Seventeen months ago, Webb Kosich sat in a doctor’s office wondering what his future held.
The fluorescent lights of a waiting room and the dread of a physician’s diagnosis were almost alien to Kosich, a devoted athlete who had committed the first 19 years of his life to soccer without a whisper of a health scare.
Kosich had tried maintaining a positive outlook, but nothing could distract him from the potential of bad news and, moreover, how out of place he felt in this developing situation.
“It took so long for them to find out what it was,” said Kosich, currently a member of the Annapolis Blues soccer team. “I basically just promised myself that whatever it was, I would fight it with everything I had. I was definitely ready for a verdict.”
But there he was on a soccer field last month, and Kosich sure wasn’t sitting. He created a scoring opportunity, buried a penalty kick and celebrated in front of the Annapolis Blues fans at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium — showing little sign of the aplastic anemia that held him back from the sport he loved for a precious year of playing time.
“It’s very fulfilling to play for the Blues, and for that moment to happen the way it did, it was just perfect to me,” Kosich said of scoring off the penalty kick during a home game June 7 against the Alexandria Rough Diamonds.
That goal was the most recent stop on Kosich’s journey to work his body back into the shape it was during fall 2022 — the last time he was able to play at full strength.
Following his first semester playing at William & Mary, Webb returned home for winter break while characteristically maintaining his conditioning. But as the calendar flipped to 2023, he started feeling fatigued during routine runs and began noticing bruises suddenly on his legs and back.
Kosich and his family grew worried enough that they visited the local hospital in St. Mary’s County with medical professionals spending a week running blood tests. Doctors concluded that Kosich wasn’t stricken with any routine sickness, but lacked the resources to confidently identify his ailment. What they did know was that he only had 2,000 platelets running in his bloodstream, well short of the 150,000-450,000 range that’s expected within adults.
Kosich was transferred to Johns Hopkins Hospital where more bloodwork and a bone marrow diagnosis was conducted. Soon, Kosich met with specialists.
“I remember three doctors came in and they were like, ‘We have good news and bad news,'” Kosich recalled. “‘The good news is that you don’t have leukemia. But, you have aplastic anemia and won’t be able to go back to school and you’ll have to stop playing soccer.’”
Kosich was initially happy at the news that he avoided anything life-threatening, but the shock of his playing career coming to an abrupt halt was overwhelming. His treatments included chemotherapy and radiation among other things.
All the teen knew about aplastic anemia, aside from its rarity, was that the disease was not as bad as leukemia and that other athletes had pulled through similar diagnoses. Bottom line, Kosich wasn’t one to let a road block deter his ambitions.
“We had done a little bit of research on it. I knew it wasn’t anything good, but it was better than the alternative, so I thought it was best to be positive about it,” he said. “I knew that one day I was going to go back and play soccer. No matter how long it takes.”
His seemingly unshakable optimism was challenged by his inability to exercise, but he counteracted a physical low point with his mental resilience. He fortified his motivation by reading through the success stories of other athletes, and was aided by a supportive family.
Kosich’s parents alternated shifts at his bedside across seven weeks in Baltimore, while his sister, Julia, came through as a bone marrow donor. Finding someone with identical human leukocyte antigens (a kind of blood protein) can be exceedingly difficult even among family, but Julia’s unlikely status as a 100% match made her the perfect candidate to cure her brother’s sickness.
“It was funny because Robert, my little brother, and Webb have always been the closest, and I’m just kind of on the outskirts as the middle child and the only girl,” Julia said, “but I just came into the picture and saved the day there.”
That bone marrow transplant helped save Kosich, but he still had a long way to go before he could return to the pitch, let alone look like himself again.
“It’s been amazing seeing him get back because he lost, like, 70 pounds,” Julia said. “He looked so bad. The chemo… he lost all his hair. He was basically skin and bones, and it was just so disheartening. To see Webb like that…is not Webb.”
Webb worked hard to regain muscle mass, and finally tasted redshirt game action for the first time in March, well over a year after his last on-field appearance. He feels ready to play, but he’s not quite back to feeling like himself as he continues to ease himself back into the game.
“I knew I wasn’t going to be where I was before, but I kind of accepted it,” he said. “And I’m still struggling with that, and my fitness and all that, so it’s been a really long process. I’m still in that hangover period, but I think I’m getting back to where I used to be.”
Annapolis Blues coach Colin Herriot, who worked with Kosich as a youth, has been especially inspired by Kosich’s development and mental toughness.
“Webb is looking like a better version, in a way, than [the previous one] I knew,“ Herriot said. “He’s improving daily. He’s looking quicker, sharper, fitter, stronger. I can see his confidence coming back.”
Having a high motor has always been the key to success as a soccer player. Kosich can’t run for days like he once could, but he’s proven effective across limited action with the Blues.
The winger got his moment the 5-0 win over the Rough Diamonds after the starters were pulled, scoring the night’s final goal at the 87th minute with a penalty kick before disappearing under a mob of teammates.
“I was able to score my first goal since going through all of it, and…unmatched feeling, to be honest,” Kosich said. “Running over and celebrating with my entire team, going crazy with me, it was an unreal feeling. I hope that everybody gets to experience something like that, because I missed it.”
Kosich experienced a different brand of elation the very next day when he received another reward for his troubles.
The Craig Willinger Fund, which is focused on helping injury-stricken individuals by showing them the wonders of soccer, orchestrated a meet-and-greet for Kosich and his family with the United States men’s national team. Highlight of the day was meeting his idol, standout striker Christian Pulisic.
“It was so fun to see him fangirling over the people that he’s been watching since he was a little boy,” Julia said.
The Craig Willinger Fund also provided Kosich and his family exclusive access to the United States-Colombia friendly at FedEx Field in Landover. Touring the locker room beforehand, he was surprised with a custom U.S. kit, a pair of Pulisic’s cleats, an appearance in a pregame ceremony on the field and an official game ball. He’ll also receive accommodations at a Tottenham Hotspur match in London, his Premier League club of choice.
Webb spent the summer experiencing flashes of the player he hopes to be, expecting to return to full physical capacity by this fall. He’s managing his fair share of training and playing mixed with the occasional acceptance of congratulations for fighting through his deterrents, but as he continues making up for lost time, he’s sure done sitting and waiting.
Virginia Beach City FC at Annapolis Blues
At Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium
Saturday, 7 p.m.