Cancer Is A Relentless Foe

The Pink Arrow football game was the brain child of our former football coach Noel Dean. Back in 2008 he was casting about for a way to help residents of the Lowell area who were battling cancer. Pink Arrow was born and since then the event has grown to be way more than a football game and the best part is that it has been copied all over Michigan and the rest of the country thanks to some national news exposure early on. 

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with Pink Arrow Pride, Coach Dean came up with a plan to have his players (the Red Arrows) play a game in pink jerseys and turn that game into a fund raiser to lend a hand to area residents and their families who were fighting some form of cancer. FYI - the tremendous success of Pink Arrow is the reason that Lowell is home to a Gilda's Club. There is no other town of our size that has one. The  story goes that he floated the idea by one of his friends, Perry Beachum, and asked, "Do you think the team will put on pink jerseys if I ask them?" Perry replied, "They will take off their cleats and walk on hot coals if you ask them."

Since that initial Pink Arrow football game, the event has exploded into a day long Pink Arrow Pride Day at the High School with different teams getting involved, the local restaurants set up in tents by the field (my go-to Pink Arrow dinner is the chicken fingers from Keisers), and all kinds of things with the sole purpose of raising awareness and money for those fighting cancer. In addition to the emotional support at Gilda's Club, Pink Arrow helps meet other needs as well, including $500 a year for three years to help with expenses. All the money raised benefits families fighting cancer, the money is collected and administered by volunteers. If ever there was a charity that is deserving of your money, Pink Arrow certainly is one. There are no fancy offices or salaries to eat into the money raised, it stays right in the community it was designed to help.

And now to the sad point of this blog post. Cancer does not care about the success of Pink Arrow. Cancer has no respect for the brilliant idea of Coach Dean and his family. The difficult news that I have been building up to is that Noel and Jill's son Doak has been attacked by cancer. This young man is an athlete and was ambushed by cancer near the end of 2022. Doak graduated from Lowell in 2021 with impressive wrestling and football stats, as well as the needed academic prowess to attend Harvard. Doak is a member of the wrestling team at Harvard, following in the footsteps of his older brothers Zeth and Kanon. (The Dean family and the sport of wrestling are pretty much synonyms.) 

Last fall Doak noticed a "twinge" and thought maybe he pulled a muscle. The pain did not go away and he finally mentioned to his parents when he came home for Thanksgiving break. A visit to the doctor revealed that the "twinge" was testicular cancer. It was so advanced that Doak was in an operating room within 24 hours. 

At first the docs were seeing indications that the cancer had been eradicated, but further scans showed signs of it near one of Doak's kidneys. The result has been that Doak will not be continuing with his second season of wrestling for the Harvard Crimson team. Instead he is looking at a schedule of a much different kind: three 21 day cycles of chemotherapy in which there are 5 days of chemo and 16 days "off". Ask anyone who has danced with cancer and they can tell you once you get a little bit down the road with chemo, there are no days off.

My purpose in posting this is to ask you to think of the Dean family as we move along in 2023. Say a prayer, send some positive energy and good thoughts toward Doak if you could. Remember to include his folks - Dean and Jill, along with his brothers Zeth and Kanon and his sister Darby. Experience has taught me one thing about facing a severe health challenge like cancer - it is almost easier to go through it yourself than to sit by and watch a loved one face it - so send some positive vibrations and prayers for all of the Dean family as they gear up to help Doak through the next few weeks and months, please.

If you have a minute or two - send Doak and his family a note or card of encouragement. I have first hand knowledge of the impact a card can have while facing off with cancer. Here is where you want to send it: 3028 Orchard Circle  Tifton, GA 31794