So Long, Cancer: How Relationship With Dontae Carter, Football Helped Boogie Carter Beat Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Dontae Carter's brother Boogie Carter is cancer free after fighting for 92 days.

Boogie Carter's battle with cancer made he and his brother Dontae closer. | Bridget Carter

Nashville–-As Isaac Carter flipped through the photos from his son Javonte “Boogie” Carter’s seven-on-seven tournament, he saw something that prompted him to pace over to his wife. 

“Look at this photo,” he said. 

When someone with the nursing background of Bridget Carter views an image like the one that her husband showed her that night, something is always inevitably done about it. What Boogie Carter’s mom saw through the “tight” shorts that his seven-on-seven team wore that day in Miami would lead her to call her son down immediately. 

To a trained eye, it wasn’t difficult to see the knot on Boogie’s right leg. It also wasn’t difficult for his mom to worry about it. As a result, she immediately brought her youngest son downstairs.

“Boogie,” His mom Bridget said while hoping that there would be a reasonable explanation to ease her already racing mind, “What is this?” 

“Oh, a knot came up,” Boogie said. “But, I was lifting weights so I think I strained something.”

Bridget had seen too much throughout her medical career to believe that the obvious lump on her son’s leg–that she says “stuck out like a baseball”--was just a weight-lifting injury, though. She knew she had to act quickly. 

In her son’s mind, the injury wasn’t worth missing the seven-on-seven tournament that he was set to travel to Louisiana for. Boogie immediately learned that he didn’t have a say in this discussion, though. 

“I’m taking you to the doctor tomorrow,” Bridget said. “You’re not going to no tournament. We’re going to the doctor.”

“Put my doctor’s appointment off,” Boogie replied. “I’ve got to play football.” 

“No,” Bridget said. “You’re going to the doctor.” 

As the youngest Carter sat in the doctor’s office, he still didn’t realize the magnitude of his situation. When his doctor asked him how long the knot had been there, he played it off as a non-issue and declared that it’d been on his body for the last three years. Boogie just wanted to play football like his brother has for years. He would do nearly anything to avoid something that could possibly drag him away from that. 

His doctor wasn’t having it, though. Boogie’s physical–which occurred two months earlier in January–had been done too recently and too thoroughly for something like this to slip through the cracks. Perhaps Boogie wouldn’t admit it, but the knot on his leg popped up sometime within two months of his recent trip to Miami and was already the size of a golf ball. 

That was just what the Carters knew about. 

It was unbeknownst to them at the time, but pushed up in Boogie’s armpit under his nerve and his muscles was another knot that would eventually need to be taken out. The obvious knot on his right leg was enough for the youngest Carter’s doctor to send him to the urologist and eventually a surgeon–who determined that the knot needed to be removed and that a biopsy was necessary “to see what was going on”--though.  

As the surgeon dismissed Boogie from the hospital, he told the Carters that he’d see them in two weeks for a check up and that if they didn’t hear anything within two weeks that
“everything was fine.” Two days before the two weeks was up, the surgeon called. For nearly two weeks it appeared as if life would go on as normal, but in the end the surgeon’s timetable became a means for baseless hope. 

The eventual result that the Carters would eventually receive was one that they could likely only think up in their nightmares. Bridget saw the team of doctors around her son’s room and knew from her professional career that she shouldn’t count anything out 

The previously fully healthy Boogie was diagnosed with Stage 3A Hodgkin Lymphoma.

All of a sudden, the kid who “doesn’t get sick” wasn’t allowed to go to church while he rebuilt his immune system. All of a sudden life was different. 

“We were devastated,” Isaac said.

“I didn’t want to believe it,” Boogie added. “I was asking to travel to another cancer place to get more scans.” 

Upon hearing the news, Boogie ran out of the hospital room as his parents went after him. Isaac and Bridget Carter knew “exactly” what their son was going to do as they followed him. Perhaps they didn’t know where exactly he’d go, but they knew exactly what he’d do once he got there. 

Boogie desperately wanted to get a hold of his brother Dontae Carter–Vanderbilt’s sophomore safety, who is the fifth-highest rated recruit in program history. The younger Carter “looks up to” the Vanderbilt safety “a whole lot,” as his dad says. 

As Boogie and Isaac called, Dontae was on Vanderbilt’s campus sitting in a class as he wrapped up his freshman year and didn’t pick up the phone the first time, but he knew something was up. Whenever the Vanderbilt safety gets a call from his dad and responds by letting him know he’s in class, he generally gets a text in return. This time he just got a call back. 

The then Vanderbilt freshman quickly stepped out of his 4:00 class, found a rock to sit down on and took his family’s call. The older Carter brother knew that there was a history of health issues and cancer with two family members on his mom’s side, but he couldn’t fathom that it was happening to someone like Boogie. 

“I just never expected it to be my little brother,” the Vanderbilt safety told Vandy on SI. “The first thing I thought honestly was ‘why is this happening to him? He doesn’t deserve this.’ If anything this should have happened to me. If anything, God, do it to me. That’s my little brother. I really love him. It was kind of just like a stabbing in the heart because it’s like when you hear that C-word you just have a bunch of high emotions.”

As an older brother that normally keeps things to himself, Dontae tried to put on a strong face for his younger brother. He had just been blindsided, though. The older Carter brother says he left his class early and was crying as he walked back while on facetime with his brother.

He wasn’t hopeless and he didn’t want his brother to be, though. 

Dontae and Boogie Carter are said to be inseparable. | Bridget Carter

The Vanderbilt safety knew that he had the opportunity to set the tone for the recovery process and made his best effort to do so in that moment. 

“Everything is gonna be okay,” the older Carter told his younger brother Boogie. “Adversity, this is what the Carter family does. This is what we do. God puts this stuff on our plate to make us stronger, man.”

If there’s two things the Carter family knows from its days of moving, Bridget’s stroke that paralyzed her and its time together; it’s adversity and how to make an impact on the football field. As a result, the Carters were going to treat this like something they were more familiar with than anyone; a football game. 

“Bad play, good play, whatever it is,” the older Carter brother told the younger one in a moment of emotion. “We’ve got to take it on the chin and move on from it. There’s nothing we can’t get through.” 

The older Carter brother called on his younger brother to remember how he warms up before each of his seven-on-seven games. Each warm up includes a one-on-one drill that Boogie doesn’t often lose. His older brother told him to consider his battle with cancer as an individual battle like he often has before a game. 

Perhaps that’s exactly the way he needed to think about it. 

“I knew football was going to help me through a lot,” Boogie said. “I’ve been through everything in football, a lot of mental things. I knew ‘if I can go through football, I can beat this cancer easily.”  

Even after long days of chemotherapy, which Boogie says made him sick during his second as well as his third cycle and made him vomit on days that he wasn’t able to eat or drink, he was still thinking about football and making his best effort to get on the field. 

The younger Carter brother is listed as an athlete rather than at a specific position, but has tape to back up the idea that his physicality and ability to high-point the ball as a receiver can translate beyond seven-on-seven. He just wanted an opportunity to keep proving himself, though. 

“I was praying to God every night hoping that I could get back on the football field,” Boogie told Vandy on SI. “Football is like my calm place. That’s all I’ve grown up on is football, so I guess it just came on down on to me. I just used it to motivate me every day, to keep me going. Every time I was feeling down I’d just left the house, go to the football field and put a little bit of work in.” 

The Carters have moved all over the country and have had to learn how to navigate the challenges that come with moving around and adjusting to the different cultures in Alabama, California and Texas, but their two boys know that a few things are constant. They believe their faith in God doesn’t change based on their location and they know that no matter where they go, they have to keep working. 

Dontae and Boogie’s dad has dedicated himself to teaching his two sons the value of hard work like his military dad did over the years. Ever since the Carter’s were kids, they would make their bed every morning and would take turns cutting the grass on the weekends. Before they were old enough to, they had a toy lawnmower that would produce bubbles and would foreshadowing their future duties. They also consistently participated in training sessions with their father as they chased their football dreams. 

The oldest Carter is fulfilling that dream as he wakes up each day at 5:30 A.M. and goes to the McGugin Center as he competes for Vanderbilt’s starting safety role. His little brother is a member of the high school class of 2030 and isn't old enough to know how his football career will end up, but he already holds a Vanderbilt offer. 

Boogie doesn’t know if he’ll end up as a member of Vanderbilt’s program yet, but he knows that he loves it. Perhaps the biggest reason why is because he knows that the feeling is mutual. 

Three days after his initial diagnosis, Boogie woke up to his phone “blowing up” with texts from his older brother’s teammates as well as a video that held three and a half minutes worth of well wishes from those within Vanderbilt’s program. 

“I know exactly how this is going to turn out,” Vanderbilt cornerbacks coach Jamaal Richardson said while Vanderbilt’s players lined up behind him to deliver their messages. “You’re a fighter, you’re going to fight through this. This is going to be one of the greatest stories ever told. All of your hopes and dreams, all of that is going to be accomplished.” 

“Boogie,” Vanderbilt tight end Eli Stowers said in the video. “I love you, man. Just know I’m praying for you. I’m praying for your family. We know you’re going to come out on top of this, bro. We’ve got faith in all of that.” 

“Sending you strength and love and support,” Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea said. “We have your back, we’re gonna be with you through this. We’re excited to celebrate with you on the back end of this.” 

Perhaps at the beginning of the video Boogie didn’t know what to expect from those within it, but by the end he felt as encouraged as he’d been since his diagnosis. Members of the Byron P. Steele community would often come to the Carter’s house in those times to pray over Boogie and bring the family meals. Kids would come to express their support for Boogie through the ring doorbell at the Carter’s house when Boogie’s immune system was weak. Members of his community threw him a parade on Easter.  The Steele community has been as good to the Carters as anyone, but this was different. 

This was a vote of confidence from the group of guys that Boogie looks up to. He still remembers exactly how it felt to get it. 

“I just broke down right there,” Boogie said. “I was crying tears of joy. I came running downstairs and showed my parents and they started tearing up with me. Just knowing that I had that big of a school and that big of people supporting me, it just made me feel like I’m in good hands.” 

“I would cry every time,” Bridget added. “To see a group of boys that sometimes in your mind you would think ‘ok, they’re not gonna bother with that kid, that’s a little kid’ but, to see them rally around him and keep him motivated and keep him going was amazing. It was amazing to see, it truly was.” 

What was said in front of the camera by each Vanderbilt player and coach that day wasn’t entirely out of the ordinary or unexpected, in some ways it was a small gesture. It meant something coming from them, though. 

If the Carter’s had any doubts that their son was surrounding himself with the right people, they lost them as soon as the video rolled in. 

“I can see that they have his back,” Dontae said. “When my brother was going through these things, these guys were still sending text messages and reaching out and still asking me about him every day. That’s how I knew it was real, like ‘I’m around some real folks.’” 

All of the members of Vanderbilt’s program that uplifted their teammates’s younger brother appeared to be genuine in their well wishes, but one of them appeared to level with him more than anyone but his brother. 

Vanderbilt cornerback Marlon Jones who reminded Boogie that he beat cancer in October and told him that he could do the same. Jones and the youngest Carter called at least every other week throughout the process as Jones tried to remind him of the potential light at the end of the tunnel. 

Even those who hadn’t been through it before had an impact on Boogie. As he was standing on the ring next to over 10 members of Vanderbilt’s football team at a UFC event that Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia invited him to, all of the hurt and worry that he’d gone through appeared to go away. Boogie’s older brother wasn’t even there that night, it was all his. 

“If one person’s hurt, we’re all hurt,” Heard said. “If one of us is hurt, we’re all hurt. So we just go by that. We always got to make sure each other are good.” 

Dontae Carter struggled to work through his brother's cancer diagnosis. | Dontae Carter

Even through Boogie’s older brother Dontae wore a smile as he addressed his younger video through the camera in the heartwarming video that Vanderbilt sent to him and cheered him up as he called his brother alongside his teammates, but at times that smile was hollow.

As the Vanderbilt safety DoorDashed Chick-Fil-A, Zaxbys, Canes and protein shakes to encourage his brother at the hospital or the house back in Texas every day, he also needed to be reminded of the potential for the situation to improve. 

While he was stuck at Vanderbilt during spring ball, the Texas native just wanted to go home and be with his brother. He wanted to help. He says he almost went against his better judgement by packing up and getting in the car without telling anyone. A pre-scheduled meeting with a Vanderbilt coach kept Carter in Nashville, but his heart wasn’t there. 

“Some days I could see it weighing on him,” Vanderbilt safety CJ Heard told Vandy on SI. “Me knowing DC, I could see that some days it was getting to him. You could just see it, it’s a guy that’s got energy, talks a lot. Some days he don’t talk and that’s the days you’d know it was getting to him. Coach would always say ‘don’t feel bad for him, but support him.’” 

It wasn’t noticeable in the Vanderbilt safety’s spring ball performance–which he says he believes was “positive”--or the way he carried himself while he was “living well” and the “right” way, but he was struggling. It took awhile before Carter decided to “finally” open up to Vanderbilt STAR Randon Fontenette, receiver Boski Barrett and Pavia, but even they likely didn’t know the magnitude of the weight that was on their teammate. 

Whenever everyone else was asleep, Carter would be sitting there “staring at the wall” despite the TV being on. He would come home and “just cry.” The uncertainty weighed on him enough to keep him up for nights on end. 

“It was actually hard as hell,” Carter said. “It’s just a different type of feeling.” 

Those around Carter–like Vanderbilt tight end, who would pray over Carter and Vanderbilt defensive end Simeon Boulware’s families in front of the rest of Vanderbilt’s team often–did what they could to empathize with him, but they couldn’t understand what he was feeling or the things that it required to make him feel like himself. 

One night in Vanderbilt’s facility, Carter looked across the street from Vanderbilt’s turf practice field and saw the flashing lights of a police car from Vanderbilt’s on-campus police service VUPD. As he stopped to reflect on why they’d be in the area, he realized that they were likely about to come check in on him and that they had good reason to. 

Carter was running up and down the field by himself screaming late into the night while all of Vanderbilt’s other students were asleep and all the cars that were normally on the road were absent. It was almost as if it was out of a movie scene, but Carter felt as if desperate times called for the measures that he’s often advised his brother to take in hard times.

“I’d just come to the facility early in the morning, late at night and just get a sweat going and just yell,” Carter said. “This field, any field and some cleats, bro, it will get you right.” 

The Vanderbilt safety and his younger brother have “always been really close” and checked in on each other nearly every day throughout Boogie’s battle with 3A Hodgkin Lymphoma. When Boogie was asleep, his mom and older brother would often stay up late into the night talking on the phone and worrying about the next steps. 

Vanderbilt’s highly-regarded sophomore safety was impactful throughout the spring and often got his hands on the ball, but at times he spent early mornings trying to regain his energy in 6:00 A.M. meetings after unintentionally pulling all nighters. 

The then Vanderbilt freshman was reunited with his brother over Vanderbilt’s spring break, but didn’t want that to be the end of things. By the end of the summer, Boogie had stayed in Nashville for around three weeks.

Carter didn’t know what the outcome of his brother’s fight would be in the spring, but he knew that he wasn’t going to let a day go by without finding a way to encourage his brother. 

“Dontae wanted to take the role of just taking him in and taking care of him,” Isaac said. “That’s a good brother, man.” 

Boogie Carter worked through a 92-day process after receiving his cancer diagnosis. | Bridget Carter

92 days and over three months after Boogie ran out of the room to call his brother, he and his parents received another call. 

“Are y’all on speakerphone? Is Boogie there?” The doctor on the other end of the line said. 

“Yeah,” Bridget said. “Boogie is right here.”

“We just want to let you know that it’s gone,” the doctor said. 

“What?” the Carters replied. “How is it gone this fast?” 

As of June 22, Boogie Carter’s cancer was gone. So was the uncertainty. So was the thought that he may not be able to pursue the future that he wanted to. It was all over while everything was ahead of him at the same time. 

92 days is a substantial amount of time that can often mark life change in someone Boogie’s age, but in the grand scheme of things it felt as if it was a short period of time relative to what was expected. It was almost as if it was unfathomable that the doctor had just said what they did. 

“I think my parents thought I was in shock,” Boogie said. “I just stopped talking. I was just happy. I knew God was on my side this whole time, this whole process so I knew everything was going to be all good.” 

Back in Nashville, Donte’s cat–which he purchased in the spring to help him handle the stress that came with Boogie’s diagnosis–went flying up in the air as Boogie vocalized the news to him. 

The Vanderbilt safety would generally rush over to check on his cat, but he was too consumed to. 

“That moment, it was just joy,” the Vanderbilt sophomore said. “It was like we just won the national championship or I just scored a 100-yard pick six or something. Those are the types of feelings that I can relate it to. It was a feeling that you can never forget.”

Boogie’s port was removed on July 3 and his life has since become reminiscent of the way that it was this time a year ago. He’s preparing for a football season in which he’s fully healthy. He feels like himself. 

In some ways, he feels like a better version of himself. 

“After I beat all this I was like ‘yeah, I’m mentally strong, I’m physically strong,’ it just made me feel way stronger than I thought I was,” Boogie said. “I feel blessed and thankful for every day.”

Boogie Carter is now pursuing his football career with some added perspective. | Bridget Carter

Boogie Carter doesn’t want to just live every day like he used to, though. 

Perhaps as a result of what he’s been through he has a greater responsibility than to just do what he used to do. He’s different now, in a way that people gravitate towards. 

“I do whatever I can do to support kids that’s going through worse things than me,” Boogie said. “I already have kids coming up to me when they have bad days, they always trust me. I just help them with advice.” 

Boogie has always been a “leader,” his dad says. The Carter family–who describes themselves as advocates–wants to walk alongside their youngest link as he pursues that, too. 

The family often goes around to the parents it sees at youth sporting events and other events around town to remind them to check for bumps on their kids’ bodies and to make sure they’re healthy. They’re also motivated to be teammates to those who are going through trouble. 

After all, that’s what helped them get to where they are. 

“[The doctor said] ‘can you guys please share your story?’ This kid was just doubled over sick, but moving around in the next 15 minutes” Bridget said. “And I said ‘well, for one you’ve gotta have a heck of a football team.’”