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Story by Liberty Welsh »

Earlier this year, the students of Eudora High School fell into shock when Senior Caleb Ostronic was diagnosed with cancer. Caleb was diagnosed with T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, which is an abnormality of white blood cells in the bone marrow.

In the beginning, the signs weren’t easy to spot. Caleb and his family weren’t majorly concerned with the small changes in his body. He had lost some weight, about 15 lbs., but he wasn’t particularly worried about it.

“… Nothing crazy, considering I had started working out harder and changed my diet,” Caleb said.

Eventually, he began noticing that he wasn’t able to eat as much as he usually did. This is when the bumps on his neck appeared. It wasn’t until they got bigger and started to spread that he went to the doctor. Caleb’s life has been in constant motion between staying in the hospital for days on end receiving treatment with radiation and chemotherapy, and spending a few days at a time in his house. He has not had to do this alone, though. Caleb has had an amazing support group around him since day one. A major part of that support group is the EHS student body.

As most of you know, there was a dodgeball tournament last Saturday, March 31 here at the high school. All of the money from the tournament was given to Caleb and his family. With about ten teams signed up, about $300 has been collected for him already. This tournament would not be possible without the constant support from the student body. Senior Andrew Harmon came up with the idea of having some type of fundraiser for Caleb, and brought his idea to Nicole Jones.

“We came up with a dodgeball tournament since high schoolers love dodgeball,” Jones said.

Along with the tournament, Nicole set up a basketball raffle to raise more money. Nicole was able to get a signed KU basketball, and a signed Creighton basketball. This raffle brought in another $700 for the family.

However, Caleb is so much more than a run-of-the-mill cancer patient. So many people look up to Caleb, and see him as a huge inspiration. One of those people includes fellow Senior Spencer Manning. He has been friends with Caleb for several years.

“Caleb is one of the hardest workers I’ve ever met. He always motivates me to get better,” Manning said.

Spencer also says that Caleb always knows how to put a smile on people’s faces. Caleb is a strong person, and has done his best to stay positive through everything. According to Nicole Jones, several students have stepped up and stood with Caleb as he makes his way through each day.

“So many students were extremely eager to help him out, and seeing the support from several of the teachers is pretty cool as well,” she said.

Caleb is currently staying at home, but will be returning to the hospital on April 7 to prepare for a stem cell transplant that is scheduled for April 18. The doctors have decided to perform the procedure in order to wipe out Caleb’s immune system, and then make it stronger so it can fight off the cancer cells.

“My immune system now is actually creating cancer cells rather than killing them,” Ostronic said.

Caleb’s blood count has been extremely low, which puts him at a higher risk for infection. The hope is that the transplant will be able to bring that count back up, and build up his strength. Caleb has a long road ahead of him, but he has not lost hope. His strength to fight through this chapter of his life has inspired those around him.

“You never know when your life is about to be turned upside down, so we need to live life to the fullest and not get upset about the little things and be thankful,” Manning said.

He has been there for Caleb for years, and is just one example of the wonderful support system supporting Caleb through it all. Caleb has been a huge motivation to so many people, and now our student body and staff is doing their part to give it back.