The Endicott College men’s lacrosse team fell, 13-8, to a top-10 Union College team in its season opener last week.
While losing the game was tough, it was still a triumphant return to the lineup for senior midfielder Will Levine (Southborough, Mass.). After all, it had been two years since Levine had suited up for the Gulls.
In 2020, before we were dealing with the unknown and impending dread of what living through a pandemic could be like, Levine was trying to find a way to tell his coach and his teammates something that was a lot more difficult.
That he had been diagnosed with cancer.
“He has been on the team for four years and he called me right before school started,” said Endicott head coach Eric Hagarty (Sudbury, Mass.). “He said that he had been diagnosed with large B-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. I don’t know anything about that, so I asked him what that was. And he said, ‘It’s cancer.’
“He said, ‘My plan is, I’m going to get this treatment done and I’m coming back to play. I’m going to graduate from college on time in four years.’”
Levine immediately went into treatment in Worcester at UMass Medical Center. After several rounds of treatment, he was told that cancer had gone into remission, so he went back to school. Unfortunately, the cancer did come back and was more aggressive the second time, so he couldn’t rejoin the team last season.
But it didn’t deter Levine.
“I think when you get challenging news like that, it could either make you better or send you to a bad way,” said Hagarty. “I’ve learned so much about how to respond to those kinds of tough situations from him. The minute he called me and told me what was happening, he was already more action-oriented than I was. I was, like, broken up about it, my heart was racing and he reassured me that we were going to do this.
“I learned so much about him from that first minute when he said, ‘Hey, this is my plan. I’m going to graduate on time to play lacrosse again.’ He’s probably always had that inside of him, but in the toughest of settings, he showcased that he’s got toughness and maturity. He’s just an unbelievable human being.”
After calling his coach, Levine went on to inform his teammates of the situation. One by one, the players began to call their coach with all of them asked the same thing: “What can we do to help?”
Hagarty reached out to HeadStrong Foundation founder Pat Colleluori. Colleluori’s brother, Nick, a lacrosse player at Hofstra, was the inspiration for HeadStrong. It was founded in 2005 after Nick, who was diagnosed with the same cancer that Levine was, recognized the lack of resources for cancer patients and their families.
The HeadStrong Foundation is dedicated to improving the quality of life for those affected by cancer. It is intrinsically tied to the lacrosse community through Nick’s battle and continues to help families across the country to this day.
When Pat Colleluori heard about Levine’s diagnosis and his vow to return to the field, he made a promise that he would be there when Levine dressed for the Gulls. Colleluori kept that promise, flying up to Boston to make sure he caught the season opener.
“I think one of the most eye-opening things for us is the work that HeadStrong does to support families dealing with different forms of cancer,” said Hagarty. “It wasn’t until I really started talking to Pat weekly and hearing about the people that he is encountering, and the aid they are receiving, did I even know the scope of what he does day-to-day.
“I really hope that Will’s story can be an inspiration to somebody who may face the challenge of a cancer battle. I hope they navigate it in the same way he did. Hopefully, they see similar results. I learned that Pat and HeadStrong are such allies in the world of families dealing with cancer. This organization needs to really be showcased because of how they’re helping teams like us as well as other schools in the country that have players battling cancer. Pat is talking to those coaches and those players every single day. It’s such an inspiration.”
While Levine isn’t quite ready to play in games, he has been building up his strength in practice after being medically cleared to compete. He is on track to graduate from Endicott on time despite going through treatment for the last two years.
And his battle with cancer had brought the Endicott team closer together.
“The whole community has really rallied around him,” said Hagarty. “Sometimes you think when people are in a tough spot, you have to respect their privacy. No. The thing I’ve learned from Will is that you have to lean in. You don’t want to keep a safe distance to let people navigate it themselves. You have to say, ‘We’re with you, man. We’re in your corner.’
“This community, they leaned in, which was really cool to see.”
@TheKyleDevitte
kyle.devitte@laxjournal.com
For more information on the HeadStrong Foundation and its mission, please visit HeadStrong.org.
