Bryant not letting setback get him down
Shane Bryant is even-keel as always. But he's certainly not out of the woods.
In this space on Dec. 17, 2009, we wrote of the 2008 Glenbard West graduate, a former Hilltoppers basketball player and golfer. At that time Bryant was in the stretch run of a series of chemotherapy sessions at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
Midway through his freshman year at Indiana University, Bryant discovered an odd bump below the knee on one of his legs. He wisely didn't wait too long to get the leg checked out; doctors diagnosed a type of bone cancer, osteosarcoma.
In surgery he had 10 inches of his affected tibia replaced with an aluminum rod. The numerous chemotherapy sessions to treat the cancer were scheduled to be completed by the end of January.
We checked in on Bryant, and the good news is that scans of the leg showed no return of the cancer.
"Awesome news," he stated in an e-mail on March 28.
His progress has been tempered by a setback - an infection that had extended through his tissue down to the rod. It required two additional surgeries, one to clean up the infection and a second for a skin graft to cover the wound. It all meant another weeklong stay in the hospital followed by a bedridden month at home.
"They think that it (infection) is suppressed, which is good," Bryant stated. Otherwise, he added, amputation was a possibility.
He's hoping to be cleared quickly to start taking physical therapy. Meanwhile, he'd been taking classes online through the College of DuPage.
Bryant had no use for melodrama or pity when contacted in December. That hasn't changed.
"They placed me on antibiotics, which I will be on at least for six months if not longer," he wrote in his March e-mail. "I also have lost a little weight too. It's another setback, but I can't complain as I still have my life."
An early spring flurryA 60-degree day in Florida this winter and spring was a rarity, several local snowbirds reported. So what better way to enjoy a break than in sunny Rock Island, Ill.Local football players beat a path to Augustana's campus, based on the blast of e-mails emanating from there announcing commit after commit to the Vikings' program.News about Kaneland two-way lineman Eric Dratnol enlisting arrived March 30.It came down full-bore Monday afternoon - Wheaton North linebacker Ryan Coleman, Benet defensive back-receiver T.J. Milano, York linebacker Erik Westerberg, Aurora Christian tight end-linebacker Dylan Smith - just as quickly as Augie assistant athletic director Dave Wrath could write news releases.The littlest CrazyNo foolin', it was April 1 and Regina Leeberg, wife of Montini baseball coach Bill Leeberg, was watching an early morning news program on television.The show announced a contest: Using a photograph and brief written explanation, describe why you deserve two tickets to attend the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Final Four games in Indianapolis. Show us why, the contest urged.Soon enough 5-year-old Ty Leeberg woke up. Looking like a Cameron Crazy in the making, wearing his Duke Blue Devils T-shirt he walked through his morning routine - get the newspaper, plop down at the kitchen table, spread the sports page open and devour the basketball stats along with breakfast.Regina had her picture."In the e-mail I sent them, I just said, 'I deserve to win the tickets to the Final Four because I'm only 5 years old and every morning I read the newspaper for a half-hour to look up the basketball stats.'"Ty signed it. Regina hit Send. "He just said, 'Thanks, Mommy, for sending that.' He really didn't know what I was doing."Apparently media marketing people love little kids like everyone else. The next morning the show announced Ty had won the tickets, and Regina and he drove to Chicago to pick them up.At 4:30 p.m. Friday Bill Leeberg had just returned from a downstate road trip with the Broncos baseball team - prior, on March 25 he won his 700th career game.He certainly couldn't pass up Ty's skybox seats, however, their all-you-can-eat-and-drink Saturday in the Quarterback Suite at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Not even a blown tire heading south could deter them.Truly a Duke fan - that was how Ty got his Blue Devils jersey after all, playing on a basketball team in a youth league in Plainfield where they live - the little guy also appreciated the results of Monday's championship victory over Butler."I wouldn't let him stay up to watch Duke win it," Regina said, "but of course the first thing (Tuesday) morning he ran out to get the paper and said, 'Duke won, Duke won!'"Montini graduate Cootie Leeberg, Bill's daughter from a prior marriage, just finished her sophomore season as a guard at the University of Southern Indiana.And while little Ty loves everything basketball, Regina doesn't hold much hope their son has the genes necessary for a long playing career."He wants to be a basketball player when he grows up," she said. "But my husband's 5-9 and slow, so he doesn't have much of a chance."