After three months without access to a pool at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Nolan Lahmann had had enough.

So the Hinsdale Central senior and his older brother, Donovan, came up with an unusual solution last summer.

“We cleared the garage and actually put a pool in there with a resistance band,” Lahmann said. “We got the idea from one of my brother’s teammates, who did the exact same thing. Swimmers will do anything to swim.”

Lahmann said the experience was a lot of fun, though the water temperature – which he estimated was between 50 and 60 degrees – wasn’t ideal. But the Emory recruit knows more than most teenagers that life is rarely ideal.

Which is why Lahmann is ecstatic to be back in the pool with his teammates, who opened their truncated 2021 season Feb. 5. The Red Devils will compete in dual meets against five West Suburban Conference Silver Division opponents before ending the season with the WSC Silver meet on March 13.

“It’s a short season, but just to have a season in my senior year is really special,” Lahmann said. “The one thing that separates high school season from the club season is the team aspect, which is very special.”

Lahmann is a special part of the Hinsdale Central program, and not just for his prowess in the water. As a junior, he finished 12th at the state meet in the 100-yard backstroke and was part of the 200 medley relay squad that set a school record and won a state championship.

“As a coach, you want an athlete like Nolan, one that understands the sport, does everything for his team and is always having fun,” Hinsdale Central coach Bob Barber said. “He’s impressive in many ways – athletically, academically and the challenges in life that he’s overcome.”

Lahmann’s biggest challenge was his first one. He was diagnosed with leukemia when he was 2 and endured three years of chemotherapy treatment. Ten years after the treatments ended, he was declared cured.

“I always say that experience has changed my outlook on life,” Lahmann said. “It really made me a grateful person, for everything I’ve been given, like my swim talent, my brother, my friends.

“I can’t put into words how grateful I am for everything, for even being alive. It gives you a positive outlook.”

Lahmann said it is difficult to find positives during the pandemic, but he was able to do so.

“My older brother was able to come home,” Lahmann said. “And I wouldn’t have been able to go through (the pandemic) if he didn’t come home.”

Donovan, who swam on three state-champion relays while helping Hinsdale Central to three state trophies, is a sophomore swimmer at North Carolina. It was he who inspired Nolan to begin swimming not long after his cancer treatment ended.

“My brother started swimming for the Clarendon Hills Sea Lions I think when he was 5 or 6 years old,” Lahmann said. “I would come to some of his meets and watch him swim and even to this day they swim with a purple cap.

“I was like, ‘Mom, I want to wear a purple cap. So because of that purple cap, I started swimming. I’ve loved it ever since.”

Lahmann never speaks about his battle with cancer unless he is asked about it. It was just an early chapter in a life story still in the process of being written.

But beating cancer and becoming a champion swimmer have led Lahmann to a great place. At Emory, he will get the rigorous preparation needed to become a doctor, which has been a goal of his for a long time.

“I’ve always had a fascination with exactly what caused my cancer and my dad is also a doctor,” said Lahmann, whose father, Brian, is a bariatric surgeon. “I just feel like a normal kid who has a fascination for science.

“I don’t let cancer define me, but I certainly let it lead me in the right direction.”

That direction led Lahmann to Emory, which is close to the Centers for Disease Control and its hospital. Lahmann’s longtime friend, Anna Glowniak, is a sophomore on the women’s swimming team.

“I had never been to Atlanta before,” said Lahmann, who picked Emory over Xavier, Yale, Princeton and Denison. “I knew nothing about the place but it was an absolutely beautiful campus.

“I wasn’t able to meet up with the coaches or swimmers but Anna showed me around the campus. She told me how she really loved the team and that academics is the No. 1 priority.

“And there is no snow. I’ve had my fair share of snow.”

The Lahmann brothers already have given more than their fair share to the Red Devils, and there is more on the way. Sister Elizabeth is a freshman who was part of the medley relay team that set a school record last fall, while youngest sibling Emma is in fifth grade.

“I really wish Nolan could experience a senior year that was not interrupted, however, I’m very proud of his approach,” Barber said. “Even in the challenges of the pandemic world where we don’t know what was coming, he maintains a positive attitude.”

In pursuing a career in medicine, Lahmann not only is quenching his thirst for knowledge but also doing his best to give back to all those who helped him along the way, including charities like the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which granted his wish to visit Disney World.

What advice does Lahmann have for kids who are struggling with diseases like cancer?

“I’d say stay strong,” Lahmann said. “Don’t look at what could happen but look toward what makes you happy in life.

‘Look toward your family and friends and stay positive the whole time. That really goes with just about anything in life.”