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2-time leukemia survivor Jacob Sypert, 12, joins YSU baseball program
By charles grove
youngstown
The Youngstown State baseball team has a new official member, the youngest Penguin in YSU history.
Jacob Sypert, 12, a two-time leukemia survivor, was given a jersey, a locker in the YSU clubhouse was introduced as the newest member of the baseball program.
“So often you get caught up in the successes and failures of playing and many times the failures get really heavy,” YSU head baseball coach Steve Gillispie said. “Our guys have attested that being around Jacob helps keeps things in perspective. He’s a great kid and he means a lot to our guys.”
The sixth grader at Roosevelt Elementary in McDonald was initially diagnosed at age 4 and went through three-and-a-half years of chemotherapy treatments. He was deemed cancer-free by doctors for about 16 months until the disease came back, forcing doctors to go the route of a bone-marrow transplant.
Doctors tested Jacob’s family, but no matches came back. And it wasn’t until the donor banks turned up a 23-year-old male, who wished to remain anonymous, who donated his bone marrow that eventually Jacob’s body took.
“He was in-patient for 100 days,” said Joy Sypert, Jacob’s mother. “Those days were very hard. We played a lot of Uno with him because nobody was allowed into the clean room.”
Things got worse a few days after the transplant when Jacob’s body began rejecting the donor marrow, creating a few very tense weeks before Jacob’s body finally began accepting the new marrow.
“The first couple of days after the transplant we were like, ‘We got this. We got this.’ and then the body started rejecting,” said Bill Sypert, Jacob’s father.
Once Jacob began feeling better he eventually got transferred to the Ronald McDonald House in Akron, overlooking Canal Park, home of the Akron RubberDucks baseball team. Itching to get out, Jacob got to attend a few games before getting in contact with Team Impact, a group that helps connect children suffering from life-threatening illnesses with athletic teams. Jacob was a part of the Akron Zips baseball program for two years before it was shut down last year, leaving not only the players, but Jacob without a team.
“It wasn’t just 35 of us who had to find a new home,” former Akron and current YSU baseball player Gerrad Rohan said. “We had to find a new home for Jacob, too.”
The team wears bracelets saying “Team Jacob” and “Never give up.” Billy Salem, another Akron transfer, said Jacob feels like a brother to the Penguins.
“We might think we’re having a bad day but we’ve never been through half of what this kid has,” Salem said. “He’s probably taught us more about life than any coach or trainer can.”
Since Jacob isn’t able to play baseball anymore, a news conference to announce his official start with the team, a new jersey and a locker with his name on it had Jacob happy to once again be part of a team.
“[It’s cool] hanging out with the team at games and being around the YSU college and all that. In Akron I didn’t do this sort of stuff,” Jacob said.
A middle school student who has been through higher ups and lower downs than most go through in a lifetime had a simple message to others the YSU baseball team is always reminded of during his press conference.
“Just like my bracelet says, never give up,” Jacob said.