Marist junior football wide receiver Nic Weishar inspired his teammates and coaches with his performance against Benet Academy. His older brother pushed him to new heights before losing his battle to cancer.
Marist junior football wide receiver Nic Weishar inspired his teammates and coaches with his performance against Benet Academy. His older brother pushed him to new heights before losing his battle to cancer.
Nic Weishar watched his older brother muster all of his strength and summon all of his courage during his battle with cancer. He showed the same kind of strength and courage when he put on his uniform and played in Marist’s football game against Benet Academy less than 24 hours after his death. “I thought about it with my family,” Weishar said. “I knew my brother would definitely want me to play. I think he’d get pretty mad at me if I didn’t play. He was my biggest fan—and also my biggest critic, I’d say. “When I’d come home from games, he was always telling me what I did wrong and what to improve on as well. Yeah, he was looking out for me.” Andrew Weishar, 21, died of colorectal cancer at about 1:30 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 12. He was a two…
In this Article:
Alex Haizel plays collegiate tennis and would like to coach on the high school level one day. He is learning to be a "coach" this summer in his role as a camp counselor.
As a freshman, Oak Lawn’s Alex Haizel played in the No. 2 singles position on the men’s tennis team at the University of St. Francis. He also was a part of the No. 1 doubles team for the Saints. When he quits playing, he hopes to start coaching. Haizel is charting a career course that could lead him to becoming a high school tennis coach one day. He is gaining on the job training this summer as a counselor in the Oak Lawn Park District Sports Camp. He is an ordinary young man doing extraordinary work in a bid to pay back a debt in his hometown. Haizel, age 18, spent four years attending the Oak Lawn Sports Camp himself as a boy. He said he learned a number of core values that he still puts to use in his every day life, including how to …
Browse through Patch's Greatest Person of the Southland gallery. These features will reaffirm your faith in your neighbors and fellow man.
Southland's Greatest Person of the Day: Two Mother McAuley High School freshmen took a whimsical idea to sew stuffed animals into a memorable philanthropic effort.
Two Mother McAuley High School freshmen from Oak Lawn took a whimsical idea to sew stuffed animals into a memorable philanthropic effort, making gifts for people in need of simple acts of kindness.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was originally posted on Oak Lawn Patch on Feb. 23. It was chosen for Huffington Post's Greatest Person of the Day feature on Feb. 27. Sarah Dynia and Bridget Regan are so close that they finish each other’s sentences. The Oak Lawn teens talk in excited bursts of language that well up like sudden summer storms, typical of 15-year-olds. When you see one, there is a 99-percent chance that you will find the other. Pals since preschool, Sarah and Bridget frequented the same birthday parties and school activities at St. Linus School. “We just said hi,” Sarah recalled of their first meeting as 3-year-olds. “I remember playing with the little train set,” Bridget said, both girls laughing so hard they can barely get the …
In this Article:
When her 7-year-old son was diagnosed with leukemia almost 20 years ago, Colleen Kisel's life was upended. As she helped him fight, she found new purpose in her life at the Treasure Chest Foundation.
They have just about run out of room. The boxes lining the shelves at Pediatric Oncology Treasure Chest Foundation are bursting with Barbies, Hot Wheels and Candyland. With Director Colleen Kisel leading the charge, the foundation is months away from moving to a 3,600-square-foot facility three times the size of its current home. It's a far cry from the foundation's original location—Kisel's garage. Fifteen years ago, Kisel dreamed up an organization that provides children undergoing cancer treatments with much-needed distraction and levity. After watching her 7-year-old son Martin undergo four years of treatment for leukemia, she learned firsthand the role a toy could play. Toys helped him through 18 spinal taps and nine bone marrow …
In this Article:
Mavi Richmond
12:31 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012
how can we donate?? more ›