Jenny Cape is back in an Iowa soccer jersey after 16 months away from the game.

In spring 2021, Cape was diagnosed with aplastic anemia — a rare blood condition in which the bone marrow doesn’t produce an adequate number of blood cells — for the second time.

Following a yearlong battle, the outside midfielder from Brookfield, Wisconsin, returned to the team in the third week of July 2022 and played 10 minutes of Iowa’s first regular season game of the year against UCLA on Aug. 18 — the same team the Hawkeyes faced in Cape’s final game before her diagnosis.

“It was kind of weird like everything had come full circle,” Cape said. “… Obviously not the result we wanted, but it was a really neat experience for sure.”

Before the Hawkeyes played against the Bruins in April 2021 as part of the COVID-19-delayed 2020 NCAA Tournament, Cape had been bruising easily and dealing with more headaches than usual.

Toward the end of the game’s first half –– on top of feeling exhausted –– Cape’s periphery started to fade, and she got tunnel vision.

Having already been diagnosed with aplastic anemia at 16-years-old and recovering in part because of a bone marrow transplant from her brother, Ryan, Cape knew something was wrong.

“That has never happened to me, no matter how tired I get,” Cape said, “That was the final red flag, like, ‘Hey, I might want to get a blood check or something to see what’s going on.’”

Following the NCAA tournament, Cape got a bone marrow biopsy in Iowa City. Her results showed a resurgence of aplastic anemia, and her bone marrow cellularity had dropped to 30 percent.

Research and technology surrounding aplastic anemia had advanced since Cape was last diagnosed, so her doctors didn’t want to rush to transplant, she said. Instead, Cape said her doctors gave her a clinical self-injection drug that is supposed to stimulate cell production in bone marrow.

She participated in the clinical drug trial from May-July 2021. But it was clear that the medicine hadn’t worked, as her bone marrow cellularity dropped below 10 percent.

She was faced with a decision: get another bone marrow transplant or try a different method to get through her senior year.

Cape said she didn’t want to try something that might not work again and opted to get another transplant. According to UCLA Health, bone marrow transplants can require 30-60 days in the hospital and a substantial quarantine, meaning she could not attend in-person classes or participate in the 2021 Hawkeye soccer season.

Cape was admitted into the University of Wisconsin’s Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Transplant Unit on Sept. 29, 2021. Before receiving her transplant, Cape had to go through a conditioning period for her first week in the hospital.

“That’s when they give you your chemotherapy, they give you immune suppression, they give you steroids to protect your organs, all this stuff to prep your body for the transplant,” Cape said.

Cape spent three more weeks in the hospital after getting her transplant in early October 2021. She said the hospital stay was the most physically straining part of the process as she needed an IV pole everywhere she went, while also dealing with constant nausea and multiple medications.

When Cape got out of the hospital, she returned home to Brookfield, Wisconsin, to live with her parents and quarantine to protect her weakened immune system.

During her quarantine, Cape said she spent a lot of time reading and watching shows like “Ted Lasso,” “Squid Game,” and “Maid.”

The biomedical sciences major also prepared for the MCAT, as she wants to go to medical school following her undergraduate degree.

While Cape felt fine during her time at home, she said it was odd because she couldn’t actually go anywhere.

“I was out of shape, but I didn’t feel sick,” Cape said. “So, that’s the part where it’s tough because you feel like your normal self, but you’re not. And you might look like your normal self — or you might not — but not everyone understands that you need to be at home. People don’t get the severity of it unless something bad were to happen.”

Throughout everything she went through, Cape never lost faith that she would be back on the soccer field.

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She decided to come back for her fifth year at Iowa in 2022-23 because she wanted to graduate in-person with her teammates and friends and have one final year as a Hawkeye.

“I kind of wanted to be in control and end on my terms,” Cape said. “I wanted to know what my last game was going to be rather than just have it be forced upon me.”

In December 2021, Cape got back to playing soccer in a limited capacity, working out with her high school coach twice a week.

“I have an indoor soccer park near me and my neighbor happens to help run it and schedules fields,” Cape said. “I would go during the days when nobody was there. One of my really good friends and old high school coach would come out with me … and help me get back to getting touches on the ball, which was a huge thing.”

By March, Cape was fully out of quarantine and practicing with her high school team. Over the summer, she trained with Bavarian United SC, a UPSL team in Milwaukee.

Six months after playing again, the Cape said her biggest hurdle has been fitness.

Cape said not having the endurance she once had has been frustrating, as it’s a part of her game she’s always taken pride in. Her stamina has also been dampened by the medicines she’s on that suppress her hemoglobin.

“Like, no matter how off I was on whatever day, or how bad my first touch was, or whatever was going on, I could always rely on fitness to work my butt off to get the ball back, get up and down the field, and make runs, even if I didn’t get the ball,” she said.

When she returned to the Hawkeyes in July, Cape also had to reacclimate to the Hawkeyes’ speed of play.

“I think I’m always one step behind,” Cape said. “I was talking to [head coach] Dave [DiIanni] and he was saying … ‘Your mind is still sharp, but we need to get your body where it used to be.’”

Cape took the field for the Hawkeyes for the first time since her diagnosis on Aug. 7 in an exhibition match against Northern Illinois.

“Just stepping out on the field again after having been away from it for so long was definitely really rewarding and really fulfilling,” Cape said.

Cape made her first official appearance in Iowa’s 2022 regular season opener against UCLA in California on Aug. 18. She got another 23 minutes on the field on Aug. 23 at Cal Poly, where she intercepted a pass and got a shot off.

The fifth-year said the support of her teammates, coaches, friends, and family have all played a role in helping her get back on the field.

“I’m feeling good. My body’s kind of like, ‘What’s going on? What are you doing to me right now?’” Cape said. “But it’s getting used to everything. And the team has been great about just being patient with me and [they’ve] helped me build myself back up to where I used to be.”