Meet Jack, a resilient young man who began his unexpected battle with cancer during his junior year of high school. On Tuesday, May 23, 2023, Jack woke up with severe ankle pain, prompting a visit to the ER. As an athlete, Jack had been dealing with this pain for the majority of his lacrosse season, but he was determined to finish the season out, due to his role of the team’s goalie. Luckily, Jack was able to just that with his season ending the night before.
Upon arrival of the emergency room, the doctor’s examined Jack, which led to an x-ray. The x-ray did not show a break in the bone, which caused the doctors to send Jack home with a wrap around his ankle. However, an hour later, the family received a call that the radiologist saw an aggressive appearing lesion and that Jack needed to see get an MRI, ASAP. The call was received at 1:00 pm, and Jack was in the MRI machine by 3:30 pm.
Once the MRI was read, Dr. Zito let the family know that it did not look good, and Jack would need a biopsy. Within a few days, Jack and his family were sent to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to meet with Dr. Prince. Jack was notified that he needed a PET scan, several MRIs, and a chest CT. Within the next week, this all happened, but the family still had no answer on what they would be facing.
On June 8th, 2023, Jack had his bone biopsy. The family began to have hope that this was just an infection, but within a few days, it was confirmed that it was Ewing’s Sarcoma. Within a few weeks, Jack had started his first of his thirteen round chemo regimen. Each round consists of three weeks, causing the family to stay in New York for the week of his chemotherapy treatment.
On September 6th, 2023, Jack had a fourteen-hour surgery, where the doctors removed six inches of his bone in his leg. From here, they inserted a robotic rod that will help him regrow his bone. Jack must use an external remote, twice a day, to activate the rod, leading to the regrowth of his bone.
To say the least, Jack has been through a lot, but when we had the opportunity to meet the family, he was full of joy and faith. You could tell that Jack was going get through this just by the way he carried himself. With Jack’s strong desire of golf, we had the opportunity to donate a brand new Callaway bag, three Titliest Vokey wedges, a Blue Tees Golf Players+ Speaker, and a gift card for him to get more golf clothes!
Jack is currently on his seventh treatment cycle, but he still has two more leg surgeries to go through. We have no doubt in the world that Jack will continue to get through everything that is thrown his way. In the future, Jack and his family have their own hopes of helping people battling something similar or worse. We will continue to pray for him and be there for him every step of his way! We love you so much!
