On January 22, Niki Nolte got up on the block for her first collegiate Penn State varsity swimming and diving meet after nearly 30 months away from the pool.

The two-time cancer survivor’s journey back to the water was long and difficult. But on January 22, all she could think about was what was in front of her — her teammates, coaches, and relay-mates cheering her on while her parents watched via Zoom from their home in Lenhartsville, Pennsylvania. 

“It’s been incredible, and I’ve been incredibly blessed to have the amount of support from my teammates and my coaches and the overall support staff here at Penn State,” Nolte said. “It was just a really cool moment being able to hug them and cheer with them afterward.”

The junior was diagnosed with lymphoma in April 2017, and after 18 weeks of chemotherapy, she was declared cancer-free in August. Then, in September 2018, Nolte was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic lymphoma, a blood and bone marrow cancer. Nolte underwent a bone marrow transplant in February 2019 thanks to her older sister, Krystal.

Soon after, she returned to Penn State’s campus and enrolled in a full schedule as a biobehavioral health major and Schreyer Honors Scholar. Now, Nolte has completed the goal that she set for herself two years ago when she was going through the transplant: to compete again.

Starting her first full collegiate swimming season during a pandemic was relatively unorthodox. The Pennsylvania native never got to experience what a complete “normal” season looked like with an in-depth training regimen and time spent bonding with teammates. 

However, the reduced training schedule and team-implemented yoga sessions have been beneficial, Nolte said. They allowed her to slowly get back into shape and not feel the pressure that comes with a high-demand training schedule. 

“Training this year has definitely been different just because of COVID and the restrictions that we’ve had, just with social distancing and practice times,” Nolte said. “We normally would have doubles and be swimming in the water at least 20 hours a week, but it’s definitely not that way this year. We’re not allowed to do doubles with the Big Ten, so we’ve only been getting in the water for two hours a day, Monday through Saturday, and then lifting for an hour a day three times a week.

“I definitely haven’t experienced a full year or season of collegiate training,” she continued. “This is my first time, so I’m just trying to take it all by stride and learn as I go. As long as I’m moving forward, I’m happy.”

While she was excited to jump into the season and start a new chapter, Nolte said that with the eagerness came some nerves. Mentally, it was tough not being able to know the extent of what she was able to do now compared to knowing how she was able to previously perform before cancer.

Not having any person to base her experience on added to that trepidation, as she doesn’t know any other swimmer that has come back from cancer and then gone on to compete collegiately. But Nolte knew this was a new experience for her coaches and parents, too.

“I’ve been just trying to take it day by day, but I definitely think my confidence level has increased a lot with the fact that we have been doing some intrasquad meets and racing,” Nolte said. “Just knowing too that I’m able to be doing this again has definitely helped with those moments where I tend to get frustrated, knowing that I should be faster than whatever I’m at now, but I just have to look back and realize that what I was able to do when I was in high school was built off of years of training and years of discipline, whereas I’ve been out of the water for two years now.

“My body’s been completely torn down. It’s going to take a very long time to get back where I used to be,” she continued.

Reflecting on what she’s gone through, Nolte said this experience is more than just accomplishing a goal she set for herself nearly two years ago. 

“During recovery, I was very limited mobility-wise. It was a lot tougher on my body than I expected it to be,” Nolte said. “So when I was able to get up and do that, I think I was just really grateful that my doctors, and my family, and myself, and everybody that’s there supporting me have helped me get to this point and have saved me from something that was completely awful and terrible and really tough for anybody to go through.”

She added that she knows not many people have been able to have the “success story” that she had, as well as make it to the “other side of treatment.”

When Nolte competed, it wasn’t just for herself, but for those she met at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia who weren’t able to “make it to the other side.”  

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is rare, with fewer than 200,000 cases of the cancer in the United States per year, according to Mayo Clinic. While for those 14 and younger, ALL’s survival rate is 90%. The survival rate for those between 15 and 24 is 70%, according to Cancer Research UK. 

“I never really knew if I was even gonna be able to compete again, especially when I look back and think about where my body was two years ago,” Nolte said. “I was barely able to walk down the hallway in the hospital. I was barely able to just get up out of bed. It was hard for me to even walk to the bathroom, and so knowing that I’ve been able to come back to this point and be able to get up and even race…Just being able to complete it and do it has been — I can’t even describe it. It makes me speechless thinking about it. It gives me chills.”

While Nolte’s Penn State career is only beginning, she said she’ll always remember the journey that got her here and those first few moments back in the pool.

“Being able to get up on that block and compete with my teammates there cheering me on, my coaches there cheering me on, and having my relay mates being there too…It was a pretty incredible feeling and a moment I’ll never forget,” Nolte said.