By Matt Gade

605 Sports

CHAMBERLAIN — It’s the last 30 seconds of the third period, and John Donovan has done everything asked of him thus far in his battle against brain cancer and isn’t about to let up now.

That’s how the long-time Chamberlain teacher and wrestling coach compared his battle with a brain cancer diagnosis to wrestling.

Now, it’s a bit of a waiting game for the coach after completing his six-week treatment plan at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, which concluded on Oct. 9.

In the meantime, Donovan will return to his classroom full-time on Monday morning and will return to the mats in the wrestling room once winter practices start.

“In the last 30 seconds of the third period, I call that the tough time. That's when you got to get tough and not give up that last-second take-down or go, get that take-down,” Donovan said. “Just battling there. 

“I use tough time for in track, you're running a mile or a half mile and the last 100 yards, it's tough time. You gotta reach down, you gotta gut up, get tough. This right now, is ‘Tough time.’ I gotta be tough. I gotta be tough for my family, gotta be tough for my wife. I gotta be tough for my community, and I gotta help myself too. I just gotta make sure that I'm doing the right things to help myself out as much as possible.”

John Donovan ringing the radiation bell at the Mayo Clinic earlier this month. (Courtesy John Donovan)

‘It was just allergies’

Back in April, while coaching track and field, Donovan said that’s when the headaches began. 

“I was coaching track and thought it was stress,” Donovan said. “I was taking ibuprofen, and that was knocking it down - for all intents and purposes - and then it wasn’t working. Went to a doctor who chalked it up to allergies.”

Donovan said the pain never went away and continued to progress from his head down his neck into his shoulders, so Donovan went to see a chiropractor, hoping they could alleviate his pain.

“He went to a chiropractor, and when he came back one day, he was like, slurring his words,” John’s wife Amy said. “And I'm like, ‘This is not you.’ You know this something is wrong.”

John went back to the doctor, who then scheduled an MRI approximately a week later.

“We went to the MRI, and the MRI was, I want to say, end of June, beginning of July. That's how long this process kind of took, going back and forth,” John said. “They got back, as soon as they read the results, which was fairly quickly, and said, ‘Um, you need to, you should probably be on your way to Sioux Falls, we don't want to alarm you.’ But yeah.”

The MRI had revealed a mass on John’s brain and would need a biopsy performed on the tumor to determine what type of cancer. 

“There was so much bad news right away,” Amy said. “We were talking about these headaches, and both of us kind of felt like it was something big. 

“Then they didn't call it a tumor right away. So, you know, you try to have a little humor. And we did the Kindergarten Cop, ‘It’s not a tumor,’ you know,” Amy said in an Arnold Schwarzenegger voice. “And then when we went to Sioux Falls, we are in the emergency room, that's the first thing, he said, ‘It's a tumor.’... You know, it just seemed like it was just bad and bad and bad and bad. It's like, they throw all these medical terms at you, and they're like, ‘Well, this is what you have to do.’ And you're like, ‘wait a minute.’ I mean, it just seemed like it was so much so quickly. It's just so hard to digest it all.”

John was diagnosed with a glioblastoma grade 4 brain tumor.

“That kind of drove everything else,” John said. “That was the big thing to basically tell us that, ‘Um, yeah, this is pretty serious,’ and we have a lot more decisions to make here.”

While waiting on the results from the biopsy, it was initially recommended to have surgery, John and Amy did their research and wanted to explore all options as possible and thanks to friends were able to get into the Avera Cancer Center in Mitchell.

From there, after the results of the biopsy came back, Amy said Avera was instrumental in helping get John into the Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

During this same time, John had to have a shunt put into his skull to help drain the fluid caused by the tumor blocking the fluid in his head, causing severe headaches.

After nearly a week of appointments, tests and scans at the Mayo Clinic, John began his treatment. Six weeks' worth of chemo treatment, five days a week, starting on Aug 25.

Over the course of those six weeks, John and Amy would make constant trips back and forth between Chamberlain and Rochester over the weekends. Sometimes with other members of John’s family, such as his siblings, taking him back to Rochester so Amy could stay in Chamberlain with the Donovan’s’ two kids, Xavier and Zoey, who are a senior and a sophomore at Chamberlain High School this year.

John and Amy have two older kids, Max, a teacher in Wall, and Scotland, a senior studying nursing at the University of South Dakota.

Six weeks later, John rang his radiation bell with Amy by his side. A sign that he had completed his chemo treatment.

Throughout the course of his treatment, John showed minimal signs of fatigue, restlessness and didn’t show signs of sickness.

“I came out of taking the chemo pills and the radiation pretty well,” John said. “My oncology doctor came in, and he didn't expect me to look as good as I did. I was very happy with that. 

“Then he asked me if I had been sick from the chemo pills and the radiation. And I said, ‘No, I didn't even have an upset stomach.’ And he goes, You're a five percenter. I'm like, ‘A Five Percenter?’ And he goes, ‘95% of my patients are very, very ill from the chemo pills and the radiation. Well, I'll be the Five Percenter then, I guess.”

Following the treatment, they believe the tumor hadn’t grown. Something the tumor had continued to do since its discovery.

Now, the family waits until Nov. 4 when they’ll return to Rochester for a follow-up MRI.

‘Support has been unbelievable’

Ever since John received his diagnosis, Amy said the amount of support the family has gotten has been “overwhelming.”

When John and Amy finally got the diagnosis and a plan in place on how they would handle treatment, Amy said she didn’t want to keep things a secret to prevent gossip, rumors and misinformation going around.

“We wanted to be very open with it, because, you know, being a teacher, you have so many people's lives that are affected by you,” said Amy, who teaches English at Chamberlain High School. “I'm always used to people saying, ‘Oh, well, this is what happened. This is what happened. Oh no, this is what happened.’ So, I just wanted to make sure that everybody knew the same information so there's not any misinformation. We're teachers. Our lives are pretty public anyway.”

Sometimes the questions asked about John to Amy have been heavy, she said. 

“I've learned too that there's some things I can talk about, and some not…some things I just can't answer,” Amy said.

Not only has the amount of support for the family come from Chamberlain, but also across the state of South Dakota.

In Chamberlain, numerous fundraisers were held to help out the Donovan family. There was a ‘30 guns in 30 minutes’ raffle, organized by John’s brother. The Chamberlain Locker, where Xavier works, was instrumental in getting raffle tickets out, the family said. The high school booster club held a variety of activities to raise funds.

In Miller, Amy said she went up to watch their youngest Zoey, play volleyball and a fundraiser was being held for the family. She said she was so grateful and caught off guard by their generosity.  

“Sometimes when you coach, you just feel like, maybe it was hard to look in the stands, because you always felt like half the people hated you because you're not playing their kid, or you're not doing this or whatever,” she said. “But the amount of people who have, they just, they've donated food, they've brought food in, you know, they've invited our kids out, and it just makes it go ‘Wow.’ You know, wrestling is such a family, but really the community, and it extends beyond the wrestling families in our community that have helped out. I mean, it's just like somebody that you'd never felt that even really knew who you are, they're coming up to you and they're doing something kind.”

“You know, my kids, somebody paid my kids lunch bill and paid it forward at school,” John said. “We didn't realize, you know, just the little things that you know you don't even think of. It’s pretty awesome.”

While every jersey read "Donovan" Xavier Donovan, John and Amy's youngest son, wears No. 2. (Courtesy John Donovan)

Amy said they’ve had people from Harding County reach out, where they lived until 2004. Twenty years later, the community still shows it supports them. 

John said just the other day, he received checks from other wrestling clubs across the state such as Rapid City Stevens and Tea Area, wrestling officials’ association and so many more. 

"It's just pretty, pretty incredible,” John said. “It's been very emotional every time we receive something from, just the different people from within our community that have given money or made food for us, or brought food for us, or — just everything.”

Amy said, thankfully a lot of the expenses have been covered under insurance and the fundraising has provided a safety blanket for the family in the what-if situation.

The Chamberlain School District from all the way at the top with the superintendent to the school principals to the office staff and the substitute teachers covering for John and Amy in the classroom, all have been “incredible” in helping accommodate the Donovans with what they need.

While October is typically recognized as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Chamberlain Cubs decided to raise awareness for Brain Cancer to show support for coach Donovan. 

“Xavier's football coach has been just wonderful,” Amy said. “I mean, the jerseys that they did, I mean, that was such a shock to us. We had no idea that they were doing that, and that was just overwhelming. 

“So, you know, usually they have, like, a pink night. Well, gray is the color of brain cancer. And so, what they did is they made jerseys, these gray jerseys, and they all have “Donovan” on the back of them. So, our son had told us they got new jerseys, but he didn't say anything else. As they walked past us, my older daughter, Scotland, said ‘They all say Donovan.’ And I'm like, ‘No, they don't.’ She goes, ‘Well, I'm looking at 66 and that is not Xavier.’ And I'm like, ‘Oh,’ and yeah, they did. They were playing for John. And when the wrestlers came off, I told him, I said, we have to take a picture with these boys. And I'm telling you, those boys were, were sobbing. A mom came up to me, and she said, ‘Every down was for John, every tackle was for John.’ And I mean, they were pretty emotional.”

Throughout all of the fundraising, John and Amy said the support for their kids has been what they have been most grateful for. 

‘She’s been the rock’

Throughout it all, John said Amy has been the rock for the family.

She was the one who took John to the ER when his headaches weren’t getting better, helped research treatment options, planned trips to Rochester, and took care of the kids, just to name a few.

“She's been the rock. Just with everything.” John said. “Amy was here beside me, trying to help me through all that, just everything. I can't say enough for all the love and support from her. I couldn't have made this journey to this point without her.”

John and Amy celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary this past Thursday, Oct. 23.

John rings the radiation bell with his wife Amy by his side earlier this month. (Courtesy John Donovan)

For as long as Amy could remember, John always had a dream of owning an old Dodge truck. And following his diagnosis, before he even started a treatment, Amy made it a mission to track one down. 

“I'm going to make sure he gets it. I'm taking out a loan and buying that sucker. If this is one thing that will help John in his journey, I'm going to do it for him,” Amy wrote on an Aug. 5 post on the family’s CaringBridge site.

Nine days later, Amy posted “His truck arrived” with pictures of John sitting in a green Dodge pickup they had gotten from Michigan.

“I do know how to drive stick, but I am not sure John will trust me driving this vehicle,” Amy wrote in the post.

From there it was back to planning out trips to Rochester, classes for John and Amy and the kids’ schedule. 

Through it all, Amy was the glue to keep it together, John said.

“He's my world,” Amy said. “It's just so hard. You know, we're in our 50s. You expect to have at least another good 20 years with each other. And so, when he's feeling as well as he is, and he's looking as good as he does, it's just really easy to forget that there's something wrong. 

“We'll have conversations and it's just like, ‘Hey, this is the way it's always been,’ and it allows you a chance not to think about it all the time. And then sometimes he'll forget something, and then it just comes crashing back on you that, you know, he's not 100% and there's that thing in there that just won't go away, you know.”

‘Back to some normalcy’

On Monday, John is set to return to the classroom full-time teaching again, where he teaches sixth and seventh-grade science.

This prior week, John said he had been allowed to really work his own schedule in coming back. John worked half-days throughout the week, alternating mornings and afternoons. 

John said he’s excited to get back.

John back in his classroom at the Chamberlain Middle School. (Courtesy Amy Donovan)

“It's really hard for me to sit around the house and twiddle my thumbs,” he said.

And in November, John is ready to get back to the wrestling room as the Cubs’ head coach.

Something he’s excited about, but also said he won’t be wrestling himself anymore.

The first day of wrestling practice across the state of South Dakota is Nov. 17.

“Probably won't be rolling around on the mat anytime soon,” John said. “Probably the big thing for me, I don't want to wear my body out, as far as you know, getting extra tired and everything like that. “But yeah, for the most part, I, I'm, yeah, I'm gonna go right back to it. I’m grateful I’ve got a lot of great assistant coaches and then my wife also helps out with the girls on the junior high side of it. So yeah, there will be plenty of people around.”

Amy said seeing John back in the classroom, taking part in Xavier’s senior night and knowing he’s headed back to the wrestling room next month has just been a dream.

“When this first happened, you know, I mean, you have a new normal. You don't really know where it's going to go,” Amy said. “And for me, he's gone through this with a positive attitude. And it's just wonderful, just to see him, you know, back where he was before. 

“You know, having a senior, Xavier, you can just see he wants his dad to notice him, and he wants to do well for his dad. I mean it's always something that we've seen. And I just wanted John to be able to be there for him during wrestling. I mean, that was one of the biggest things that I wanted, his dad to be able to be in his corner. So, with seeing John back at school it just makes it, you know, like, like, it's OK. It's OK right now.”

Since this first week semi-back in the classroom, John joked that Amy keeps asking him if he remembers his students’ names. Which he says he’s been working on and will come it’s just that for him his students came from the elementary school so they’re brand new to him whereas Amy’s students are high school upperclassmen and have been around for years, so she typically already knows their names.

Amy said the classroom, being a coach’s wife, is what she knows and what she loves doing and is so grateful to have John back too.

“The first day I came back to teaching. My principal, Jeff Steckelberg, said, ‘How was your day?’ And I said, ‘This is normal.’ You know, the kids I've been teaching since 1996, whatever that is, 28-29 years. I thought about retiring and getting a different job, but I'm telling you, these kids have been so great. They have been just so wonderful in class. It just makes you fall in love with teaching again. This is why I became a teacher, because you have kids like these that just, they understand, they're fun to talk to. And it's normal. It's just so normal for me.”

While John’s next appointment is in a couple of weeks, John and Amy are in a bit of a waiting game to find out the status of his tumor but are looking forward to some sort of regular routine.

“He doesn't want things to hold him back,” Amy said. “We always have to remember that he's not infallible right now, that he has to take naps and, you know, and things are going to be good, and then there's going to be some bad days. But he wants normalcy too. He wants to get back to where he was.”

“I'm obviously, as far as we know, I'm not cancer-free,” John said. “When people come up to me and ask me what they can do for me. I always say to pray, pray for a miracle. Pray that my next scan, that the tumor is shrunk or gone, you know. And that's the biggest thing right now.

“I'm doing pretty good. I can't complain. I don't know. I’ve had people chalk it up to a lot of different things. I think it's because I'm a hard-headed Irishman or something like that.”

To learn more about John and the Donovan family’s journey since the brain cancer diagnosis, you can visit their caring bridge page here (will require a login account, which are free): https://www.caringbridge.org/site/71d70997-6e50-11f0-afe9-53a0304dd0de?utm_source=website_share&utm_medium=share_button&utm_term=&utm_content=link_share_button&utm_campaign=private_home_page