Johnathan, called Jack by his loved ones, has practiced resilience throughout his life. As an avid baseball player, Jack learned how to recover after a disappointing plate appearance or an error in the field, and how to rebound with a great play or crucial hit later in the game to help the team. When he did not make his high school baseball team during his sophomore year, he was devastated. However, he saw that setback as an opportunity to refocus his goals: he turned to swimming competitively because he wanted to challenge himself in a new way.

Jack didn’t qualify for the state swim meet until his junior year of high school. Despite it being his first, he became the Kansas 6A State Breaststroke Champion in February 2024 and earned First Team All-State Honors. Jack had only been swimming competitively for less than a year when he qualified for two more national swim meets through USA Swimming, and he was recently named a Scholastic All-American for his academic and swimming achievements.

It wasn’t until long after the USA Swimming Futures Championships in late July 2024 that Jack realized he had swum his fastest times ever while cancer was invading his body.

In early September 2024, Jack returned home from his first official Division I college visit for swimming with inflamed lymph nodes. He was excited about the academic and athletic experiences ahead of him, but the following day he was hospitalized on the oncology floor at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City after imaging revealed an unknown mass on his thymus.

While inpatient at the hospital, Jack had a biopsy and PET scan to confirm his diagnosis. He now faces the biggest race of his life: beating stage II Hodgkin lymphoma.

Today, Jack finished his currently scheduled eight chemotherapy treatments at the end of December 2024. His next PET scan is scheduled for February to direct future treatment.

The shift in perspective after Jack’s cancer diagnosis helped him discern that, instead of going into engineering, he is called to help people in a different way by serving others as a physical therapist. His care team in oncology and physical therapy have helped put a smile on his face during his cancer treatments, which inspired him to want to have that same impact on others. His goal is to swim in college and enroll in a physical therapy track where he can devote his life to improving other people’s lives by helping them rebound from their setbacks. Jack plans to beat cancer after being diagnosed at the age of 17, and it will be one more part of his incredible journey as he seeks to help others build from their losses, persevere through their trials, find daily wins, and give thanks to the people who help.

Baseball taught Jack the mindset of how to come back from losing. Swimming taught him the importance of perseverance and competing against his best performances. Cancer reinforces those lessons and teaches him the perspective of daily wins and gratitude. Right now, Jack cannot participate in school or swimming as he did before his diagnosis, but he can choose to do something every day that creates a win where he is a hero to himself and others. He is also more aware that no one ever achieves success alone. “Every day, countless people pray for and rally around Jack and our family, and we offer prayers of thanksgiving to God for this support system because it is helping to carry us through this cancer journey,” said Karen, Jack’s mom.

For those who may also be experiencing a childhood cancer diagnosis, Jack’s parents, Eric and Karen, extend this advice: “Approach the journey moment by moment. Trying to plan more than that can be overwhelming. Speed in this journey is the pace of trust: trust in your faith, trust in each other, trust in the care team, and trust in learning how to suffer well – perhaps the greatest and hardest lesson of all.”

Jack’s younger siblings are a part of the SuperSibs program through Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF). Luke, his youngest sibling, loved the workbook and the opportunity to ask Jack’s care team for their autographs (to which they exclaimed delightedly that they had never been asked for them before) and pictures with his hero. As a result, everyone at home became more familiar with the people helping his brother throughout his chemotherapy treatments. "The SuperSibs program for younger kids is an amazing way to honor those people who devote their lives to helping children with cancer and connect the family members at home to the caregivers who are now an integral part of their hero’s life," said Karen.

At a cousin’s high school fundraiser at St. James Academy, Jack’s aunt and uncle, who are also his godparents, donated to ALSF in honor of Jack in September, the month of his cancer diagnosis, which is also Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and Hodgkin Lymphoma Awareness Month.

During that first week of December, Jack competed in his first high school swim meet since his cancer diagnosis while still undergoing chemotherapy treatments. He not only won the 100-yard breaststroke, but he also qualified for the 2025 Kansas State Swim Meet. At the end of January 2025, Jack posted the fastest time of the high school season in the 100-yard breaststroke in Kansas, and plans to defend his state title in February.

“365 x 0 is zero, but 365 x 1 is 365. Doing one good thing a day is infinitely better than doing nothing.” – Childhood cancer hero Jack

“Jack will get through cancer because he is the strongest person I know.” – Luke, Jack’s little brother, age 11

Information provided by Karen P., Jack’s mom
Updated February 2025