Ethan Lif: A Fighter, A Fan, and A True Cat^® Operator

Ethan Lif was only a freshman in high school the first time he jumped into a Cat^® machine. While many younger operators grew up around machines, Ethan found his own way into the cab. “My friend’s dad owns a construction company, so I just decided to ask if he was hiring.”

While his high school classmates were getting their first jobs at local malls and restaurants, Ethan was at Edwards Construction learning to run a D6. He proved to be a natural-born operator, and soon he was also running a skid steer and mini excavator on jobsites. Other teens might have been intimidated by the machines, but Ethan loved every minute.

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Life Throws a Curveball

In 2023, Ethan was getting ready for baseball season when he began having persistent leg pain. At first, they believed it was a muscle strain or potentially a torn ACL from training, but further testing revealed Ethan had osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer most common in teenagers and young adults.

Ethan’s mother, Amy Lif, understandably described receiving the diagnosis as “earthshattering” at first. “We were blindsided,” she said. “But Ethan set the tone for all of us.”

That tone was one of fierce determination. “He made it clear he wasn’t going to let this stop him,” Amy said. “Eyes forward became our motto.”

He faced his battle head-on, undergoing months of chemotherapy and, eventually, surgery on his leg. The cancer went into remission after the first round of treatment, but relapsed in 2024, requiring a second round. Cancer treatment is brutal, both physically and mentally, but through both rounds of treatment two things remained constant: Ethan’s determination to win his battle, and his lucky Cat hats.

“This whole journey, you would never catch Ethan without a Cat^® hat on,” Amy said. “He’d wear it right up to surgery, then the surgeons would take it off and put it right back on when he came out."

His Cat hats became Ethan’s connection to his life outside the hospital and a reminder of what he was fighting to get back to.

Back in the Cab

To those who know him best, it was no surprise that the first thing Ethan wanted to do when he was released from the hospital was get back in the cab. Amy remembers him jumping in his truck the same day he got home to meet up with the Edwards Construction team at a job site.

“They were good to him,” Amy said. “He always got the cushy machine with air conditioning.”

Getting back into the dozer wasn’t easy—Ethan wasn’t allowed to put any pressure on his leg after surgery—but it was worth it to be able to return to a sense of normalcy again.

“It just takes my mind off stuff,” Ethan says. “It’s a stress reliever.”

Ethan Lif in a Cat D6T wearing a Cat hat

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Built to Overcome

Caterpillar builds equipment to help keep the world moving forward, but it’s operators like Ethan that truly bring that vision to life. Like the machines he loves, Ethan is built with the strength and resilience to overcome any obstacle. It’s an honor to have him on Team Cat, and, wherever the future takes him, we’ll always be on Team LIFe.

Did You Know?

Many hospitals, including Children’s Mercy Hospital where Ethan received chemotherapy, rely on Cat generators for back-up power to help ensure critical care for patients is never interrupted by a power outage.