East Tennessee family celebrates father who beat cancer on weekend with Bama win

Knoxville, Tenn. (WVLT) – An East Tennessee family celebrated two big wins Saturday, including the Vols beating Alabama and Trey White beating cancer. White officially went home to battle cancer on the third Saturday in October 2017. They celebrated Trey at Neyland Stadium five years after he was diagnosed with cancer.

To say that Trey White and his daughter Lexi are Vol fans would be an understatement.

“I’ve been in 15 years of hell and so I’m going to cloud nine, I’m going to cloud 15, whatever,” Trey White said.

Lexi is proud of her dad for beating cancer, but knows what her favorite day is.

“That day was Oct. 15 when we beat Alabama,” Lexie White said.

As pandemonium erupted throughout Neyland Stadium after the Vols beat Alabama on a last-second touchdown, the White family was reminded that Trey almost didn’t make it there. His original cancer diagnosis revealed a rare form of bone cancer.

“They actually told my family and my friends that after about a 3-hour surgery, I had spindle cell sarcoma, which gives you maybe six months to live,” Trey White said.

After the examination, the family went to prayer and after some time received good news. Trey was told that he actually had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a curable form of cancer.

“It’s still cancer. It’s not something you ever want to hear,” said Lexie White.

His battle began again. He also had cancer in 1987. Doctors told him then that he had colon cancer.

“I didn’t want to know about my chemistry, I just wanted to do it and get it done,” Trey White said.

Five years later, she and her family moved to Neyland knowing Trey was cancer free. As Tennessee Vols fans, there was no better way to celebrate than inside Neyland with 100,000 of their closest friends. But most important were his family members.

“There are people out there who care about you and love you and pray for you, whether they know you or not,” Trey White said.

White is expected to have his 5-year check-up this week to make sure the cancer is completely gone. The family will not be at Neyland for the UT-Martin game, but will be there for the Kentucky and Missouri games.

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