Ram Sprinters Show Spirit In Races Against Cancer

When Jessica Hall lost control of her right arm during Christmas break, she thought it was a pinched nerve. What the Riverside High School junior didn’t know was she was suffering from a cancerous tumor on her brain stem.

Hall, a jumper and sprinter who competed at state last year in four events, was the first of two Riverside girls track team members to be diagnosed this year with cancer.

In February, a second state veteran, senior sprinter Catrena Denning, learned she had ovarian cancer.

Now, a recovering Hall is working as the team’s assistant jump coach, and a cancer-free Denning has returned to the relay squad.

“You really think you have some high priorities in life until you see what young people like this go through,” said Riverside coach Cory NeVille. “All of a sudden, track and all those other things don’t have a lot of importance.”

Hall tried to ignore her symptoms at first. They persisted for three days, but Hall didn’t seek treatment until her speech became slurred.

She was hospitalized in Spokane for 10 days before going to Seattle for treatment. Friends she didn’t even know she had showed their support.

“I must have 300 cards,” Hall said through her characteristic bright smile. “I probably had half the school visit me in the hospital. The nurses about went crazy.”

Two months earlier she learned that her father, Ken, had cancer in his lymph nodes. A community benefit originally planned to raise funds for Ken Hall also helped his daughter, too. The dance, auction and raffle raised $20,000.

“I don’t think I’ve seen many things unify this community like this,” NeVille said. “It was really inspiring.

“I saw some folks digging pretty deep into their pockets that night.”

Hall went through seven weeks of radiation therapy in Seattle. Her father had surgery there, too. His cancer was removed, but Hall still hasn’t recovered the full use of her right side.

Doctors will know later this month if the radiation worked.

Since she is right-handed, everyday tasks - writing in class, for instance - have had to be relearned.

Those trials haven’t stopped her.

While she’s mentally preparing herself for the possibility she won’t fully recover, she’s physically preparing for another outcome.

She attends physical therapy sessions every other day and lifts weights the rest of the week.

“It’s natural to think ‘what if,’ but Jessica is always looking on the bright side,” said her mother, Debbie Hall. “She’s determined she’s going to get better. There’s no other option for her.”

There was no other option for teammate Denning, either. But at first, she and her friends took the news hard, especially since Denning was supposed to get married this summer. She couldn’t start the season and told NeVille why.

“He took it as hard as I did,” Denning said. “It was the first time I ever saw him cry.”

Her battle also happened in the midst of other problems. A brother stationed overseas as a Marine was having a growth removed from his chest, and Denning’s uncle had just died.

“It was a pretty rough time for the family,” Denning said. “Everything hit at once, and we were all pretty scared.”

It was the type of disease she had that scared her most.

“The first doctor said he would have to take my ovaries out, and I’d never have kids,” she said. “When you’re someone who is 18 and getting married this summer, that’s not something you want to hear.”

She also was told she wouldn’t be able to run again.

The petite sprinter’s answer was that of a fighter.

“You’re telling the wrong person that,” she said.

Half of one ovary and a quarter of the other were removed. The cancer is now gone, and the amount of tissue removed won’t prevent Denning from having children.

Her brother’s surgery was a success, too.

As for running, Denning is back and competing.

“I get tired really fast, but that’s because I haven’t been running in a while, not because of the surgery,” she said.

NeVille says Hall and Denning are an inspiration to him.

“I’ve been taking some really good lessons from them,” he said. “If they can get up every morning with a smile on their face, I have no place to complain about anything.

“So far, it’s a heck of a good ending to this story.”