Florida gymnastics student manager inspires team through perseverance

Before she had learned to walk, 22-year-old Peyton Harbert had dreams of donning the Orange and Blue.

“I knew the gymnastics program had been my dream since I was a young girl,” Harbert said. “I always dreamed of being an athlete here.”

A lifelong gymnast, Harbert spent her days metaphorically and physically balancing schoolwork and her budding athletic career. She competed halfway through high school, until an injury at her job changed everything.

“I actually had a job at an ice skating rink in the fall, and I fell on the ice,” Harbert said. “For a couple of days, I just let the pain go.”

Harbert, who comes from an athletic family, was used to the bumps and bruises accumulated through physical activity. But when symptoms worsened, she knew something was wrong.

“I went in thinking it was a broken tailbone,” Harbert said. “Later that day my doctor called me back and for the first time he was like, ‘I need both your parents with you.’”

What they found: cancer in the back of her pelvis. Specifically, Ewing sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer found in children and young adults. According to the American Cancer Society, Ewing sarcoma makes up just 1% of childhood cancer cases.

Harbert was diagnosed Dec. 9, 2020.

Cancer ended her time on the mat. Harbert went from preparing for her next gymnastics meet to the reality of chemotherapy treatment.

“When they told me, I was 16 years old at the time,” Harbert said. “And then, actually, on my 17th birthday of Jan. 20, 2021, I lost my hair.”

A diagnosis of this magnitude would trouble anyone, let alone someone not old enough to vote. But Peyton made the decision to tackle the disease head on.

“About three weeks after my first treatment, that's when your hair starts to fall out,” Harbert said. “We decided to have a birthday party where we decided to shave my head.”

Harbert underwent over a year of radiation treatment, each day more difficult than the last. She said the biggest challenge was maintaining a sense of normalcy through it all.

“During my cancer diagnosis, one of the biggest things was I wanted to keep my life steady and just kind of keep it regular,” Harbert said. “I didn't want to be treated any different than anybody else.”

Harbert found comfort in her first love, gymnastics. Through her fight with cancer, Harbert would watch videos of the Florida Gators, her favorite collegiate squad.

“I watched gymnastics my whole year,” Harbert said. “I cheered on every single athlete at the time. I was watching Trinity [Thomas], and she was just like somebody that I looked up to and motivated me more to continue that fight with cancer.”

Harbert finished her chemotherapy in Dec. 2021. In 2022, after 13 months of treatment, Harbert’s cancer was declared to be in remission.

Harbert still had the desire to compete, even if not herself.

“Once I put gymnastics in the past, I knew that I wanted to be involved in any way I could,” Harbert said.

That’s when a freshman Harbert made the call to join gymnastics head coach Jenny Rowland’s staff and suit up — this time as a student manager.

“We do so much behind the scenes,” Harbert said. “Getting to watch these athletes live up to their full potential and get to do what they love every day.”

While not always recognized on the scoresheet, head coach Jenny Rowland knows the real impact managers like Harbert bring to the team.

“They put the team above themselves,” Rowland said. “It's not a glamorous job by any means, and yet they take so much pride and so much joy in what they do.”

Rowland said Harbert’s fight pushes the team forward every day.

“Peyton's been a pillar of strength on this team,” Rowland said. “She truly shows resilience: what a fighter actually looks like.”

And that fight has translated into motivation for Florida’s gymnasts as well. Gymnast Danie Ferris said the bond Harbert and the team share go beyond their time competing.

“She's like all of our closest friends at this point,” Ferris said. “You build that trust like that. Communication is crucial not only to get the job done, but also that friendship that we have as well.”

And while in her senior year, Harbert is exploring options for the future. She said her goal is to go into medicine and help children any way she can.

“I'd like to go to physician assistant school and become an oncology physician assistant to utilize everything I learned during my cancer journey to help the kids that are now battling cancer,” Harbert said.

And for those currently battling through the disease, Harbert had one message.

“Never give up: Lean on your people. Lean on the community around you,” Harbert said. “You're going to see how much good there is in the world. That was one of the best things that cancer taught me was how much good is still out there in the world. So just make sure you lean into all of that and never give up.”