{"id":5508,"date":"2013-10-27T13:25:39","date_gmt":"2013-10-27T18:25:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/?p=5508"},"modified":"2013-10-27T13:30:04","modified_gmt":"2013-10-27T18:30:04","slug":"fighting-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/archives\/5508","title":{"rendered":"Fans, players dedicated to beating cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Austin<\/a>
Austin Granatowicz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Darius Hicks–<\/strong>Every time Austin Granatowicz steps onto a football field, he becomes an inspiration. Not just to his teammates, but to other cancer survivors.<\/p>\n

Granatowicz, a Morningside College football player, was 21 when he was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) September 25, 2012.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly felt fine. The athletic trainer here suggested that I may have hematoma. But he wanted to schedule a appointment to be on the safe side,\u201d Granatowicz said.<\/p>\n

When the doctor returned with Granatowicz\u2019 blood results, it was a bittersweet moment. \u201cHe just gave it to me straight. I remember him saying, life isn\u2019t fair sometimes, and he told me I had cancer. Then he went on to say, sometimes it allows us a way out.\u201d<\/p>\n

CML is a cancer that attacks the white blood cells, which leads to an abnormal growth of white blood cells that over occupy the immune system and prevent other cells from doing do their job. The average human is supposed to have a white blood cell count of 4,000 to 10,000. Austin had a count of over 200,000. He was forced to quite football and \u00a0under go treatment as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

Granatowicz wasted no time and began treatment at University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha the same day he received his results. Most patients suffering from CML receive tasigna, a chemotherapy drug that targets the protein within the cancer cells. Due to his large count of white blood cells, Granatowicz was also prescribed oral chemotherapy to reduce his white bloods cell count.<\/p>\n

After a month of chemotherapy and taking 16 pills per day Granatowicz \u2018white blood cells were in hematological remission and he was cleared to return to the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt great to be back around the team. I had missed those guys and wanted to be in the football atmosphere again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Although the feeling of being around the football team helped fill a void, Austin felt as if a part of him was needed elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew that my situation was bigger then me, I wanted to help those that were in need. So I went on Google and searched for places I could volunteer.<\/p>\n

Granatowicz\u2019 search landed him on the Camp High Hopes website; a camp that provides the opportunity for children who are receiving treatment and those who are in remission to experience all the benefits of a camp while surrounded by kids who are dealing with the same thing as they are.<\/p>\n

Seeing his passion for volunteer work, the Morningside College Athletic Department approached Austin with the idea of dedicating the October 26 football game against cross town rival Briar Cliff \u00a0to him, by raising awareness and donating money to the American Cancer Society.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a shocker to be honest, I was thrilled that they wanted to help. And it blew me away when they told me about all the plans they had for the game\u201d<\/p>\n

Morningside College showed its support by selling orange sweatshirts, wrist bands, and hats. Fans also purchased raffle tickets for prizes, which included an autographed football signed by Chuck Pagano, the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts who was diagnosed with leukemia last fall; a football signed by both the Morningside and Briar Cliff football teams; two tickets to the University of Nebraska vs. University of Iowa football game; and two tickets to the upcoming Brad Paisley concert.<\/p>\n

Local businesses also showed support. Chick-Fil A hosted a Spirit Night October 24. Between 5 and 8 pm ten percent of sales were donated to the American Cancer Society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Darius Hicks–Every time Austin Granatowicz steps onto a football field, he becomes an inspiration. Not just to his teammates, but to other cancer survivors. Granatowicz, a Morningside College football player, was 21 when he was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) September 25, 2012. \u201cI honestly felt fine. The athletic trainer here suggested that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":5509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[203,170],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5508"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14684,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5508\/revisions\/14684"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}