Former Center Grove 800-meter specialist Grant Stapleton poses on the track where he used to practice.
Rob Baker | For the Daily Journal
The young man who used to pad his athletic reputation two laps at a time is back at the Center Grove track.
Only now, Grant Stapleton’s steps are slower, more deliberate.
Diagnosed with stage 4 esophageal cancer in March 2022, Stapleton, a 2015 graduate and one of the top 800-meter runners in Trojans history, slowly makes his way to a place to sit down.
Months of chemotherapy intended to push back life’s finish line have rid Stapleton, 26, of his hair. Excess fluid retention has pushed his stomach outward, contrasting his thin arms and legs.
Stapleton, a state finalist in the 800 both his junior and senior seasons, recently decided to stop medical treatment. As for how much longer he has to live, those numbers aren’t known.
When diagnosed, Stapleton was told he had 18 months.
That was 16 months ago.
“It was not pleasant,” Stapleton said. “They initially gave me 18 months to live off my first doctor’s visit. But it depends on the person. Being off treatment, they didn’t give me a hard deadline or anything.
“But they said it would probably be sooner rather than later.”
As a former high school and Division I athlete, Stapleton is more in tune with his body than most. Such self-awareness informed him something was amiss.
“At the time, I was losing weight. I wasn’t really eating too much,” Stapleton said. “There was a problem where I would go out for a nice meal with my wife, and I would eat two bites and be completely full.
“Eating was never a problem for me, so I just knew something was off. I kept pushing and pushing on (doctors), and said, ‘I think we have something more serious here.’”
Esophageal cancer is the eighth-most frequently diagnosed form of cancer worldwide. Warning signs include a difficulty to swallow, chest pain, heartburn, weight loss, chronic coughing, vomiting and more.
If detected early enough, esophageal cancer can be treated through surgery.
Unfortunately, Stapleton’s wasn’t.
The diagnosis served up moments in which Stapleton said, ‘Why me?’ and tempted him to angrily shake a fist at a higher power.
The cancer has spread to Stapleton’s liver, stomach, lungs and lymph nodes.
“It was a very aggressive cancer that really took apart a lot of things very quickly,” Stapleton said. “I think there’s a stage 5, but stage 4 and stage 5, you’re looking at very low (survival) percentages at that point.
“(Stopping treatment) was a lot of discussion with my doctors and my family. My doctor was the one to kind of put forward the idea of, ‘I see you. You’re a trooper. You’re the toughest guy in here. But it’s not helping anymore. We think it’s doing more harm than good.’”
As a junior at Center Grove, Stapleton took home a ninth-place medal at the state meet at Indiana University with a time of 1 minute, 55.35 seconds. He qualified again in 2015, taking 12th in 1:55.45.
Now, a little more than eight years removed from his final after-school practice on the school’s track, he’s unable to run.
And though Stapleton isn’t the person he was — at least athletically speaking — some of life’s other windows have been unlocked and opened wide.
His lone sibling, 2013 Center Grove graduate Conner Stapleton, is older by 27 months. The brothers weren’t particularly close while growing up, but began finding common ground around the time Grant graduated from Xavier in 2019.
Younger brother’s current health situation has brought them closer than ever before.
“I mean, I handle it in a variety of ways,” said Conner, 28. “I think it comes and goes in waves as to the reality of it hitting me. I think what’s so difficult about it is it’s something that nobody else that I know is going through.
“I think what’s been most important for me is taking care of myself as much as possible to support him the best that I can. That’s always been my focus. If I’m not all good, I can’t do my best to support, uplift and help him however I can.”
This includes Conner, a fairly accomplished cook, occasionally making Grant’s favorite dish, butter chicken, for dinner.
After high school, Grant Stapleton ran track at Xavier. As a senior, he was part of the 4×800 relay that established the school’s indoor record time of 7:38.14 at the Big East Championships.
It was while attending Xavier that Stapleton met Illiana Harris, a native of Santa Rosa, California. He was a sophomore and she a freshman when they started dating; they were wed June 25, 2022, in Indianapolis, and live no more than five minutes from Center Grove.
Asked if his legacy could carry on through the birth of a child, Stapleton pauses for a moment.
“Personally, I find that a little irresponsible,” Stapleton said. “I’ve thought about it, and it’s just like, if the worst does come to worst, do you really want her to be a single mom?
“But she’s been amazing to me. I mean, I know deep down on the inside, it’s killing her, too.”
The fact his wife and the majority of his friends will likely live decades beyond what he will isn’t lost on Stapleton, who won’t turn 27 until next Jan. 30. In the meantime, he goes about living life with purpose.
Stapleton, who majored in computer science, continues to work full-time as a software engineer for Vergence Group out of Indianapolis, which specializes in business consulting, technology services and healthcare management.
The cliché thing would be for Stapleton to go on trying to maximize every day he has left.
He refuses to go there.
“I wouldn’t say I actively try to make every day the best day possible,” Stapleton said. “I just don’t feel like that’s a realistic goal to maintain.
“I don’t feel like I’m sick. I feel like a normal human. I think I have a lot more in me. I really do.”
