Zac Yarbrough calls them “mental pictures.” Upon leaving your presence, he looks you in the eye and snaps an image in his head to hold on to for as long as he can.
This is part of living with terminal cancer.
Yarbrough, a former University of Virginia football player, has plenty of concrete evidence of his recent trip to his alma mater, thanks to a short reel posted to his Instagram account. There, with Craig Morgan’s “God’s Problems” playing in the background, is documentation of the many hugs, laughs and back-pats he shared with old teammates and friends.
For backup, he’s secured all the visuals in his mind, too.
“Mental pictures,” Yarbrough said. “Hopefully, it’s not my last time getting up there, but I think it’s important we kind of sit back and reflect. I’ll remember the friendships, the family, the amazing people, the weather, being at the game … It was all so beautiful.”
[♪ “God’s Problems” by Craig Morgan plays. ♪]
Yarbrough spoke to UVA Today last week from a friend’s hunting property outside Pinehurst, North Carolina. A navy Cavaliers flat-bill hat, purchased this month at Mincer’s, covered his thinning hair. The 45-year-old man they call “Yeti,” partially because of his long white beard, is now mostly fresh-faced.
Yarbrough’s six-year battle with breast cancer, a fight he’s taken public through a partnership with the V Foundation, was deemed terminal shortly before a long-awaited football reunion in Charlottesville around UVA’s Nov. 8 game against Wake Forest.
The news shook Yarbrough, but not enough to knock down the 2004 All-Atlantic Coast Conference offensive lineman. The next day, he, alongside his father, drove 10 hours north from his home in Jacksonville, Florida, to begin a memorable visit to all his old UVA haunts.
Yarbrough ate Bodo’s bagels and Wayside fried chicken. He dined at Farmington Country Club and shopped on the Corner. He walked the Lawn. He tailgated outside Scott Stadium and then watched the game from the sideline.
And he did it all with an infectious energy that leaves his friends optimistic about what’s next.
Yarbrough, a four-year letterwinner for the Cavaliers in the early 2000s, snaps the football to his UVA quarterback and roommate Matt Schaub. (Virginia Athletics photos)
“His outlook on everything,” said Matt Schaub, Yarbrough’s quarterback and roommate at UVA, “it helps kind of put things at ease for us. While the word ‘terminal’ gets thrown out there as definitive, you can sense when you’re around him, there’s still hope and a reason to have faith.”
Yarbrough’s cancer fight is powered by his “no bad days” mentality he encourages others to embrace. He asks, “When your feet hit the floor to begin each morning, what kind of day are you going to have? You can have 99% darkness in your life and 1% light. If you focus on the 1% light, you’re going to have a great day.”
Yarbrough’s been stacking great days for a while.
A marketing and sales professional for Scales outdoor apparel, Yarbrough has made a habit of working the merchandise tent at prominent fishing tournaments – and then participating in the events. At the 2020 Big Rock Tournament in Morehead City, North Carolina, he reeled in a 55.2-pound mahi-mahi, which netted his crew more than $400,000 in winnings.
He’s counted plenty of other victories over the past half-dozen years, too, like being there for his daughters’ softball games and nephews’ football games. He’s also remained opportunistic, jumping at spur-of-the-moment offers to see old friends. All it took was one call from a buddy last week for Yarbrough to get back in his truck and drive to Pinehurst and “get in the woods and do some hunting.”
“Next year’s not promised,” he said. “So, if you have the opportunity to do something now, do it now. Don’t wait in this life.”
Now and then, Yarbrough does take a break. He receives chemotherapy once every 21 days to treat the breast cancer – a rare disease for men – that has recently spread to his internal organs. Yarbrough says his current medication “beats him up” and leaves him feeling lethargic for long periods of time.
