Former Huskies Rally Around Teammate Fighting For His Life

Dan Milsten is a former University of Washington defensive lineman long remembered for suffering one of the most gruesome injuries at Husky Stadium ,when in 2004 he was transported from the field in a Medic I vehicle with a career-ending fractured fibula and dislocated ankle.

Unfortunately for Milsten, he's facing even greater health concerns now -- dealing with a pair of highly invasive illnesses in stage 4 colorectal cancer and neuroendocrine metastatic carcinoma, which are considered terminal.

Overly concerned Husky teammates have rallied around him, visited him in the hospital where he's bed-ridden and set up a Go Fund Me account to help support his wife and two young sons.

Calling him "one of the good guys," fellow UW defensive lineman Jordan Reffett went public with Milsten's dire health situation over the past week on social media and wrote, "This has come on so fast and so aggressively that we are just praying for options to prolong his life at this point."

After having his football career end so suddenly more than two decades ago, Milsten, 42, has built an idyllic family life by becoming a local realtor and with Rebekah, his wife of 10 years, raising their boys Jackson, 8, and Cooper, 6, in Puyallup.

Fighting for his life with two small children. Help if you can former @UW_Football Dan Milsten https://t.co/ultXXPSEEO
— Kim Grinolds (@KimGrinolds) March 4, 2026

As a Husky football player so long ago, Milsten emerged from Rogers High School in Puyallup as the first player in the Class of 2022 to commit to Rick Neuheisel's coaching staff, choosing the UW over Arizona State, Oregon, San Diego State, UCLA and others.

After redshirting his first year, he put 25 pounds on his now 6-foot-5, 290-pound frame and appeared in 10 games for a 2023 UW team coached by Keith Gilbertson following Neuheisel's offseason dismissal.

As a fast-rising sophomore in 2004, Milsten wore No. 98 and won a starting job as a nose tackle for the first six Husky games before disaster struck.

On the second defensive series of a 29-14 loss to Oregon State, he tried to make the tackle on a screen pass in the flat when he was hit from behind by a Beavers offensive lineman and left seriously injured, with teammates calling it a dirty play.

Dan Milsten and his family of four. | Go Fund Me

For all the fans to see, Milsten had to have his ankle twisted back into place before he could be loaded into the waiting emergency vehicle on the field and taken to the University of Washington Medical Center for immediate surgery.

Before disappearing from view, he waved his arms to the crowd and drew a big roar.

His injuries were so significant, Milsten never played again, spending time coaching as a student while getting his UW degree.

That hard-luck 2004 Husky team suffered injury after injury and finished 1-10. When Milsten got hurt, he was the 12th player since fall camp to have to have surgery.

Sadly, he's in for the fight of his life and everyone around him is being highly supportive.

"We are asking for help in this very dark time to make sure Daniel's wife and two young sons have some peace of mind during this extremely shocking and difficult time and for the challenging days ahead," Reffett wrote.