CLARKSTON — “He’s a warrior.”
That’s the assessment Everest Collegiate’s athletic director, Ann Lowney, offers to describe the two-year battle Mark Cross is waging against bone cancer in his right leg.
At this moment, he’s undergoing a rigorous chemotherapy regimen at Corewell Hospital in Royal Oak.
This is a prelude to a second surgery on July 1 at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, to remove a tumor that has appeared in a different part of his leg that was operated on two years ago.
Mark’s ordeal began at the end of his sophomore year when he “complained of a lump and pain in the right leg.” He underwent chemotherapy and surgery.
As a junior, a healthy Mark shot rounds of 82 and 93 on Everest’s Division 4 golf state championship squad. He led the soccer team to a district title. He won All- State, all-Intersectional League and all-Catholic League honors.
As a senior, this past winter, he was one of the main components of Everest’s outstanding 19-1 basketball season and a No. 7 ranking in Division 4. He scored eight points in the Mountaineers’ victory for the Catholic High School League’s Ste. Anne Division title.
During a routine scan in March, a sarcoma was detected in a different area of the leg. This time the treatment was more aggressive: two rounds of chemo 16 days apart.
He celebrated with his classmates for his graduation in mid-May.
“During times when he felt good,” his father, Christopher, said, Mark played four or five tournaments with the golf team, capped off by Everest’s third consecutive Division 4 state championship. He shot a 94-87, the second-round 87 playing a decisive role in expanding Everest’s seven-stroke lead after the first round into a 19-stroke victory.
Seniors Mark Pennanen (71-71 142) and Parker Stalcup (71-72 143), playing in their third state title, led Everest. Mark’s twin Isaac shot 83-87 170. Juniors Dominic Walker (89) and Nolan Alban (101) rounded out Everest’s squad at Katke Golf Course at Ferris State University.
Both Isaac and Mark are headed for Franciscan University. Whether they will go together may be determined by the outcome of Mark’s surgery.
“Mark doesn’t complain,” Lowney said. “He fights through it. He’s a good Catholic young man.”
You are requested to keep him in your thoughts and prayers.
Contact Don Horkey at [email protected].
