Webster’s Dictionary defines “Perseverance” as “continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition.”

What the dictionary doesn’t do is include a photo of an actual instance of perseverance. For that, they need look no further than Joey Raats, a now 29-year-old defenseman who, on May 26, 2022, had his whole world turned upside down. At the age of 26, he was informed by doctors at the Logan Health Center in Kalispell, Montana that he had a rare form of Testicular Cancer. 

Prior to being diagnosed, Raats was a professional hockey player attempting to achieve his dream of making it to The National Hockey League. He spent the 2021-22 season with the Coventry Blaze in The EIHL in England. When he was diagnosed, Raats’ career became the least of his concerns. 

“When I first learned about it, I wasn’t too knowledgeable about cancer itself and I didn’t have too many family members or friends at that age who had ever gone through something like that,” Raats explained. “Initially, they told me I had three days to a few weeks to live.”

“Three days to a few weeks to live.” Whether you are young or old, that is a statement you never want to hear from your doctors. At the age of 26, Raats was supposed to still have his whole life ahead of him. Instead, he was referred to the world renowned Mayo Clinic and was now in a fight far more difficult than any he had ever faced in the middle of a hockey game. 

With his family and his girlfriend Vanessa gathered by his side, Raats didn’t know if he’d see the next day, let alone play hockey ever again. “My body was so vulnerable,” Raats recalled. “I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t talk. I was on oxygen.” And yet, under the most dire of circumstances, Raats held out hope that he would overcome the cancer that threatened to take everything away from him. 

“Once they removed my organs, my testicle specifically, I knew it was very real and I was willing to do whatever it took to be able to persevere and to live my life,” Raats explained. “At no point in time did I feel like I was going to die. There were a lot of scary situations where I didn’t know if I was going to make it. But everything that I did every day, from the time I woke up, to the time I went to bed, it was just driving myself to get onto the next day. And I knew, whether it was my time or not, that G-d’s plan for me was greater than my plan.”

Almost as crazy was how Raats’ situation didn’t even seem that bad to him at first. “Being a professional athlete already and playing at such a high level overseas and also in the US, it never came to me that cancer would ever even be in the equation,” Raats said. “I just thought it was something like Irritable Bowel Syndrome or some other sort of diagnosis that could be causing me some discomfort in my stomach and irregular bowel movements.” 

Of course, once his doctors used the dreaded “C” word, Raats remembered it being “extremely scary.” 

“It was metastasizing quickly,” Raats explained. “The tumors in my body visibly and internally were just getting bigger and bigger day by day. I had some symptoms the year prior in The UK. (I) went to the doctors and everything checked out fine. They pretty much just prescribed me an over-the-counter laxative at the time, which I was already taking. I thought something just wasn’t digesting well in my body and it was all mind over matter, ’cause, at that age, you gotta keep pushing forward and there was no way something like this could happen to me at this age.”

When Raats finally got his answer as to what was going on in his body, it was something he couldn’t believe was happening to him. But he persevered and never gave up hope. His girlfriend Vanessa didn’t let him give up either. 

“I initially was planning on proposing to her overseas in Austria during our season in The UK,” Raats recalled. “She was over there with me for that. When I got back, I was diagnosed and I was in such a vulnerable situation that I didn’t want to propose on my deathbed.”

Luckily, his perseverance started to pay off as he made some changes to his life. “(Vanessa’s) has been such an angel in my life,” Raats said. “To this day and every day for the rest of my life, I tell everyone that she saved my life. She helped me put the right thoughts and positivity into my life, even at the worst time of my life. The number one thing that has helped me with my recovery is Vanessa.”

“I did so much,” Raats continued. “And I still do so much stuff every single day of my life. (From when) I wake up, until I go to bed, I do a ton of therapies; red light therapies, infrared saunas, cold therapies, cold plunges and cryo chambers every single day…Everything that I put in my body, every food that I eat is clean and organic. I try to eat lively foods 100% of the time. I really dialed into nutrition and keeping my vibration as high as possible to continue to heal.”

As his changes slowly started to take effect on his situation, Raats recalled how he “transitioned to a wheelchair and then a walker. Once I started gaining momentum and gaining my health back and feeling the way I do today, where I feel the best that I’ve ever felt in my life, better than when I was even a kid or playing college and junior. Once I knew how capable the human body is, I had the dream to make it to The NHL and to reach the highest level of hockey that I can.”

That dream led him to playing for The ECHL’s Kalamazoo Wing franchise in 2024-25, his first professional season in three years. 

“I was welcomed with a ton of warmth and love from all the players, my teammates, coaches and all the fans,” Raats fondly recalled. “They really brought me in and the resources that they provide for me off the ice and for all the players off the ice, to help their bodies persevere throughout the long seasons. There’s really nothing to describe how much vibrations I had in my body. My whole body was tingling in my first game, starting in front of 13,000 fans in Cincinnati. I really felt like I was floating out there. Just so many emotions, so much love for the game and how much hockey’s been in my life.”

Now, even though Raats is currently a free agent, his goal of one day getting to The NHL remains a driving force in his life, as does Vanessa, who he wed on August 8, 2024, after proposing to her on October 19, 2023. 

While Raats would be happy to play for any NHL team, if he had to only pick one (which he doesn’t) it would be either the Calgary Flames or Boston Bruins, the two teams he grew up rooting for. Of course, he’d also love to potentially play with Drew Doughty, who he grew up admiring. 

Hopefully, one day soon, he’ll get the chance to live out his hockey dreams. And the best news of all is that Joey Raats is now (and hopefully will forever be) cancer free! 

“I’ve been cancer-free for one year,” Raats said over the phone. “And I plan on being cancer-free for the rest of my life with everything that I’m doing for my lifestyle and everything that we’re doing. My wife and I, she’s such an amazing human being and she’s helped me out so much to get to where I’m at today. 

“Some things that I wanna share with others, kids, parents and adults along the way is that their bodies are so capable to be able to persevere and go through any mental or health illness that comes their way. It’s pretty remarkable at how strong the human body is when you treat it right. With feeding it healthy nutrition and healthy thoughts the body is just extremely capable. So never sell yourself short on, ‘I can’t do this,’ because you can. It requires a lot of discipline, positive energy, positive thoughts and G-d to be able to persevere. Your body is just way too powerful to not let you thrive.”

Next time you look up the word “perseverance” don’t just read the word and it’s definition, think about Joey Raats and how he was able to overcome the steepest of odds to get his life and dreams back.