The best of friends

In high school, waiting for test results can be scary.

They can cause anxiety and stress. Sometimes those tests can bring the toughest of teenagers to tears.

But most of the time, the tests in high school hold the fate of a grade, not a life.

Instead of waiting for his grade on an exam, Jarrett Logan had to wait for the results of a different type of test. One that was life-changing.

On March 5, the results came back shocking and eventually challenging. A tumor was found on the left half of Logan’s brain after he complained for more than a week of having flu-like symptoms. Later that morning, the tumor was removed in a successful surgery.

The doctors said that Logan’s type of tumor, medulloblastoma, was very curable and that the treatments would be very aggressive, lasting up to eight months.

With the advances in treatments over the last 20 years, the cure rate has gone from less than 20 to as high as 85%, with no signs of reoccurence, according to an article written in 2006 about a study led by St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.

But as one would imagine, reactions were similar: fear.

Questions of “Why Jarrett?” and “How could this happen to him?” raced through the minds of those concerned.

“When I first found out [I had brain cancer], the only thing that came to my mind was my family,” Logan said. “I just wanted to know where they were, and wanted them by my side right away to get into my comfort zone.”

WHO IS LOGAN?

Logan, a 16-year-old sophomore at Corona del Mar High, plays lacrosse and was set to play on the junior varsity team for the Sea Kings. With an accurate outside shot, he also played for the frosh-soph boys’ basketball team.

But because of his passion for contact and his deft hand-eye coordination, Jarrett has shown a strong love for lacrosse.

In that sport, he took on the responsibilities of the attack position, displaying quickness and speed as credited by his father, George Logan.

His coach and teammates are looking forward to having Logan back on the team. Logan is ready to return as well. Home school is a thing of the past.

The cancer seems to be behind him now, too. After going through his last round of chemotherapy this past Friday, he will be tired for roughly seven days. But after that he plans to be back to his normal self.

He likes the things that most kids his age enjoy. He loves hanging out with friends and joking around. He loves sports, playing video games and being random with all of his buddies.

Although his radiation treatments and the countless visits to the hospital kept Logan fatigued, he remained happy and in good spirits. He experienced some weight loss, but was able to keep his appetite, allowing him to maintain his weight.

A FRIEND IN NEED

As Logan took the necessary actions, making sure to give himself a fighting chance at recovery, he was accompanied not only by his parents, but by his friends. Friends who most might not expect to see by his side.

Alex Mainthow, Chris Burke, Alex Swigert, Elliot Waniek, Kyle Canale, Benny Townsend and Reed Williams are Logan’s friends.

All of them attend Corona del Mar High, except for Burke who attends Sage Hill School.

Seven of his closest friends, all of them athletes at their respective high schools, helped Jarrett during his recovery.

When Logan started to lose his hair, he decided to shave it all off. A few of his friends joined in, sporting buzz-cuts, in an effort to make it easier on Jarrett.

There is one particular day that stands out to Logan’s father.

He remembers a time when Jarret’s seven friends, plus the entire CdM boys’ basketball team, went to visit him at the hospital.

This was a situation that made all the nurses quite nervous, but Logan a very happy patient.

“They would spend as much time with him as he could handle, playing video games, watching movies and sports on TV, and catching up on what was going on back at CdM,” George Logan said. “Jarrett really looked forward to these visits, and afterward would talk about each of the guys that came and how much he appreciated them.”

Logan was always happy to see his friends. Their presence and the laughter they caused proved to be something like a remedy.

“They would always make me laugh, which took my mind off the cancer and the pain,” Logan said. “I felt normal and not sick when they were around. I felt that if I had all of these people for support and someone to talk to about my problems then I would be positive and happy and then be cancer-free.”

Stereotypes follow Jarrett’s seven friends. They’re labeled as jocks and that means they’re not likely to show sensitivity, much less sincerity.

These guys can’t be sincere, can they? It would ruin their images, wouldn’t it?

In a movie or a television show or some sort of fiction-based plot, then yes.

But not these seven kids. They cared about Jarrett too much to worry about what everyone was thinking.

Mainthow, Jarrett’s friend, didn’t hear from Jarrett for almost two weeks.

Then he found out why.

“His brother called and told me he had a brain tumor,” Mainthow said. “It really hit me hard when I heard this. I cried for most of the night because I was scared that the brain tumor could be deadly.”

By looking at this typical, yet unique group of kids, it’s not easy to realize that anything is wrong.

They seem to be having fun all the time. Laughing, joking, gossiping and teasing each other about how attractive their sisters are.

During their time together, it’s a wonder how someone so sick could be so active. It’s a wonder how someone so sick can be so happy.

It’s easy to forget which kid in the group is the one that goes to the hospital.

“Jarrett has always seemed to attract characters as friends,” George Logan said. “All of them seem to have a spark that shows up in different ways, but almost always revolves around being comedians. From the beginning of this ordeal, to now, this comedy act put on by them has kept his spirits up and is a driving force in his life. It’s probably one of the reasons that the kids are so comfortable around him and each other.”

Everyone has a positive attitude and continues to believe that Jarrett will continue to get better, but the fear lingers.

For the Logan family, the past seven months have seen them go through a wide range of emotions.

They worried that his recovery would digress and that certain medications wouldn’t do the job. His friends worried, too.

“Seeing what happened to him really showed me how lucky I am,” Burke said. “It was kind of a reality check. He is probably the last person that I could see this happening to.”

Jarrett’s seven friends have provided him with an extra support system outside that of the required “family support system.”

They give him another outlet when he gets angry, depressed or discouraged.

“I text message a lot,” Jarrett said. “And these guys are funny. They make me laugh.”

Said George Logan: “He was in the hospital for 10 days after the surgery and he was in a lot of pain and pretty sad. The times when his friends showed up, he would lose the pain and gain a smile.”

JUST HANGING OUT

With his friends, Jarrett can be happy because he knows he can talk, really talk to them. The jokes he can’t tell his family, come out with his friends.

They talk about events that happened at school, who said what and to whom. Aside from that, their conversations also include the all-important video game lingo.

Jarrett and his friends are avid gamers and love playing Nintendo Wii.

They spend hours playing their games. Most of that time is focused on “World of Warcraft.”

“I, Reed, Jarrett and his brother, Gunner, were all in Jarrett’s room and we all had ice packs with our shirts off playing video games for about four hours,” Mainthow said. “I think that’s the most I sweated the whole summer just from video games.”

But that isn’t all that they do for fun. Jarrett does go outside and does try to be as active as he can.

Jarrett had a catheter inserted, from which spinal fluid drains.

Even so, he makes his efforts to be regular and to participate in the fun that his friends are having. They go to the beach and they like to go fishing. They even like to sail.

His friends realize and understand what Jarrett can and can’t do.

They know that he’s not able to go out into the water for too long or that he may not be able to handle strenuous activities.

But don’t tell that to Jarrett.

A few weeks ago, Logan and his friends took a boating trip down to Emerald Bay where he was determined to make the 100-yard swim that was required to reach the beach from the boat.

The swim exhausted Logan but with all of his friends swimming around him, he was able to make it.

He amazed himself and his friends.

“It showed how determined and mentally powerful he is because, aside from how physically tiring it was, it was also freezing cold and at any time he could have just got on the dingy,” Burke said. “But he made the whole swim and I just think it shows how strong he is. It was an obstacle he wanted to overcome and he did.”

DOWN THE STRETCH

Jarrett just finished his final radiation and chemotherapy treatment Friday.

He has spent a total of 40 days in the hospital, 31 days at the radiation and chemotherapy outpatient clinic, and twice weekly visits to the Oncology Clinic over a seven-month span.

After almost eight months, he is done. Check-ups and regular visits to make sure that the tumor is gone are still in the future. But frequent trips to the hospital to spend multiple nights away from his own bed are in the past.

He, his family and his friends have been staring face to face at the home stretch and are very excited for it to end.

But the story of Logan and his seven friends won’t end when his treatments end.

The radiation is done, the chemotherapy has ended, and the hospital will be left for someone else.

But the support for each other will remain in place.

After all, these kids are not just friends, they are athletes. They’re supposed to compete and they’re trained to overcome obstacles that stand in their way.

Jarrett has been doing that with a little help from his friends.

“He changed the way I look at helping people,” Burke said. “He is truly an inspiration. He can take something as bad as cancer and work with it and keep on going with his life.”

Jarrett also plans to be an inspiration for others. He will be one of the patients featured at a fundraiser for Children’s Hospital of Orange County (“Rock for CHOC”) at the Balboa Pavilion on Nov. 3.

ANDREW SNYDER may be reached at (714) 966-4616.