By admin 
GOODYEAR, AZ — Every sprint. Every rep in the weight room. Every catch during practice.
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For Zerek Sidney, this offseason has meant more than preparing for his senior football season.
After missing much of last year because of a serious illness, the highly recruited Desert Edge wide receiver is healthy again and motivated to make the most of every opportunity.
“More motivation this year, for sure,” Sidney said. “A lot of people counted me out last year.”
The senior’s return marks a sharp contrast from a season spent watching from the sideline instead of making plays on Friday nights.
“I’m watching them play, but I just can’t really do anything,” Sidney said. “I’m just there on the sideline cheering them on, but it hurt not being out there.”
As his teammates competed, Sidney faced a much bigger challenge off the field. He was hospitalized for weeks while doctors searched for the cause of his rapidly declining health. As he continued losing weight, neither Sidney nor his family had answers.
“We don’t know what it is. We’re just scared,” Sidney said. “I’m just rapidly losing weight, and we don’t know what it is. It was a scary feeling, a feeling of the unknown.”
With no diagnosis, Sidney’s family pushed for additional testing.
His father, Tracy Sidney, recalled how his wife urged doctors to test their son for Valley Fever.
“My wife was like, ‘You need to test him for Valley Fever,'” Tracy Sidney said. “She was so adamant about it that they went ahead and tested him.”
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The test confirmed Valley Fever, an infection caused by inhaling fungal spores commonly found in Arizona’s desert soil. But for Sidney, finally having an answer brought immediate relief.
“Instantly, it was just a sigh of relief,” he said. “Just thanking God because of a lot of prayer and faith.”
His father said that the same faith helped carry the family through one of the most difficult periods of their lives.
“Watching him and his journey, how he handled it, really made things 10 times easier,” Tracy Sidney said. “Where I was unhappy or sad, I looked at his face and found strength. It was amazing.”
Months of treatment later, Sidney is back on the football field, preparing for his final high school season.
Now healthy, he says the experience has changed how he approaches football and life.
“I feel like now, being able-bodied, healthy and able to work out, you appreciate things way more,” Sidney said. “It’s just a blessing.”
As one of Arizona’s top college football recruits enters his senior season, Sidney’s biggest victory has already come long before kickoff: getting the chance to play the game he loves again.
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