AUBURN, Ala. - Marie Siler has a birthday coming up on Oct. 8, but the athletic trainer for Auburn's volleyball team plans to celebrate the day before, and not just because that's when the Tigers host in-state rival Alabama.
Oct. 7 will mark seven years of Marie being cancer-free.
"My birthday's not really important to me anymore," Siler said. "My cancer-free date is very important."
Two years after earning her master's in exercise science, Siler worked as an assistant athletic trainer at Hofstra in Long Island, New York.
Hofstra softball coach Bill Edwards grew tired of Siler coughing in his huddle, telling her to see a doctor. She had, Siler countered, saying she'd been diagnosed with asthmatic bronchitis.
The veteran coach persisted.
"And he probably saved my life," Siler said. "The next person I went to was the one who found a spot on an X-ray that started the cycle."
Lung cancer in her mid-twenties, despite never having smoked a day in her life.
"I think that's the biggest stereotype that comes with lung cancer and I think that's the biggest thing that people need to overcome," Siler said.
Taking advantage of New York City's healthcare professionals, Siler treated her cancer with a radiation pill.
"It was important for me to stay in New York but I was away from my family and it was very hard for them and for me," she said. "I wanted to continue to work. If you took my job away from me and I was living in New York without my family. It would have been a very different recovery for me."
Six months after being diagnosed, Siler was told she was free of cancer. Nine months later, in June 2011, the cancer returned.
Fortunately for Siler, her type of disease is referred to as plaque cancer, affecting the covering on the outside of her lungs instead of the lung tissue, simplifying its removal. On Oct. 7, 2011, Siler learned she was cancer-free again.
During her treatment, Siler told very few of her co-workers about her illness.
"I didn't want people feeling sorry for me, because that just brought me down more," she said. "I found internal strength, and just pushed through."
Siler's outlook changed in 2014, when she joined Auburn Athletics, working with the soccer team.
Tori Ball, a senior on Auburn's soccer team, had battled melanoma, which required frequent dermatology appointments, something she sometimes avoided.
"She was like, `I don't want to get poked and prodded and deal with this. I'm not going. I can't do it,'" Siler recalled Ball saying. "I'm sitting there thinking in my mind, I understand, but she doesn't know I understand."
That's when Siler told Ball that she, too, was a cancer survivor.
"It meant more to me probably than it did to her," Siler said. "But it was an eye opener to me that my story could help other people."
Siler, the trainer, accompanied Ball, the student-athlete, to her appointments, offering an empathetic ear.
"It changed my outlook on what I had been through and what it can do for the future," Siler said.
Ball, now an assistant soccer coach at Colorado State, appreciates Siler and head coach Karen Hoppa for helping her stay on top of her checkups.
"You're a 21, 22-year-old, not wanting to go to these dermatologist appointments, and she was the big push behind making me go," Ball said.
This summer, Siler participated in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life with her church family in Virginia, where Marie grew up.
"You can walk down the street and the person beside you has probably been affected in some type of way," Siler said "It's allowing them the opportunity, by the fundraising, to help other people. I've really decided that I want to give back."
Beginning her fifth year at Auburn, Marie Siler brings her unique perspective to Auburn's sports medicine team.
"I know the sense of community around here is great," Siler said. "It's just the family, we all rally behind each other to help each other."
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @jeff_shearer