MVN - Most Valuable Network

One Final Base Hit for Cancer-Stricken Teen

Kudos to the gang at Fark for tracking down a touching story about an 18-year-old boy dying of cancer who received an opportunity to play in what could, perhaps, be his final baseball game. The article, courtesy of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, speaks for itself:

He hasn’t played in a few years, but he’s called on to pinch-hit. His eyes light up at the first pitch and he puts all of his 5-foot-5, 93-pound frame into one mighty swing, making contact and sending a line drive into right field for a single — if he can reach first base. The cancer he’s been battling for almost two years has spread to his pelvis, making running nearly impossible.

The kid worries about falling as he hustles down the first-base line. When he gets to the base, he lets out with a yell. “I did it! I did it!”

Safe at first with a hit and an RBI, the kid is hugged by a crying first-base coach. The opposing pitcher takes off his glove, starts applauding and his teammates follow suit. The kid’s teammates run onto the field to celebrate.

It sounds like the climax to a heart-tugger movie. But there was no producer or film crew at the game between Freedom and Aliquippa high schools two weeks ago. The scene was as real as the tumors in John Challis’ liver and lungs.

John is a kid with cancer, a senior at Freedom in Beaver County who was told a few weeks ago by doctors that cancer was winning and it was close to the end. The disease that started in his liver was now taking over his lungs.

“They said it could be only two months,” he said, fighting back tears.

He paused before his seemingly never-ending optimism came through again.

“I told my mom I still think I can get two more years.”

John has a ton of excellent insights into life that we can all learn from. Of his quotes in the article, this one stood out to me:

“If I’m mad at anything in this, it’s that I’m not going to be able to have a son, I’m not going to be able to get married and have my own house,” he said, fighting back tears again. “Those are the things I’m mad about. But not dying.”

We throw the word “hero” around quite a bit in our world, but there’s no question about it…John could hardly be more heroic. His story reminds me of a quote from Jimmy V.’s famous speech at the 1993 ESPY Awards: “Cancer can take away all my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever.”

Indeed, John’s determination and spirit are definitely things to take inspiration from; with only a few months left on this earth, he seemingly refuses to let the cancer stop him from living his life. Thanks to John for providing us with a reminder of what the human spirit, courage, and bravery truly look like.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 3:52 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.