Over the past two months, Tyler Reddick and his wife, Alexa, have been living a nightmare that no parent ever expects.
Their infant son, Rookie, was diagnosed with a kidney tumor that was pressing against an artery and putting strain on his heart.
The discovery, made in late September after weeks of uncertainty, turned their world upside down. Reddick said he considered stepping out of the car altogether.
For nearly five weeks, racing simply didn’t matter to him.
“I was fine with missing a race if that’s what it came to,” Reddick said. “There were stretches where it just wasn’t the priority anymore.”
Rookie, who was born in May, underwent surgery at Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte to remove the kidney.
The procedure went smoothly, and by late October, the Reddicks were finally able to bring their son home.
“He’s doing a lot better,” Reddick told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
“His heart function is coming back to normal, the surgery had no complications, and we’re just learning how to take care of him now that he only has one kidney.”
The weeks leading up to the diagnosis were filled with confusion and worry. Alexa noticed small signs that something wasn’t right.
Symptoms that would have been easy to dismiss at first.
“For months, my wife kept saying, ‘This isn’t normal,’” Reddick said.
“We’d go to the doctor and get told maybe it’s allergies, or colic, or just normal baby stuff. But she trusted her gut, and thank God she did.”
When Reddick left for Kansas in September, Alexa made the decision to take Rookie to the hospital. That’s when doctors found the tumor and realized how serious it was.
From that point on, Reddick’s weekends were split between racetracks and hospital rooms.
His five-year-old son, Beau, stayed with friends and family while his parents spent long days at Levine’s with Rookie.
Now, there’s finally a sense of relief in the Reddick household. Rookie’s recovery is going well, and his energy is back.
“He’s smiling again, gaining weight, just a totally different baby than before,” Reddick said. “He was in pain for a long time, and to see him happy again—it’s everything.”
The emotional toll was heavy, and Reddick admits his preparation behind the wheel suffered.
“My focus was not on racing at all,” he said. “I’d look through notes when I could, but most of the time my head was somewhere else. Somehow, we still went out and performed well enough to stay competitive.”
Even now, as the 2025 season recently wrapped up, Reddick is still adjusting to what “normal” feels like again.
But there’s perspective in his voice, and gratitude.
“When something like this happens, everything else just kind of fades,” Reddick said.
“We’re lucky. Rookie’s doing great. That’s all that matters.”
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