January, I underwent surgery to remove the upper left lobe of my lung and part of the airway. I was extremely fortunate that I didn’t have to undergo chemotherapy and that the surgeon was willing to attempt my surgery laparoscopically so I could continue playing.”
When was it the most challenging and how are you doing now?
“When I was diagnosed it was a relief, because for the past five years, I had been living life exhausted, constantly sick, and had a slew of other symptoms that I had accepted as my new normal. It was comforting to know that I didn’t have to keep living that way. However, the following fall was difficult mentally because instead of having a problem and knowing that we were fixing it, I fell into a constant state of worrying that something was wrong, and I didn’t know. I had another bout of pneumonia in the fall of 2022, but the clear scans were hard to accept as accurate because they had been wrong for years. I think it was just very difficult to move past the what ifs and constant concern.”
“In March of this year I finally began to feel like myself and I owe a huge part of that to my teammates and staff at UCLA. I graduated in June from UCLA and traveled for most of the summer. Unfortunately, now I’m starting the job hunt and considering playing indoor overseas. Before this experience, I was super organized and probably would have had a job lined up months ago. Now I want to see what comes my way and live in the moment. That is very important to me after all of this.”
Who were some of the people who helped you during the process?
“I was extremely lucky to have such a great support system around me. My coaches and teammates at Michigan were amazingly understanding and supportive especially since I had only arrived a month or so before my diagnoses. Tara Bailey, my athletic trainer at Michigan, helped organize all of my appointments and created an unprecedented return to play regiment. My friends and family were extremely supportive and helpful during this time. I was fortunate to have my grandparents only an hour away from campus to give me a place to recuperate after surgery.”
What were a some of your takeaways?
“There is nothing more important than the people you surround yourself with. I was so fortunate to have so many amazing friends from different stages of my life that I never felt like I was going through this alone.”
“I am a very internal person, I don’t like to talk about me feelings very much, but I think that was a mistake. I think that is something I could have done better but, at the time, I wanted to talk about everything but my cancer. In the end, I think it caught up to me this spring where I went through a couple weeks of just pure emotional exhaustion.”
“Also, I learned that it is very critical to advocate for yourself. There were times I needed to press on some of my health issues, and you are the only one who knows how you are feeling. I was so angry at myself after the diagnosis, because I felt like if I had really expressed how bad I was consistently feeling, maybe it would have been found sooner.”
“Haley Hallgren is unflappable when it comes to winning and losing on the court, and she has been mostly unfazed by her cancer, aside from the physical and mental stress it put on her. Her teammates and the UCLA coaching staff learned a lot from having her in the program this year. Our former Head Beach Coach Stein Metzger recently said that if he’d had Haley’s mindset and determination when he was playing on the AVP Tour, he would have been a lot more successful and been a better partner.” — Ryan Finney, UCLA Athletics Communications Director
Check out stories of other Battles Won Award nominees
