Former Auburn linebacker Khari Harding’s father, Corie Harding, is battling cancer for the second time in his life, and time is of the essence.

As Corie undergoes more chemotherapy and more tests, his future remains uncertain. According to an AL.com report, if tests show more cancerous spots than it did the first time Corie battled the disease, “that’s it,” Corie said in his own words.

But no matter what Corie’s future holds, what he wants more than anything else is to see Khari play college football for at least one more season. However, after a recent amendment to the NCAA’s hardship waivers policy, Corie may not get his wish.

Following the end of last season, Khari, a native of Edmond, Okla., transferred from Auburn to Tulsa to be closer to his father. He expected to be able to play this season, as the former hardship waiver policy allowed student-athletes to transfer without sitting out a year if he or she was transferring for the purposes of being close to an ailing family member.

But the recent amendment to the rule only grants a player a sixth year of eligibility for moving closer to a sick relative, which means Harding is likely to still have to sit out the 2015 season, even if he’s able to make that season up with a sixth year at the end of his career.

“It’s devastating,” Corie Harding said in the same AL.com report. “If we knew this, Khari would have never left (Auburn).”

The amendment was reportedly agreed upon in April 2014 but will not be enforced until the start of the 2015-16 academic year, beginning this fall. Khari is currently on vacation for spring break and according to his father has not yet been made aware of the rule change that could sideline him this fall.

“I know for a fact the first thing that will come out of his mouth is he should have stayed at Auburn,” Corie said. “I know that for sure.”

Khari grew up with his mother in Dallas, Texas, but moved to be with his father in Oklahoma in 2007. As a high school senior in 2012, he missed a handful of games to be with his father when he battled cancer the first time. That cancer went into remission as Khari began his Auburn career in fall of 2013, but it resurfaced last November, inspiring Khari to transfer.

“Right now he misses Auburn so bad and his friends and the coaching staff and the atmosphere down there,” Corie said. “It’s hard to jump from another page to another one and this right here is going to hurt him pretty bad.”