Throwing Connections

Athlete Struggling With Dad's Passing Finds Hope

Football has an impact on young athletes mentally and physically, but for sophomore Sequan McNair there's a connection behind the game.

Relating life to sports can tend to have a more powerful meaning behind it, McNair explains his typical average week for a football player and how he is connected to his favorite sport.

“I want to play football all through high school, through college and potentially go to the NFL.” Which is what success looks like to him. “A lot of my friendships come from football because we all have something we can relate to and the tough schedule,” He said. Sequan McNair wants to take his dreams to the NFL or work in the medical field with injured athletes, wanting to help those injured players and help them recover. He wants to take football as his outside career and really make something out of it. But behind his compassion for the game he has reasonings, he has a big regret and it affects him in athletics and a little deeper than that, he regrets not reaching out to his father before his passing last year. McNair said he struggled to make conversation with his father because he was a drug user, and it didn't feel like he was talking to his real dad.

“It was the day of my birthday party, it was 10 days after my birthday last year, and then me and my brother found out around the same time which was pretty sad. And having to go to his funeral, which was bad.” Making this an even harder struggle for McNair and his family.

“It was just adding to the stress,” McNair said. “It affects me in sports because that's where I got my athletics from. He was an athlete.”

Playing football reminds Sequan of his father, and it helps him with the sport.

“I looked up to my dad,” he said, "Whenever he walked into the room everyone's faces would light up. He was a good person; just made poor decisions.” Sequan is close with his grandma and his brother who mean a lot to him.

“My brother also plays football which is something we can really relate to,”. McNair talks about his siblings and how they have helped with the copying of his father and how being close to his brother has really made an impact on growing athletics.

“I really just want to be involved with something that has to do with athletics for the rest of my life,” McNair Said. “I plan to be in it as long as I can.”//

Written by Zoe Lewis.

One in a million. Cyclic Neutropenia is a rare-blood disorder occurring in about one of every one million people, and sophomore Zach Sarnell was diagnosed with it at the beginning of the school year.

Cyclic Neutropenia causes health issues for Sarnell due to a lack of white blood cells, according to the National Library of Medicine’s Medline Plus. He’s at risk of having episodes of neutropenia every few weeks that can last a few days.

Cyclic neutropenia is a hereditary disease. He said his neutrophil levels are normal most of the time except during his episodes when he can experience abdominal pain and recurrent sinus and respiratory infections, making it hard to breathe and do everyday activities.

“The doctor said that I've probably had it for a few years,” Sarnell said. “But I'll probably have it for around the next 15 years.”

According to the National Library of Medicine’s Medline Plus, an untreated person can get infections of the sinuses, respiratory tract and skin, which can be life threatening. Even though there is not a true cure, there are treatments so Sarnell can live his best life.