Less Than 150 Days After Brain Surgery, Nick Miller Back on the Lacrosse Field

Nick Miller can’t recall ever having more pregame nerves than he experienced ahead of March 1, when the Arizona State sophomore made his MCLA debut in Tempe.

For Miller, the moment marked a milestone forged through months of diligence and unwavering resolve. Less than 150 days prior, Miller underwent surgery to remove a malignant brain tumor on his right temporal lobe.

“It was a big, big moment for me — not knowing if I was going to return to play at all this season,” Miller said. “It was very rewarding. It showed that all the hard work that I did throughout my therapies and all the support I had paid off, leading me back to where I’m on the field.”

On Oct. 9, Miller collapsed at practice during a ground ball drill. The Sun Devils coaching staff found Miller having a seizure. After he was stabilized, Miller was rushed to the hospital. There, teammates and coaches filed into the waiting room. Initial tests came back clean, but the next morning’s prognosis proved life-altering for Miller and his family.

Dave O’Neil, Arizona State’s first-year head coach, said that regardless of the certifications and training he’s received in nearly two decades in the coaching profession, little could truly prepare him for what unfolded on his practice field.

“Very quickly, it went from, ‘I hope we have him playing this season,’ to, ‘I hope he survives,’” O’Neil said.

Still, one of Miller’s first thoughts centered around lacrosse, a game he fell in love with at a skills clinic in middle school.

“Literally the first thing he asked was when could he go back — that was his main concern,” Miller’s mother, Cherese Miller, said. “Doctors come in, surgeons come in and tell him he has a brain tumor. He’s like, ‘Well, how long will I have to be out of lacrosse?’ It’s just his passion. He loves to play, and we love to watch him play.”

By chance, his surgeon was also a lacrosse player. He understood Miller’s desire to return to the field and outlined an aggressive surgery and recovery plan.

When Miller woke up from his Oct. 14 surgery, he couldn’t move the left side of his body or turn his head. He had to relearn speech and cognitive skills.

“Slowly but surely, I was able to regain movement from my foot back up to my arm and to my face,” Miller said. “The most difficult part was definitely the cognitive stuff. I was processing things a lot slower. It was very frustrating. The thing that kept me going was seeing the little progress I’d be making from day to day. It made me trust the process.”

Within the tight-knit Arizona lacrosse community, the Miller family received an outpouring of support. Through GoFundMe, community members have raised more than $25,000 for the family.

“I was devastated, my thoughts immediately went to, ‘What can I do? How can we get the awareness up and make sure funds are the last thing these guys have to worry about, so he can focus on getting better?’” said Alex Garwood, Pinnacle High School’s lacrosse coach.

“When a player as prominent as Nick Miller is publicized in the way his situation was, the whole lacrosse community banded together and did what we could to raise awareness for Nick.”

As Miller’s recovery ramped up, lacrosse became a focal point of his physical therapy. He incorporated a stick into his inpatient rehab work at Barrow Neurological Institute. Consistent visits from teammates helped keep Miller grounded as he pushed through the long hours.

Late in the fall, Miller returned to his old stomping grounds at Pinnacle — a program he helped guide to its first-ever state championship appearance in 2024 — for the school’s alumni lacrosse game.

Still months away from his green light to play, Miller ran the subs box for his former teammates.

“It felt normal,” said Max Fleischman, the former Pinnacle head lacrosse coach. “When a kid has brain surgery, you don’t expect that. You think everybody’s going to be tiptoeing around him and trying to put him up on some kind of pedestal. But it was just Nick doing his thing with his friends. He’s a lacrosse rat. He loves the game and will always be around it.”

Miller first believed his return to game action in 2026 was within reach when a Dec. 24 MRI showed no new growth in his tumor. He was soon cleared for non-contact work before his practice participation heightened in the weeks that followed.

In early January, Miller was back in the classroom for the start of Arizona State’s spring semester. Initially cleared for a reduced course load, Miller took on 12 credits with his doctors’ permission to remain eligible for the MCLA season.

“It was a crazy feeling because you never know if you’re going to get back to that point,” Miller said. “You never know if you’re going to be the same person, player as you were before. It was very rewarding. And when they cleared me to return to practice in helmet and gloves, that was another crazy milestone for me.”

An emotional whirlwind encapsulated Miller’s completed comeback against USC on March 1. A large contingent of family and friends were there to cheer him on.

“I was so happy for him and so nervous at the same time — like I couldn’t even sit down,” Cherese Miller said. “It was wonderful to see him out there. And sometimes, you’re watching the game, and for a few seconds you forget everything he went through. You just see your son out there playing.”

He has since played in four games this spring, tallying his first point on an assist at Colorado State on March 8. Miller said he feels more normal each time he steps on the field, which parallels his experience in classes.

O’Neil said the sophomore continues to work his way back up to game speed. The coach can’t wait for Miller to score his first goal once the Sun Devils return to action from spring break and has no doubt the entire sideline will erupt into a frenzy.

After returning to school, Miller decided to major in speech and hearing studies with the goal of a career as a speech pathologist. Miller said the people that have helped him throughout his recovery journey have inspired him to help others.

Through it all, Miller has gained a newfound appreciation for the little things that encompass the game he loves.

“You can’t take the moments for granted that you have out on the field, or the opportunities that you have to play that can be taken away from you at any moment,” Miller said. “You never know when that moment is going to be, so just enjoy every minute that you have out there.”