Oct. 27—WILLMAR — Walking out on parents night was something that Dustin Carlson thought was taken away from him.
The 2004 Willmar High School grad was a junior for the Concordia-Moorhead football team when he felt off. He was advised by the Cobbers' athletic trainer to go to the doctor.
He was diagnosed with testicular cancer.
Cancer had already hit Dustin hard. His father, Dale, died after battling cancer when Dustin was in eighth grade. The thought of how hard chemo was on his father was in Dustin's mind.
Another reality hit Dustin harder.
"The doctor had told me, you know, whatever weird mutations you have to get the cancer is causing you not to be able to have kids," Dustin said. "That was the harder news than cancer was, especially since testicular cancer is pretty curable if you catch it at an early stage.
"It was difficult to swallow that I couldn't have kids."
Fast-forward to last Wednesday's regular-season football finale between Willmar and Big Lake. Dustin walked out onto Hodapp Field cancer free. Alongside him was his high-school girlfriend and now-wife Emily with their son Jackson.
After the pre-game ceremonies, both Jackson and Dustin went to work. Jackson is a senior defensive end for Willmar. Dustin is the team's defensive coordinator.
"I was growing up with (my parents) all the time, not just in football," Jackson said. "Finally getting through for my senior year, it was really fun to go (on the field) with them."
Together, the father-son duo are part of
. Now, they're preparing for the Section 2AAAA semifinals when the top-seeded Cardinals host the winner of Tuesday's winner between No. 5 St. Peter and No. 4 Rocori at 3 p.m. Saturday at Hodapp Field.
"I'm super proud of these guys," Dustin said. "They've always been super heady, smart players. They know what's going on. They figure things out quick. ... It's just so fun to see and be a part of and watch these guys develop over the course of the year."
Dustin knew he wanted to be a teacher and a coach. With his junior season lost at Concordia, he got a head start on the latter.
Doctors told Dustin he wouldn't have much energy after chemotherapy. Still, he made it to practice.
"I might as well start taking some notes on it now," he said. "That's how I dealt with going through chemo was just watching practice and trying to maybe become a better coach long term."
The Carlson family is sports-centric. Along with football, Jackson plays boys basketball and baseball. Dustin is an assistant coach for the boys' basketball team and an assistant boys golf coach. He was the head girls basketball coach for 10 seasons, reaching state in 2017 and '18. Emily (Swierenga) is also a 2004 WHS grad. She played on the Concordia women's basketball team and was an assistant on the Cardinals' girls basketball team.
"I remember a lot of it was, like, getting yelled at because I was being too loud or trying to annoy people or asking for money for the concession stand," Jackson recalled lightheartedly about growing up around coaching parents.
When Dustin stepped down as the girls basketball coach in 2022, it was to focus on Jackson's activities.
"We had a really special thing going with the girls, so it was a really hard decision," Dustin said. "But, you know, family comes first and Jack is our most important thing in life. It's been an absolute blast to get to be around (the teams) on the football field, on the basketball court and watch them play baseball. It was definitely the right decision."
Dustin and Emily thought kids were off the table. They were finishing college when they got a Christmas surprise.
"Em was super stressed out because she was student teaching at the time," Dustin said. "And then we find out at Christmas time with a couple pregnancy tests. We were like 'Holy crap, what the heck?' It was an emotional roller coaster because you're super excited and you're thinking 'How did this happen?' But also going, like, we're not ready for a kid. We're finishing college."
A few years after Jackson's birth, Dustin got hit with another surprise he didn't want.
"I had four years cancer free and then it came back," he said. "(The doctors) said it's like getting struck by lightning twice. It was five years later and I was coaching ninth-grade boys basketball and coaching middle-school football. I was 24 or 25."
Dustin had surgery and has been cancer free since. He's tested once a year.
Jackson knew of his father's cancer battles back in elementary school but couldn't understand the scope of it. Now, he's relieved at how it all worked out.
"Just knowing all the different outcomes that came out of it and we're still here and able to do everything, that's the best outcome that could have happened," Jackson said.
Dustin was also a defensive end in football. Dustin admits that he was fueled from a dark place.
"I used a lot of anger and aggression from losing my dad to kind of motivate me," Dustin said. "I played with a lot of intensity."
In evaluating Jackson, Dustin sees a player with more of a finesse game compared to his own. It works, though. Jackson has 32 tackles and leads the Cardinals with three-and-a-half sacks and three fumble recoveries.
At times, Dustin sees that same intensity he had as a player. He's just relieved it comes from a different place for Jackson.
"I can see that from time to time where if somebody frustrates him, it takes him to the next level of intensity," Dustin said. "I definitely see some similarities there but overall, he's such a smart player and knows what to do and where to go and helps other guys out with their alignments.
"He's so smart. He gets it from his mom."
If there is one football moment that eats at Jackson, it's from 2018.
"That's a sore subject to bring up," Dustin said with a laugh.
Jackson and his classmates, then in fourth grade, were ball boys throughout the football season. Once the postseason got underway, ball boys had to be in seventh grade or older. So Jackson had to watch from the stands as Willmar made the state tournament and got all the way to the Class AAAA state championship game.
Jackson recalls what it was like to see the Cardinals get one win away from a state championship.
"I remember the first game (against Hermantown) and that was really snowy and really cold," Jackson said. "They (the Cardinals) were killing every team. We got the best possible draw.
"I was happy because we got to go to the Bank (U.S. Bank Stadium) and I really wanted to go see the place. I hadn't seen it yet."
If Jackson needed any extra motivation to help get Willmar to state, a slight from eight years ago could do the trick.
"I was a little mad," Jackson said, "but hopefully, we can go for football now."
It'll give Dustin and Jackson one more memorial walk onto the field together.
"It hasn't really hit me yet," Dustin said. "He's just been around for everything that we've done and now all of a sudden it's like, boom, it's coming to an end."