Women's soccer team boosts cancer patient

Megan Gonzalez is only 13, but she is still part of the Cal State Stanislaus women's soccer team.

The Warriors made Megan, a Waterford seventh-grader, a little sister to the squad -- an honor usually reserved for huge supporters of the team. In this case, it's the team that's the big supporter.

Gonzalez was diagnosed in June as having acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a form of cancer of the white blood cells. She is at the beginning of a long battle at Children's Hospital Central California. She has been getting around-the-clock support from family, friends and staff.

When the CSS women's soccer team heard about Megan, whose parents, Chuck and Jill, both work at the university, they decided to offer their support.

"The coach approached me and said this was something the team wanted to do for Megan," Jill Gonzalez says.

Coach Gabriel Bolton got the idea from an episode of the HBO series "Real Sports" about a college lacrosse team that was supporting a patient with a brain tumor.

"It just popped into my head, what a great opportunity for a team to give back. We talked about things we could do as team and what Megan was going through," Bolton says.

Because the leukemia has left Megan with a depleted immune system, she's not allowed to have much outside contact and when she does get out, she tires quickly. That means home schooling and very little direct interaction with her friends.

Megan already has spent 48 nights at Children's Hospital. It's a three-hour round trip from her home to the facility for every visit.

When Megan does attend the Warriors games, she has her own locker and hangs out with the team. Bolton schedules team events later in the week because he knows Megan has her chemo treatments at the start of the week.

One way the team shows support is through countless text messages and online connections.

"She got a message one day from the team when they were in Idaho," Jill Gonzalez says. "They told Megan she could decide what they would do that day and she picked going to the zoo. They brought her back a stuffed giraffe."

Megan says the team's support has helped her deal with this disease that seemingly came out of nowhere.

There is no history of cancer in Megan's family. The first sign something was wrong came when she had a fainting spell. The initial blood work showed no signs of cancer. Megan's health continued to decline and eventually she stopped eating because of stomach cramps.

Follow-up blood tests showed some abnormalities but nothing to specifically suggest cancer. It was enough to get Megan a bone marrow biopsy and that revealed the ALL. Megan was admitted that night.

"ALL is the most common type of cancer kids get," says Dr. Daniel Ozeran. "Part of the reason it's so curable is because we have a lot of experience with it."

Generally, ALL manifests itself at a much younger age. Because Megan was diagnosed at an older age, she is being treated a little differently. Ozeran says the peak age for those diagnosed with ALL is about 4 years old.

Megan says the doctors have kept her informed and that helps her feel more in control.

"The doctors talk to her and we listen," Jill says. "That's nice because she knows everything that she will be going through."

The family also has been given a detailed list of how and when the treatment process will go over the next 21/2 years. This helps the family make plans for the long trip to the hospital, which often includes music recorded for Megan by the soccer team.

How well the chemotherapy works will determine if -- or how much -- radiation treatment Megan will have to have. At this point, a bone marrow transplant is not in the plans.

The chemo already has taken its toll on Megan's hair. She is sporting a black stocking cap with a white fox emblem on the side. Pictures of Megan in her school cheerleading outfit show that her hair once hung to her shoulders.

The teen is taking it in stride, pointing out that her hair has already started to grow back.

All of the support -- from the soccer team to the Children's Hospital staff -- have touched the Gonzalez family so much that they have come up with a few ways to give back. They are coordinating a relay for life May 15-16 in Waterford, the first for the community. For more information on the event, go to relayforlife.org/waterfordca.

The soccer season ended in December for the Warriors, but the team continues to support Megan.

"I believe our team has gotten more out of doing this than Megan," Bolton says, "It puts everything in perspective. Anything we are facing never comes close to what she is going through. We love having her around."