MLS Defender Kevin Alston Is Beating Leukemia Off The Field, And Winning On It

It's the sixty-eighth minute of the first leg of the Major League Soccer Eastern Conference Finals and Kevin Alston is set to check in. He's coming on to help solidify the New England Revolution's defense as the New York Red Bulls push forward, trying to break a 1-1 deadlock and grab a vital home win in the home-and-home series. Red Bulls winger Lloyd Sam has been giving the Revolution defense fits with his speed on the right wing. Alston is coming on to match Sam's pace.

Eighteen minutes later, Alston's Revolution take a 2-1 lead in front of the sold-out crowd at Red Bull Arena. Sam is nowhere to be found for the rest of the match. New England goes home with a vital win and two away goals. Alston's defense on Sam is no small part of the victory, and all the more remarkable because 19 months ago, the 26-year-old discovered he had leukemia.

On April Fool's Day, 2013, Alston's life changed. Two days earlier, he had struggled through a home game in front of 10,000 fans at Gillette Stadium. His feet had fallen asleep during the game. He had no energy. His legs felt like he had gone through a morning lift session. Alston, a full-back best known for his pace and one-on-one defending, was beaten over and over again by FC Dallas winger Jackson Goncalves, and subbed off in the eighty-eighth minute.

Alston didn't know why he suddenly felt so terrible. Team doctors didn't know either. So they sent him to the hospital for blood work. When Alston's results were processed, physicians called Revolution team trainer Evan Allen. Allen met Alston in the team's training room in the bowels of Gillette Stadium, and handed him a phone with a doctor on the other end of the line. She told Alston that he had leukemia and that he needed to go to Mass General Hospital in Boston as soon as possible for more testing.

"I hear leukemia and that's it, I'm done," Alston says. "I broke down. I was crying. I was just crushed. I had to take some time to get myself together."

The doctor told Alston some good news, though. Treatment for the type of leukemia they thought he had has a good success rate. That allowed him to compose himself. Alston and Allen got in the car and drove straight to the hospital. He called his dad and his agent and let them know what was going on.

He got to the hospital and the first question he asked the doctor was whether he would lose his distinct hair. He's had springy Sideshow Bob dreadlocks for a long time and he didn't want them to fall out. Next he asked if he would ever play soccer again.

"I was trying to keep myself up," Alston says. "But on the other side I was afraid for what was going to happen next."

Alston spent a week in the hospital. He was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia, a rare but treatable form of the disease. Now he knew why he'd been feeling sluggish and had a hard time staying fit for the past year.

"The year before that [diagnosis] there were games I was like, 'Man, maybe I'm over the hill, I'm just not what I used to be,' and I could never really explain it," Alston says.

Alston started taking chemotherapy pills and began his recovery. He stuck around the team despite being put on the disabled list. He didn't lose his hair. The diagnosis allowed Alston to start enjoying his life a little more. He began to hang out around Boston with friends. He couldn't work out or train—the doctor said he could not run until his blood levels evened out and his spleen returned to its normal size—but that gave him the freedom to explore the city. He needed that outlet. When Alston stayed home alone, his mind would wander and take him to a dark place.

"It's like I almost block it out of my head, what's going to happen down the road," says Alston. "Sometimes I'll think about it, but I'll just try to pretend it's not even there. That's the biggest challenge: is the medicine going to keep working? What's going to happen five years from now? The medicine is so new that they don't know what is going to happen down the road. What is going to happen down the road? So, just being able to block that out is the main fight I have every day."

On July 27, 2013, less than five months after his diagnosis, Alston made his return to the team as an eighty-seventh minute substitute in a 2-1 win over rivals D.C. United. Over 100 friends and family showed up for the game in his hometown.

At the end of the season, Alston was named the 2013 MLS Comeback Player of the Year.

Now Alston has so much on his mind about his future that in order to produce on the field, he has to work hard to stay in the moment. His life and career were almost taken from him, and could still end at any moment. He can't dwell on that, can't dwell on the questions that enter his mind. He has to block them out and stay in the present.

"Every game I go out there and it's like in the past I've always enjoyed it, but last year reminded me nothing is guaranteed and you never know what's going to happen," Alston says. "So it's like every game I go out there I'm fighting like it's my last game."

It's not easy keeping those dark thoughts out. While the side-effects of his medication haven't slowed him down too much on the field, the mental aspect can be trying. He's had to work to stay clear, stay in the moment, and keep his fears about the future—fears, for example, about the long-term effects of his medication—from being debilitating. Some days are better than others.

So far, he has been successful. Last year, the Revolution made the playoffs for the first time since 2009, when Alston was a rookie and his coach, Jay Heaps, was playing with him. Now, the team is one of the most exciting in MLS and one game away from the MLS Cup Finals for the first time since 2007. It's been an up and down season for the team, but nothing Alston can't handle.

"I'd be lying if I said it's all good," says Alston. "It's peaks and valleys. Sometimes it's great. I've had some bad days. But for the most part, I try to stay positive."