It was Saturday morning and Stephanie Yost was obtaining prepared to visit Citizens Bank Park for the Phillies Futures collection game, very first pitch scheduled for 1:05. Afterward, the strategy was to head to the Wells Fargo Focus for the 76ers’ 7:30 contest versus the Indiana Pacers.
Exactly three years earlier, Yost spent the day lying in bed watching television in her Bensalem house – concerning 5 moments from the higher school.
Yost, after that 14, had come down along with a fever – a low-grade one – however it persisted, lasting concerning 10 days. She wasn’t herself, and her mother, Toni, knew something was wrong, so she ordered blood work, despite the fact that everyone believed it was merely a virus.
The Owls were playing at Pennsbury in softball that day.
Around 4 o’clock, Toni got the phone call from Steph’s pediatrician. Toni was supposed to come in, the doctor said, however she wasn’t to delivering her daughter.
Steph doesn’t keep in mind her mother leaving the house, however once Toni returned, she had unsatisfactory news: the diagnosis was leukemia and Steph must right away visit the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
That was the very first – and just – time Steph cried.
When the tears subsided, she gained herself a promise.
“I’m not going to permit it beat me,” the 17-year old senior recalled.
Bensalem coach Dan Schram was on the bus once he received the terrible news. once the group returned to the school, he gathered them in the locker room to tell them together.
At that point, no one knew it was acute myeloid leukemia. They didn’t understand Steph would certainly reason a stem-cell transplant after three rounds of intense chemotherapy. They didn’t understand she would certainly have actually bouts along with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Cytomegalovirus and even chicken pox.
It was an emotional group meeting for Schram and the gamers that day however it wouldn’t be the last – or just – time they cried.
“She is a pillar of strength,” Schram said. “It reminds me that we all of have actually a time limitation and daily is a gift. I’m merely absolutely reminded of that once I see her. merely to see her once she goes out there and understand just what she’s overcome.”
Yost spent 5-6 weeks in the hospital at a time, along with rounds of chemo lasting 7-10 days. She was isolated in her room, as the treatment was so solid her red blood cells, platelets, and entire immune system would certainly bottom out.
She was allowed house in between rounds and throughout one quest was able to attend a game versus Council Rock North – where she served as captain.
Yost had the stem-cell transplant August 16 and was from the hospital by late September of her sophomore year. At house she took classes online and started bodily therapy along with the objective of returning to the softball field that March.
First, PT just lasted twenty minutes. 6 weeks later, she was up to three hours. after that she returned to the team.
“It was rough at first,” Steph said. “I actually wasn’t in to that sort of shape.”
Now, Yost is savoring her last season as the squad’s designated player, calling it “bittersweet.”
“I feel love I missed considerably along with softball, however it is my last year now and I hope to make the most effective of it,” she said.
The group is making the most effective of it too, hosting its second annual cancer awareness game along with Archbishop Ryan on April 23, where there will certainly be a donor drive.
“If we grab 5 [people], that’s 5 potential lives saved,” Toni said. “Someone did it and saved my daughter’s life.”
Inspired by Tina, among her nurses at Children’s Hospital, Yost now desires to pursue nursing as a job path.
“A great deal of individuals are touched by this young lady,” Schram said. “The finished product is not in. I don’t understand if it is softball. I don’t understand if she makes an impact in science or medicine. however this youngster is among the many special individuals I’ve ever met in my entire life.”
April 2, 2016: As a section of Kisses for Kyle, an organization that Yost says “offer youngsters an escape . . . to assistance grab through things” she was at the Sports Complex in South Philly.
It was three years to the day because her diagnosis, Yost was cancer-free, and she wanted to spend the day assisting youngsters escape.
Published: April 4, 2016 — 3:01 AM EDTThe Philadelphia Inquirer
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