Tarajack rallies from setback

FLORENCE, S.C. -- Brian Tarajack has become the personification of courage.
People around him who are familiar with his battle against leukemia and his determination to beat the disease realize that he is a special person.
That is why the 1997 Poland High graduate, who is in his first year as assistant baseball coach at Florence-Darlington Technical College in Florence, S.C., recently was named South Carolina's Outstanding Young American in the area of Fitness Leadership.
A speaker to various groups around the state about personal fitness and his battle against cancer, Tarajack will receive the award later this month from the South Carolina Jaycees at a convention in Myrtle Beach.
He also will be South Carolina's nominee for one of 10 Outstanding Young Americans awards, which are national honors. Winners of that award will be announced in New Orleans in September.
Starting baseball program
"This is the first year for athletics at Florence-Darlington. We are starting baseball and softball teams," said Tarajack, who came to Florence last summer to coach the Florence RedWolves of the Coastal Plains Wooden Bat League, after serving as an assistant baseball coach at Garrett Junior College in McHenry, Md., and completing his bachelor's degree at West Virginia University.
He also joined the Florence Civic Sports Arena staff in the sales department, and became a volunteer assistant baseball coach at Francis Marion University in Florence before shifting to Florence-Darlington. a two-year junior college, in January of this year.
"We are in the process of putting the [baseball] team together now. We are starting from scratch. We will continue to develop the team through summer, and we play some unofficial games in the fall, and then start the official games in 2005," said Tarajack, who is the recruiting coordinator and pitching coach under coach Curtis Hudson of Florence. Hudson also is a scout for the Cleveland Indians.
His comeback
Tarajack has bounced back a long way from the tragedy and disappointment that marred his young life and turned promise to despair.
An outstanding baseball player at Poland High and WVU, Tarajack was being courted by major league scouts and looking forward to the 2001 baseball draft.Instead, he was diagnosed with leukemia on draft day and accepted the sympathies of the major league teams.
Then his health, hopes and dreams plummeted downhill. He became weak and confined to a wheelchair. Doctors gave him only a 10 percent chance to live.
But Tarajack's older brother, Bill Tarajack, a 1994 Mooney High graduate who played baseball for Illinois and Austin Peay and graduated from the latter college, came to his rescue.
"I received a bone marrow transplant from my brother Bill in 2001," said Brian, explaining that the medical procedure put him back on the road to recovery.
Cancer in remission
"My health has improved. I was in a wheelchair and I had to learn how to walk. Things are getting better day by day. I have some muscle problems, but it is something I have to deal with," said Tarajack, whose cancer will be in remission three years come September.
"I was given only a 10 percent chance to live. I have been given a second chance and I am making the most of it."
Bill now lives in Sterling Heights, Mich., and works in medical sales, while their mother, Paulette, still lives in Poland. Their father died when they were very young.
Brian Tarajack said time will tell if he will win his battle.
"If you can stay in remission five years, they consider you cancer-free," he said, noting that, "I take medication now to improve my immune system."
Tarajack invites area players interested in playing for the RedWolves or coming to Florence-Darlington to contact him at (843) 661-8291.
kovach@vindy.com