For Worthington Christian’s Jameson Colley, striking out leukemia was just part of the battle.
When they had to tell their son Jameson he had leukemia on Dec. 9, 2019, Jason and Shelley Colley knew they didn’t have all the answers to what the seventh grader might ask them.
“After he told us the tests confirmed Jameson had leukemia, the Nationwide Children’s Hospital emergency room doctor asked, ‘do you want us to tell him or do you guys want to handle it yourselves?’” Jason recalled. “I said he’ll probably take the news better if it came from us, but we want you in the room. You’re going to be better able to answer the questions he’s got because I am not prepared to do that.”
As it turned out, Jameson asked the one question the three couldn’t answer: “Does this mean I’m not going to be able to play baseball anymore?”
It took a while, but Jameson Colley eventually returned to the game he loved. During his treatment, he endured chemotherapy and spinal tap infusions, bone marrow biopsies, and countless pills.
However, by his senior year, the Warriors centerfielder was playing at the level he hoped to be. Jameson will study mechanical engineering at Taylor University in the fall, and junior Chase Crawford earned first-team All-Central Buckeye League honors. Additionally, Jameson was named to the Division V All Central District First Team with Crawford and fellow senior Hunter Doran.
According to Worthington Christian baseball coach Michael Kraynak, Jameson was instrumental in helping the Warriors capture their first district championship in 28 years.
“They don’t make many young men like Jameson,” said Kraynak, whose team defeated East Knox 11-10 in a May 29 district final. “His character and desire to honor the Lord in everything he does is the first thing that stands out about him. He is also an unbelievable baseball player, and he uses the gifts God has given him to the best of his ability.”
“(Battling leukemia) was hard, but going through that showed me and the guys around me nothing is impossible,” Jameson said. “The experience showed me in life and baseball that if you have perseverance, you can go through anything.”
A Man for All Seasons
Jameson played basketball and ran cross country, but, according to Jason, who coached his son in Little League and later coached him in high school, said Jameson’s true passion is, and perhaps always will be, baseball.
“He’s just one of those kids who works really, really hard,” said Jason, a seventh-grade Bible teacher at Worthington Christian. “God gifted him with some ability, but he’s the kind of kid who is the first to arrive and the last to leave. He’s always putting in the extra effort.”
That’s why it was unusual to see Jameson sluggish during the fall of his seventh-grade year. He began experiencing pain in his legs and nausea. While his friends would quickly rebound from a cold or the flu, it would take Jameson weeks to recover.
Initially, his doctor thought Jameson may have had mononucleosis and decided to do some blood tests to find out what was happening.
“I remember walking in the house, Shelley was on the phone, and tears were streaming down her face,” Jason said. “I was like, ‘honey, what’s wrong?’ She told me the pediatrician said, ‘I hate to be the one to tell you this, but he may have leukemia.’”
His parents then took Jameson to Nationwide Children’s Hospital where a doctor confirmed Jameson had mixed phenotype leukemia, a mixture of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), and Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML).
“I was kind of in shock to be honest,” Jameson said. “I was in really good shape. It was kind of confusing to have something like this.”
Jameson’s battle with leukemia was fought on two main fronts – the physical side and the mental side.
The first nine months of his chemotherapy treatment were, according to Jameson, the most intensive part physically. The most common side effects of his treatments were nausea and massive headaches. He wouldn’t be able to eat because of the queasiness in his stomach.
“I’d say the hardest part was going into treatment, knowing how I was going to feel afterward,” the senior said. “(In your head), you know it’s going to help you get better in the long run, but in the moment, it felt like it was never going to end.”
Locked Down
After the first nine months, doctors said Jameson’s leukemia was in remission. However, he still had to undergo nearly two more years of maintenance treatment.
While his classmates were returning to school after the COVID pandemic, Jameson missed nearly a semester of school because of the risk of being exposed to a virus while his immune system was compromised. His sister, Michaela (WC ’23), and his brother, Josiah (WC ’29), also missed a lot of school out of concern that they might bring home an illness. When he eventually returned to school, Jameson constantly had to wear a mask while his classmates were shedding theirs.
But the most challenging part, according to the centerfielder, was not being able to do what he usually did.
“I couldn’t go outside, play basketball and baseball, or run. My body physically couldn’t do it,” Jameson said.
“His medical team just wasn’t sure what things would be like for a kid with basically no immune system,” Jason added. “While everyone else started adjusting as a society to social distancing and things like that, we had to become almost completely locked down.”
It Takes A Village
While he was facing an uphill battle, Jameson and his family knew they weren’t fighting it alone. Members of their church family continually supported the Colleys by bringing them meals. Teachers and intervention specialist Molly Kremnitzer helped Jameson, Michaela, and Josiah stay on track academically while they were at home.
“Worthington Christian was so awesome. My fellow teachers went above and beyond the call,” Jason said. “They told us, ‘we’ll do whatever we need to do.’ Molly would come over three times a week and work with Jameson so he could keep up with his studies.”
It wasn’t just the adults. Senior Jackson Ressler began making “Pray 4 J” wrist bands to raise money for his friend. Part of the funds went to purchase an Xbox gaming system so Jameson could keep in touch with his friends.
“I couldn’t be there with them, but I was able to play video games and talk with them online,” said Jameson, who wore a “Pray 4 J” wristband throughout this season. “That was cool. It helped me through all of this.”
The Colleys received support from people they had never met before. In the spring of 2022, the Make-A-Wish Foundation granted Jameson’s dream of constructing batting cages behind the third base dugout at Worthington Christian. The Jameson Colley Batting Cage, which was dedicated on April 13, 2022, has a placard beside it that reads, “Jameson’s mission to ‘consider others better than himself’ is an example for all to follow.”
When Jameson was able to play baseball in a limited role, doctors were concerned he might damage a port in his chest where he received his chemotherapy. A family the Colleys knew from travel baseball introduced them to a group of engineers who designed a chest protector to shield the port when Jameson played.
“Jameson’s story is about how a community comes together and supports a family in need,” Jason said. “It was a humbling experience, but strangely, we’re thankful for it. It brought us together as a family and drew us closer to the Lord.”
An Uphill Climb
Jameson, who was cleared to end treatment on April 28, 2022, has had a long climb back to becoming the player he was before his diagnosis.
Jason remembers his son’s frustration as he played a limited role with the eighth-grade team. In one of his first at-bats, Jameson hit a double, but when he returned to the dugout, he was completely exhausted.
“This was something he had done thousands of times before, but he was just completely wiped out afterward,” Jason said. “His body was radically changed by chemotherapy, and there were real moments of frustration because he just couldn’t get his body to do what he wanted it to do, but by his sophomore year, he started to get back to where he was.”
As a junior, Colley batted .306 with seven doubles, seven stolen bases, and 11 runs batted in. This season, he led the team in nine out of 12 offensive categories including slugging percentage (.564), on base plus slugging percentage (1.052), hits (37), singles (24, tied for first), doubles (nine), triples (two), home runs (two), runs scored (36), and stolen bases (26).
“He’s everything you could ask for,” Kraynak said. “He cares deeply for his teammates. He wants to win. We will miss him greatly next year, but I’m so glad he was a part of the team that brought that district championship back to Worthington Christian.”