National Football League

Texans' John Metchie battles back from leukemia, providing inspiration along the way

Published Sep. 17, 2023 11:32 a.m. ET

Chris Malleo's favorite moment with John Metchie III has nothing to do with football.

The Houston Texans wide receiver was in his post-graduate year at The Peddie School, a private boarding school in Hightstown, New Jersey, readying to leave early for the University of Alabama. Metchie went to Malleo's house to say goodbye.

The two had built a tight relationship as player and head coach. Living nearly 500 miles away from his home in Brampton, Ontario, Metchie had stayed with Malleo a number of times. He had grown close with the coach's family.

But Malleo's wife was at work when Metchie came over. She was disappointed she didn't see him before he headed out.

Malleo happened to be texting with Metchie after he left.

"My wife is upset that she didn't get a chance to say goodbye," he wrote.

Upon seeing that text, Metchie borrowed a bike and rode back across the Peddie campus to Malleo's house.

"That's just the kind of kid that he was," Malleo told FOX Sports.

It's the same person Malleo saw as the 23-year-old receiver faced a recent health scare.

Metchie, who went on to star at Alabama, is finally set to make his NFL debut in the Texans' home opener Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts at NRG Stadium (1 p.m. ET, FOX). With veteran Noah Brown placed on injured reserve this week, the 6-foot, 195-pound Metchie figures to be in the mix with rookies Tank Dell and Xavier Hutchinson as wide-receiver depth for rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud.

The second-year wideout missed Week 1 with a hamstring injury, delaying a long-anticipated debut just a little bit longer. During the offseason before his rookie year, Metchie had headaches and cold-like symptoms for a week or two. He got checked out and in July 2022 was hit with a shocking diagnosis: acute promyelocytic leukemia. Impacting 600 to 800 people in the United States every year, APL can lead to excessive bleeding and blood clot formation, according to the National Organization for Rare Disorders.

Though it's considered highly treatable and the most curable form of leukemia, Metchie acknowledged that he was concerned in the early stages that he wouldn't be able to play football anymore. He credits his faith for helping him through the process.

"The biggest thing I took away was just to kind of show up and fight," Metchie said last month. "Like, we kind of understand and take for granted life and everything we have to do or everything we get to do during a day. But then when it's taken away from you, whether you're young or old in the hospital, you kind of realize that people see clearly what's important to them and who's important to them. Their family, their life, regardless of what they were complaining about or what stresses you had, you realize that the biggest gift you got is your breath and your heartbeat.

"In situations when you're forced to be faced with your own mortality," he added, "you see what it is you really believe in and who it is you really believe in. So my faith in God is what kept me comfortable and a belief that it was all for a greater purpose and a greater reason."

Metchie underwent treatment at Houston's MD Anderson Cancer Center and was cleared to return to practice in July. Last fall, he hosted his hospital family — patients and staff — on a tour of NRG Stadium, a thank you for their support throughout his treatment.

"Some of the other patients, they probably had a worse diagnosis and prognosis than he had and he was thinking of others when a lot of people would've probably been thinking of themselves," Malleo said. "When you see things like this happen to really good people, you have a sense of calm because you just know that they're going to handle it in a way that allows them to work through difficulties in a little bit more of a unique manner.

"John is one of those people."

"He did the little things right"

Metchie's mentality was shaped from a young age.

The son of a Taiwanese mother and Nigerian father, Metchie was born in Taiwan and lived in Ghana before moving to Canada at 6 years old. He grew up hanging out with his three older brothers — the youngest of whom is nearly four years his senior — and their friends. At age 14, Metchie left Canada and his family to pursue his football dream in the United States — first at St. James School in Maryland for four seasons, then that post-grad year at The Peddie School. Those experiences forced him to mature early.

Malleo described Metchie as a "silent killer" in the standard he set for himself on the field. He treated his body like a professional football player as a teenager. He loves reading, too. He meditates.

"John is everything a parent could ask for," said Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker SirVocea Dennis, who was Metchie's roommate and teammate at The Peddie School. "He's respectful. He does everything the right way. He eats his vegetables. He actually loves vegetables … like, he prefers vegetables over candy. He barely ate candy, you know what I mean? He did the little things right. He stretched at night like he was supposed to. He was respectful to teachers. He did his homework. He was just like the perfect student, the perfect kid."

Metchie translated that regimented nature into his battle with leukemia.

One of his brothers, Royce, is a professional football player in his own right — a defensive back for the CFL's Toronto Argonauts. John was getting up just as early as him, sometimes at 4 or 5 a.m., to begin treatment in Houston.

It wasn't Metchie's first experience coming back from adversity. He tore the ACL in his left knee in the 2021 SEC Championship Game, sidelining him through the NFL Draft process and likely costing him the chance to be a first-round pick. He also missed most of his freshman season of high school after the discovery of an enlarged heart that was causing murmurs.

After an 1,100-yard season with Alabama, Metchie tore his ACL in the 2021 SEC Championship Game against Georgia, costing him a chance to be a first-round draft pick. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

"It was always like, 'I'm OK,'" Dennis said of Metchie's positive attitude. "He always walked around with a smile on his face, even during rehab, even during the hard days. Going into the leukemia stuff, where he had to do treatment for the cancer, everyone knew he was going to be good. He was always going into things with the right mindset. This was just another roadblock in his path, but he handled it like he always does. He just did it with a smile just because he knew he'd see the other side of it."

Those who know Metchie best watched him evolve in his battle with leukemia.

Dennis saw him lean on his peers more, realizing he didn't have to go through everything by himself.

Royce watched him grow spiritually and mentally. His brother's presence in people's lives, he said, has grown.

"Even though he's going through it, he can still stop and really understand where he's at," Royce explained. "Looking at those right beside him and seeing, ‘OK, I'm not just going through this by myself. There are many others going through it.' And there are many others going through it. In all fairness, there are some going through it better, some going through it worse. At the end of the day, in terms of the perspective, there's a lot of people going through things way worse and thankfully, he had that facility down there in Houston where was able to be taken care of and still trying to help the people around him."

Metchie has a habit of helping the people around him, like when he was a freshman at Alabama.

The quarterback at The Peddie School at the time, Davis Warren — now a backup at Michigan — faced his own battle with leukemia. So Metchie put together a video of his Crimson Tide teammates, including current Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, offering words of encouragement while Warren was in the hospital.

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The Texans are seeing that same Metchie in 2023 — just one who has continued to grow into himself.

"I think a lot of times our character is revealed in some of our darkest hours, and John has more than revealed who is," Malleo said. "Not only to himself or the Texans, but to the world. He's been selfless through this process. He's been gritty. He's been tough. He's been classy. He's just done a tremendous job of being an inspiration to people with cancer, to people who aspire to take the next step in their lives.

"I admire him for that, and I think many other people admire him for that," he continued. "The Texans are just getting an elite human being, someone who is incredibly talented but at the same time is selfless and will elevate the locker room as much as he'll elevate the football team."

Ben Arthur is the AFC South reporter for FOX Sports. He previously worked for The Tennessean/USA TODAY Network, where he was the Titans beat writer for a year and a half. He covered the Seattle Seahawks for SeattlePI.com for three seasons (2018-20) prior to moving to Tennessee. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @benyarthur.