By: Sarah Obujen
Cancer seems like a thing that will never affect you. “It won’t happen to me, I don’t need to worry about it” is a common thought process. For some, we know close friends or family members who have been struck by cancer. For others, it’s only something you hear about on the news or see on the internet. For students here at San Ramon Valley High School, cancer has struck closer to home. Tre Grinner, a senior here, has been diagnosed with cancer.
Tre Grinner, who is a senior here at SRV, has not been able to attend school, because of his cancer and his cancer treatments. He has Hodgkins Lymphoma on the right side of his neck. At first, he tried to take medicine that would make it go away, but the medicine made it worse, and he then had to go to the hospital on Christmas Eve. A week later, he discovered that he had cancer. The cancer was at stage two when it was first found, which mean the cancer was beginning to spread out from the original site. The cancer affects Tre’s immune system, he has to wear a mask, or the people around him do. This prevents him from getting sick, since his white blood cell count is low (white blood cells are disease fighting cells, so you can get sick easier when you don’t have enough), which causes his immune system to be weak. Tre started Chemotherapy (a type of chemical medicine used to destroy cancer cells) on January 10th, and every two weeks, he does his chemo treatments. His treatments will probably last about six to eight months.
To support Tre, SRVHS held a fundraiser on January 28-29th, at the Great Impasta where Tre worked. If you went and ordered there, and mentioned Tre, 20% of your total order would go towards Tre’s fundraiser. For Valentine’s Day, Valentine’s Grams were being sold in the quad, at lunch. When you bought a rose or candy to send to your special someone, all the proceeds went to Tre’s fundraiser. Leadership is also selling t-shirts that say on the front: “Cancer is a word, not a sentence.” On the back: #trealltheway. At the last home basketball game, Tre was honoured, and his t-shirts sold out! Tre’s, #trealltheway, t-shirts are still being sold in A2, if you would like to buy one, and show your support for him. Leadership had raised about $500 (not an official count, but an estimate) for Tre. “Our next fundraiser is going to be at Mountain Mikes on Tuesday, March 4th and 11th. 30 percent of Lunch and Dinner orders will be donated back!” Says Mrs. Willford, the leadership teacher.
“We were just notified that SRVHS and MVHS would BOTH like to honor Tre this Friday night at their last home game! It will be held at Monte Vista and I look forward to another SRVHS win! Both schools and our community as a whole have been amazing! We will have #trealltheway t-shirts for sale as well.. Please come out and support the Tre and the Wolves!!”-According to Tre’s Facebook support page. Tre wasn’t the only person affected by the cancer, his family is also emotionally affected. “In the beginning, it was really hard, because he wants to go to Santa Barbara next year for college,” Said his freshman cousin, MJ Courtemanche. “It’s really hard for the family because he’s still a kid at 17 years old. It’s made us a lot closer and we see eachother a lot more. We are always calling or texting him to see how his is doing.”
Tre did attend school this last Friday, but he has a revised schedule, so some days he attends school, and others, he takes the day off to rest. On Friday, February 14th, after school, he said it was very tiring to stay focused in his classes, talking and walking around. “He really just misses his friends, and the normality of going to school, and seeing his friends,” says MJ. Please keep Tre, and his family in your prayers and thoughts.
