Patience.

New Trier senior Graham Ikler will always remember the day that led him to learn more about what that word means.

“On June 8, 2015, the day of my last final of my sophomore year, I was diagnosed with lymphoblastic T-Cell lymphoma, which is one of the most common cancers in young adults,” Ikler said. “It’s a blood disorder, and it pretty much wiped out my immune system. I started doing chemo from there and am still doing it now but nothing is as bad as my junior year, which was really intense and a lot of side effects. Now it’s just oral medication, which isn’t as bad and I’m back at school.”

Having to go through chemotherapy not only took Ikler out of school for his entire junior year, it also didn’t allow him to play a sport he had played since childhood: bowling.

Ikler started bowling as a child while attending birthday parties and also tagging along with his parents whenever they had a free moment. Coming to New Trier as a freshman, he tried out for the bowling team, starting his path as a Trevian bowler. After missing the 2015-16 season, Ikler is back with the team for the 2016-17 season, but in more of a coaching role than a player role.

“I really enjoy it, I like helping out the returning guys and the newer guys, the freshmen, who are going to be there for the next three years,” Ikler said. “I like being there whether or not I’m bowling but it’s kind of hard for me to watch them bowl and not actually bowl myself, but I still enjoy being there with the guys, supporting them and watching them succeed and do well.”

Missing his junior season took more of a toll on him than he expected.

“[Missing last season] was rough,” Ikler said. “I really enjoy bowling, I love the guys I was bowling with, especially some of the seniors that were bowling then, I wanted to bowl with them. I had made varsity and wanted to bowl varsity. It took a toll, just being in the hospital or at home and getting texts and updates saying ‘Oh we won this, or we’re doing this, can you come?’ I’d always say ‘No, I’m not feeling well or at the hospital or getting treatment.’ It sucked, really, having to stay at home or the hospital and not being able to support them or to help the team.”

Despite the inability to bowl with the team last season, the Trevians still rostered Ikler, always leaving one of the six possible slots open in his honor. The Trevians doing so helped Ikler feel as if he was still a member of the team. Ikler has attended the majority of the meets and tournaments, and it seems he has brought New Trier good luck, as the Trevians won the Central Suburban League Invite on Dec. 17. 

Attending bowling activities, as well as being back at school, has brought Ikler back from a sad place.

“I think that [not being able to go to school] was the hardest part, not being able to be social and do anything,” Ikler said. “I wouldn’t say I was a really social person before the diagnosis, but it was pretty much complete isolation, whether at my house or at the hospital. I rarely saw people from school, I rarely saw my friends, except for one or two people who came to visit me quite frequently, whether at my house or the hospital, but it was brutal. It was a little depressing because I couldn’t do anything physically and mentally really, it was awful.”

But what’s the one major thing Ikler has learned from all of this?

Patience.

“Something I really took out of this whole situation was patience,” Ikler said. “I learned that nothing on the hospital happens on time, even when they say it’s going to happen at a certain time, it never does, so patience is huge. And in bowling, if you’re not patient and you’re not calm, you’re not going to succeed. It’s all a mental game. If you have a bad mentality going into a match or a tournament, you’re not going to do well.”

Ikler’s treatments are scheduled to end in October 2017, during his first semester in college. While he doesn’t know which college he will be attending next year, he does know he wants to study materials engineering and, despite missing his junior year, will graduate with his class this year on June 4.

“I grinded out homework and class work while at home and in the hospital during my junior year and also completed one class over the summer between my junior and senior year so I’m on track to graduate with my class” Ikler said, proudly.

Treatment coming to a conclusion, back to bowling, helping others learn from his experiences and on track to graduate: How?

Patience.