Junior Isaiah Boldridge was diagnosed Dec. 10 with Hodgkin Lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system marked by the Reed-Sternberg cell.
Coincidently the 17th birthday of Boldridge, his diagnosis caused a whirlwind of emotions for his family and friends. Upon hearing the news, junior Alex Hilliard began raising awareness for both of the condition of Boldridge as well as Hodgkin Lymphoma. Hilliard said a lot of people want to step up and support him.
“He’s one of those kinds of people who knows everybody and is a really friendly person, and everybody loves ‘Zay,’ ” Hilliard said.
Signs something wasn’t right began earlier this school year. Toward the end of football season, Boldridge got pneumonia.
“They did a CAT scan of his chest and found the pneumonia, but then they saw another spot in his chest, kind of near his heart,” Hilliard said. “So they told him to come back in a month, and they found the pneumonia was gone, but the spot was still there, and it had grown. So they admitted him to the hospital, ran some tests, and they officially diagnosed Zay with Hodgkin Lymphoma.”
Almost immediately after his diagnosis, #PrayforZay began to trend on Twitter. Additionally, a Facebook page called Pray For Zay was created with a similar purpose to spread the word. With so many peers supporting him, Boldridge embraced this diagnosis with courage.
Fellow wide-receiver on Lawrence High’s varsity football team, junior Kieran Severa, was impressed by the optimism of his friend “Zay.”
“He’s going to start his chemotherapy treatment on Friday, and he took it in stride,” Severa said. “He was really positive and really ready to start chemo; he just seemed really excited to get this over with and beat it.”
Friends with Boldridge since his freshman, year, the two had what Severa called “a really strong wide receiver bond.”
“We also played freshman basketball together,” Severa said. “And he’s in my weights class now, and we kind of push each other to get stronger and get better every day.”
Boldridge has kept up with basketball throughout high school and gained friends in the process. On Saturday, the boy’s basketball team visited him at the Kansas University Medical Center to show their support.
In the upcoming basketball game against Free State today, fans plan on having a purple-out in support of Boldridge. Purple is the color for Hodgkin Lymphoma awareness. They plan to have students sign up to buy shirts during the game and after school.
“We’re trying to get them so we can sell them before the game,” Hilliard said. “Then we’ll take the profit we get from the shirts and give that back to the family to help with medical expenses.”
For the Friday game, Hilliard is attempting to get the support of Free State High School students, asking fans and players to don purple apparel as well. Less than a week after his diagnosis, nearly the entire town is either involved or at least informed.
“Every time I go up to the KU Med Center they’re always like, ‘Oh, you’re probably here for Isaiah,’ because there’s always numerous people coming up there every day to see him,” Severa said. “There’s obviously a lot of support, not only from the school, but churches where Isaiah goes.”
Known for his outgoing personality and athletic talent, this support was inevitable. Starting his journey of fighting Hodgkin Lymphoma, Boldridge had surgery Wednesday.
“For him to go through something like this at such a young age is unexpected for us, especially because he just got done with the football season and was getting ready for basketball season,” Hilliard said. “We just kind of wanted to build the strong support system he needed at a time like this.”