Last winter I wrote a blog on Kent Roosevelt's big offensive/defensive tackle Ryan Anderson, As the story goes, I rated him a D-!A prospect, but not a "major league "guy. A "JAG." He worked really hard in the off season and blew me away at my combine. After the combine I told him that he had a bright future. His drive to work hard on conditioning over the winter really impressed me. On the following Monday, a cancer tumor was discovered in his knee.
Ryan called me this week. No need to go into details of the chemo treatments, but he had many back to back treatments. Knowing first hand what my wife went through, I can appreciate his ordeal. Chemo treatments can beat you up both physically and mentally. They shrunk the tumor and removed it. The doctors placed a rod six inches above the knee and six inches below. Now he is recuperating.
Needless to say, I really appreciated the call. So often we read the news about all the negative happenings in high school sports. I guess that is what sells. We read about the "high profile" people and their struggles, and that is wonderful and inspiring. But we do not hear enough about the "Ryan Anderson's," which should also be wonderful and inspiring. Talking with him over the phone, I almost became silly with excitement. His phone call made my day.
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