The New Jersey teenager kept himself in the game, even in the midst of a cancer diagnosis.
Johnny Jackson was a freshman in high school when he randomly lost 18 pounds — much to his and his family’s concern. Despite this, the teenager played at 50% all basketball season, averaging 22 points per game, according to NBC New York.
After searching for answers about his health, Jackson was diagnosed with stage 4B Hodgkin’s lymphoma in July 2024, and a month later began double-digit rounds of chemotherapy.
However, the teenager didn’t let his life-changing diagnosis put him off his game. “The only thing that matters to him is playing basketball,” Jackson’s mother, Lynsey Jackson, told NBC New York. “Cancer has taken a lot from him, but it won’t take this.”
“I’m a competitor … so I approached it like a game, and I was up for the challenge from day one. I knew I was going to handle it,” Jackson added.
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In the high school season opener in December, the current high school senior had already undergone 10 rounds of chemotherapy, but still decided to play in the game.
“I just went out there and did it,” Jackson told NBC New York. “This chemo is really bad. I have nerve pain all over my body right now. It’s so brutal it’s going to knock me out for days.”
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Jackson’s inner circle initially thought his cancer diagnosis would sideline him from the game he loves so much, but they said he continued to defy the odds.
“For him to go to chemo on Monday and play in a game on Thursday and be the best player in the gym in that game, that’s an individual story that people wouldn’t believe if it was on film,” Jackson’s trainer Mike Troy told NBC New York.
Meanwhile, his sister told the newspaper that her brother “really has a different way of thinking compared to everyone else.”
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Jackson admitted to NBC New York that “there were a lot of health issues, there were a lot of ups and downs.”
“But,” he continued, “just to have come this far to this point, it just feels great to be here right now.”
Jackson recently marked his twelfth and final chemotherapy treatment on January 13th. In February, a PET scan will determine if she is cancer free.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education