No third-grader wants to be the last kid picked up by their parents after school, but on one dark evening some 11 years ago, an extended stay at daycare was the least of 8-year-old-T.J. Wright's worries.
 
When his mother arrived, Wright and his brother were anticipating a typical drive home. Instead, they took a visit to the hospital and found their dad occupying a bed accompanied by an array of medical equipment. 
 
"He was hooked up to all these machines," Wright said. "They (my parents) didn't tell us at the time because they didn't want us becoming irate or sad or anything, but my dad had stage-three kidney cancer."
 
It was a defining moment in Wright's life, not just because of the inexorable shock and fear it would've caused in any child, but because he managed to turn misfortune into a mission.
 
"After learning that and seeing how cancer affected my family, I decided I wanted to become an oncologist," he said. "I was going to find a cure for cancer."
 
Nowadays, his father is a long way from a hospital bed and Wright is nowhere near the harmless child he was more than a decade ago. Measuring in at 6-5, 260 pounds, Wright has grinded his way into a meaningful role on the University of the Incarnate Word football team's defensive line while balancing a rigorous pre-med course load. 
 
After posting a 3.85 GPA and racking up 17 tackles, 4.0 tackles for loss and two forced fumbles, Wright was named to the COSIDA Academic All-District® football first team for the 2019 season.
 
"I'm a student-athlete, so my focus is being a student first," he said. "Coach makes it very, very clear that academics is what makes us a good football team. I'm interested in making sure my teammates are OK both on the academic and football side of things. I just want to be the best contributor to my team and to this university both ways, being a student and being an athlete."

Artisan of his own future
Academics have been of paramount importance since Wright declared his intentions to become an oncologist in elementary school, but an injury at football practice during his freshman year of high school changed the trajectory of his medical career.
 
At the doctor's office, Wright's mother asked the surgeon to talk a bit about his job, knowing in the back of her mind orthopedics might be a better suited field for her son.
 
"My mom knew I wanted to be an oncologist, but she didn't think I would have the heart because survival chances for cancer aren't super high, especially the longer that people have it," Wright said. "That motherly intuition led her to know that it (the orthopedic field) was something I was going to fall in love with." 
 
The surgeon talked about the perks of his line of work and the joy healing people brought him on a daily basis. His authenticity and passion for his work was compelling enough for Wright to want to change his career plans. 
 
"I could see in his eyes how truly happy he was in the profession," he said. "That kind of shifted me to want to do orthopedics and I decided if I was going to do orthopedics, I was going to be a surgeon, too." 
 
Of course, the winding roads to finding the right career are rarely without detours, especially for teenagers. As he entered his final year of high school, Wright began to have second thoughts after considering the length of the journey to becoming a surgeon and the potential he might have if he pursued a career in engineering, like many of his family members.
 
But after participating in a program at school that allowed him to shadow two orthopedic surgeons, Wright quickly realized it was the right field for him, after all. 
 
"I loved going into the office every day and staying with them," he said. "A lot of times, I was late for my next class because I stayed there all morning. One of my friends did a presentation about being a mechanical engineer and it sounded so boring. It sounded like something I would not want to do at all."
 
Wright's decision to stay in orthopedic surgery was cemented one day while shadowing a doctor, when he asked why the surgeon loved his job and what was so great about the profession.
 
"He said, 'Because it's instant gratification. It's carpentry covered in blood. I can have a child come in here with scoliosis and her life may never be the same if she doesn't get surgery, but I can go in and within hours, and I can take her spine in my hands and make her straight. And her life is better because of one thing I did. And I do that with all these kids that I see.'"
 
"Hearing that really spurred me to understand that was the path I wanted to take," Wright added. "That was my whole thing ever since I was a young boy in deciding I wanted to be some type of doctor. I wanted to make people's lives better. My mom, and my dad both raised me that if you're not doing something to make other people's lives better, then you're wasting your own."

Leader of his fellow teammates
Wright's default mode is to value others as more important than himself, which is why he was a lock to be one of the team captains during the Cardinals' offseason program that requires him to monitor his hand-picked group of student-athletes, make sure they're in class, and provide any support they may need during the offseason. 
 
Naturally, Wright made it known that if anyone is struggling with class, whether they were in his group or one of the other groups, they are always welcome to come to him for help.
 
"I've never turned away a kid," he said. "I always encourage them, 'this football stuff, you've been doing this your whole life so it may come easy to you. But college is a different beast. Here's my social media, here's my number, so if you have any issues go ahead and contact me.'"
 
"The youth is the future," Wright added, "so if I'm not helping these young guys out, I'm doing myself, the university, and ultimately, the world a disservice because I had the chance to make them better."
 
With a combination of fresh incoming talent and experienced starters returning, under Wright's leadership, the Cardinal defense appears primed for another big year after leading the nation in turnovers forced for the second consecutive season in 2019. 
 
But ultimately, Wright won't remember his time at UIW by the defensive statistics he's piled up or even the games he's won, but by the man he's grown into thanks to the coaches, professors, and versatile experiences he's gathered both on campus and on the field. 
 
"It's affected me a lot," Wright said. "It's made me into the man that I am today. It's given me the maturity and tons of life lessons. It taught me a lot of grind, and grit, and effort and attitude to just be the best and completely sell out in every single thing that I did. So really, it's been a great journey for me, both academically, spiritually, and mentally."