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For 11-year-old Jack Hayes from Wantagh, it started with leg pain.
Last month, Jack woke up one morning complaining that he wasn’t feeling right. As a lacrosse and football player, Jack has dealt with aches and injuries his entire youth sports career, but this time it was a little different.
His parents, Shannon and Richie Hayes, rushed him to the emergency room searching for answers.
Doctors at the hospital believed it was just a virus causing the pain. Bloodwork didn’t show anything alarming, and then came a follow-up with his pediatrician, who agreed with the diagnosis. After some medicine and rest, the pain disappeared, and life returned to normal.
Or so everyone thought.
Five weeks later, in the early morning hours of May 10, Shannon and Richie woke up to the sound no parent ever wants to hear — their son moaning in pain.
Still, Jack tried to push through it in order to play in his lacrosse tournament that day. After taking some pain medicine, he put on goalie gear and headed to the field.
Goalies are fearless, tough, and always willing to put their body on the line for his teammates. Jack is no different.
At first, everything seemed OK.
Then, during the game, Jack started crying from the pain.
His parents immediately took him to NYU Langone in Mineola, where doctors ran more tests. This time, the results were a little more revealing.
“His blood numbers were ‘off the charts’ and his hemoglobin was dangerously low,” Shannon told Greater Long Island.
Then came the word from the doctor that changed everything.
Leukemia.
“It hit us like a brick wall,” Shannon said. “Jack handled the news a lot better than we did.”
Two days later, on May 12, Jack started chemotherapy.
The hardest part for Jack, though, as you might understand for an 11 year old, wasn’t hearing the cancer diagnosis.
It was hearing what came next. Doctors told him he would not be allowed to play contact sports for two years because they didn’t want to damage the chemo port implanted in his chest — a small device attached to a vein that allows doctors to draw blood and administer chemotherapy treatments without repeated needle sticks.
For a kid whose life revolves around sports, the news was crushing.
“He took the ‘no sports’ news harder than the cancer diagnosis,” Richie said. “It’s an eternity.”
Jack’s big sisters, Madison, 15, and McKenzie, 19, took the news especially hard but have been by their little brother’s side every step of the way.
He now faces 11 months of chemotherapy followed by 13 months of oral medication.
“It’s so hard for him because most of the time he actually feels okay, so he wants to be out there with his teammates,” Shannon said.
“This past weekend, he said to me, ‘I feel okay, I think I can play in the game,’” his father said. “But he obviously couldn’t.”
His parents didn’t want him to miss all the action so they brought him to his lacrosse games Saturday and Sunday just to be around his teammates.
“It was so nice for him to be out there with them,” Richie said. “He was in his jersey and his teammates cheered him on, and they even got him involved by tossing him the ball — a great ceremonial ending to his PAL career.”
The support from the community has overwhelmed the Hayes family.
The Wantagh varsity lacrosse team has named Jack a captain for every game the rest of the season and told him he can stand on the sidelines with them throughout the playoffs.
Even though Jack cannot return to school for the rest of the academic year, the family’s goal is to have him back in the classroom by September for the first day of seventh grade at Wantagh Middle School.
There are bright spots
Doctors have told Jack he can participate in non-contact activities this summer like golf, swimming and fishing.
“He’s thrilled that he can still hit some balls with me,” Richie said. “He’s also a big Knicks and Mets fan, so that’s keeping him happy right now.”
Through it all, the family says the outpouring of love from Wantagh and the larger lacrosse community has carried them through the darkest moments.
“The amazing reaction is not something we could have ever imagined,” Richie said. “I can’t say enough about the Wantagh community and the lacrosse community coming together to rally for Jack.”
“I just can’t believe it,” Shannon added. “So many people have been offering words of encouragement. Older kids who have gone through this who don’t even know Jack but heard about the situation, college lacrosse players, just so many people.”
The support has extended far beyond the sidelines.
A GoFundMe effort created to help the Hayes family has quickly gained momentum as neighbors, friends, teammates, and parents continue rallying around Jack and his family during the difficult road ahead. So far, more than $130,000 has been raised.
Local business owners are also launching their own fundraising campaigns.
Doctors have told the family there is a 90 percent cure rate — and they are hopeful that the treatment will work quickly.
For now, Jack is focused on staying involved, staying positive, and staying close to the teammates and community that love him.
“We knew not playing sports would devastate him,” Shannon said. “But we want to keep him involved as much as possible.”
Because even though Jack Hayes can’t be on the field right now, all of Wantagh is still standing behind him.
Click here if you want to donate to Jack’s fight.
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