Kennett High track star beats cancer over finish line

John-Paul Dean wasn't supposed to compete in the April 19 meet to clinch a ChesMont League American Division track and field championship for Kennett High School unless he absolutely had to.

The day before, the 18-year-old senior had struggled to get through practice following three days of chemotherapy at A.I. duPont Hospital for Children. His doctors wanted him to rest whenever possible.

That was a bitter pill for John-Paul, a team captain. Kennett hadn't won the championship in a quarter century, but had gotten close for three years running. He wanted so badly to bring the title home, all the more since the cancer diagnosis in March, the endless tests, the chemotherapy that made his hair fall out and his weight plummet 13 pounds.

Kennett started out strong, until a rival from Unionville High took an unexpected lead in John-Paul's best event, the long jump. For his school to have any shot at the title, he'd have to do more than just participate.

"Now, the pressure is on," he recalled. "I have to come through big . . . I'm breathing heavy. I do my routine. I take a deep breath and go down the runway. I hit the board. I felt like I was up there a long time."

The officials measured, his teammates erupted. John-Paul had jumped 21 feet, 2 inches - a quarter inch shy of his personal best, but 8 inches farther than his opponent.

Now, if Kennett was going to carry the day, he'd have to pull off the near-impossible again, in the triple jump.

Senior year wasn't supposed to be like this.

The prom, the acceptance letter from Florida's Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the chance to run in front of 40,000 spectators at the Penn Relays - none of it was certain as of March 16.

After weeks of fatigue and a nagging cough, John-Paul learned he had Stage 4 Hodgkin's lymphoma, an immune-system cancer.

"Nothing matters after you get this kind of news," said his mother, Sharon, a fifth-grade teacher at West Chester's Fern Hill Elementary School. His father, Troy, is a DuPont sales manager. His brother, Myles, is 15.

One recent day, a tin of warm pasta - a gift from one of many supporters - sat on the counter in the spacious kitchen of their Kennett Square home. "I'm not even able to remember what was important to us before March 16," she said. "What was on our radar? What we were concerned about? We just shifted gears."

Named for his grandfathers, not the pope, John-Paul seemed from the start to have only one gear - forward. "When he makes his mind to do something, he gets it done," his mother said, adding, "Even as parents, we just follow his lead."

A hoops coach suggested he start running in middle school because he was so fast. He soon was named a captain.

"He's a great kid because of his leadership," said sprinting coach Carl Lowe. "He always wants to go the extra two miles."

A workhorse athlete, John-Paul qualified for states as a freshman and districts all four years. That made him a star at 1,200-student Kennett High, which track and field coach John Ramangano described as "a very weak sports school."

Beginning last December, John-Paul's dream of capturing the ChesMont title was fading. At workouts, he coughed and could barely breathe. His time in the 200 meters was off by a couple of seconds, enough to cause alarm.

The first doctor he consulted blamed John-Paul's mild asthma, a malady since childhood. But even with stepped-up treatment, he got no better.

His coaches ordered him to attend to his health before the spring season.

So, on Wednesday, March 16, John-Paul left school for a follow-up appointment with a pulmonologist. After a round of tests, the doctor admitted him to the hospital and summoned Sharon Dean. Several coaches also showed up. His father urgently flew home from a business trip in Chicago.

That Friday, the family learned the diagnosis. Two days later, they were told the disease was Stage 4 - the most advanced, having spread beyond his lymph nodes. An aggressive regimen of three days of chemotherapy every three weeks would be required.

The person who took the news with equanimity was John-Paul. "I haven't been worried about it," he said recently. "It's not like it's a death sentence."

Generally, Hodgkin's lymphoma is one of the most treatable cancers, with a five-year survival rate of 90 percent in the earliest stage. Three years ago, the American Cancer Society put the Stage 4 survival rate at 65 percent. But John-Paul and his family say his age and otherwise good health, along with improved treatments, up his odds. And, his mother added, so do her nightly conference calls to relatives in Florida for group prayer, 8:30 sharp.

After the diagnosis, John-Paul was hospitalized 11 days. On the Monday after his release, he returned to the Chester County high school, gutting it out on the track as quickly as he could. Rather than talk about his cancer, he offered what became his two-word mantra, "I'm fine."

"He doesn't like it when people ask him how he's doing," said fellow jumper Ryan Bogle, 17. "Everything you hear is, like, he's doing bad. But you see him, he's still John-Paul."

After missing the first two meets, he underperformed when he came back for the third. That made his showing against Unionville and Oxford, with the division title on the line, all the more remarkable.

After winning the long jump, John-Paul ran the third leg in the 4x100 relay, handing off a large lead and the baton to the anchor - who pulled a hamstring just short of the finish line. Kennett was trailing Unionville again, though the school's discus and javelin throwers brought the team back within striking distance.

"When he hears the news of how the throwers are doing, he asks if he can do the triple jump, his third event of the day," Ramangano recalled.

John-Paul came through with a jump of just over 40 feet - his best of the year - clinching the title.

"They were going crazy, there was a dance party in the middle of the field," recalled John-Paul, who was carried off the field on a teammate's shoulders.

Last Friday, he went to his senior prom - hours after running at the Penn Relays.

Kennett was competing against elite runners and not expected to win. But John-Paul was there and feeling "fine," and that was victory enough.

As the team came out for the 4x100-meter relay, there was no missing the only bald head. John-Paul took his position as the relay anchor, and when Kennett lost, no one was disappointed.

How could they be?

"It's just an honor to be here and it's his last year," his father said. "I don't think too many kids with cancer are running today."

kboccella@phillynews.com

610-313-8232 @Kathy_Boccella