Setback for Canon-Mac’s Blanock
His smile and quick wit light up a room. When Luke Blanock underwent treatment for metastatic Ewing’s sarcoma, there was no deterring the Canon-McMillan senior.
Any mention of the word cancer did not discourage Blanock. It motivated him. Despite having every reason to succumb to the gravity of his diagnosis, Blanock tackled the disease with the same fervor he used in the classroom and on the field of competition.
His loved ones found solace in the upbeat attitude. It did not matter how serious the topic. Blanock’s personality drowned out any discouraging thought that lingered.
When he returned to the basketball court Dec. 5, the gymnasium at Canon-McMillan High School was filled with the same classmates and community members who stood behind Blanock and his family throughout the agonizing rounds of chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
Now he will need their support once more. The kid who captured the hearts of people across the region will undertake the fight again.
Three months after doctors determined Blanock’s cancer was in remission, results from a routine scan Monday revealed a tumor in Blanock’s left femur.
His father, Kurt, was teaching at Western Area Career & Technology Center when doctors at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh called Tuesday morning to deliver the results.
“It’s devastating. We finally had a little bit of normalcy the last three months and you just feel for him,” Kurt Blanock said. “I can’t describe how bad you feel. After the scan in December, we were overjoyed. This one came as a shock.”
Ewing’s sarcoma is a category of cancer that forms in the bones or soft tissues. Doctors removed a tumor and part of Luke’s lower spine last December. Initial tests showed the cancer did not spread to his bone marrow. Ewing’s sarcoma that has spread from the initially affected bone to one or more sites in the body, distant from the site of origin, is called metastatic.
Last December, Luke’s positron emission tomography (PET) scan, an imaging test that uses a radioactive substance to look for disease in the body, showed several areas of concern. Doctors feared his cancer spread to other areas of the spine, as well as his right arm, left leg and pelvis.
He underwent 75 days’ worth of chemotherapy, as well as almost 131 individual applications of radiation over 56 days.
During that time, the community rallied around Luke and his family. His story gained national recognition with sports icons Troy Polamalu and Mario Lemieux reaching out. Even the daughter of Jim Valvano, a former college basketball coach who died of metastatic adenocarcinoma, called Blanock to express support.
Luke was unavailable for comment.
Three months ago, doctors delivered the brightening diagnosis that the cancer was in remission.
Blanock returned to the basketball court this season for the Big Macs. His vibrant personality sent a jolt of energy through the team and the school. Canon-McMillan varsity basketball coach Rick Bell spoke of Blanock with an intense admiration. The blue and yellow #LukeStrong wristband he wears daily serves as a reminder of “what’s important in life.”
“In everybody’s life, you have that one-of-a-kind person,” Bell said. “If you realize it, if you open your ears, your heart and your mind; you have that one of a kind person who can change your life. That’s been Luke for me. That’s how he has handled everything has meant to me. I’m one story. I know he has had that impact on a lot of people’s lives.”
As the spring sports season approached, Blanock prepared for baseball.
After Kurt Blanock received the phone call Tuesday, he left work to inform his wife, Jan. The two immediately traveled to Children’s Hospital to collect Luke’s records to send to Dr. Pete Anderson at the Cleveland Clinic and the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.
Both consulted the family throughout Luke’s initial treatments and without a clear-cut method to treat a relapse, the Blanock’s sought a plan of attack. Kurt arrived at Luke’s baseball practice later that afternoon.
Canon-McMillan head baseball coach Frank Zebrasky sensed something was wrong as soon as Kurt, the team’s pitching coach, walked in. Kurt pulled Luke aside and told him the news. When Luke left practice to tell his girlfriend, Zebrasky addressed the team.
“Personally, it was the toughest thing I’ve ever had to explain,” Zebrasky said. “I don’t even know how to put it into words. I really don’t. He’s probably as nice a young man as you are ever going to come across. He’s going to attack this like the does any athletic event or anything else. We’re going to be right behind him.”
Blanock shook off the news. When he saw his mother that evening, she cried. Her son responded in his usual fashion, by bringing levity.
“When Jan saw him the first time, she started crying and he said, ‘Mom, Don’t worry. I’m a veteran at this,'” Kurt said.
Luke Blanock embodies determination. During treatment, Blanock volunteered at his church and spent hours in the driveway dribbling a basketball. A relapse would not stop him from joining his baseball teammates in Myrtle Beach this weekend.
The Big Macs departed Wednesday to play a slate of games at the Cal Ripken Experience. Blanock started in left field Thursday against Allentown and went 1-for-3 with a single.
He might start on the mound tomorrow at TicketReturn.com Field at Pelicans Ballpark – the home of the Chicago Cubs’ Class A minor league affiliate. If so, Zebrasky will have a tough time taking Blanock out of the game.
“He made a joke to me that if he starts down in Myrtle, he wants to try to go the distance,” Kurt Blanock said. “I told him the pitchers are on pitch counts. He said, ‘The long term health of my right arm is really insignificant right now.’ We both laughed.”
With the help of several experts, the Blanock family expects to confirm the status of the tumor and decide a treatment schedule sometime next week. Luke’s time on the baseball field will be postponed, but that does not mean he plans to be away for long.
“Luke told me it will be easier this time. He’ll know what to expect,” Kurt Blanock said. “He has a good attitude about what he has to do. Everyone around him feeds off of it.”
His family is not surprised. Luke’s infectious personality helped ease their pain, even when treatments drained his energy and prevented him from the activities he loves.
As he prepares for another fight, nothing has changed.