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Penn State Behrend's Ian Johnson Passes Away
ERIE, Pa. -- Ian
Johnson peacefully passed away at his home in Naperville, ILlinois
in the early morning of Sunday April 26, 2009 after a long hard
fought battle with cancer. Ian would be 22 in June.
Ian was a member of the Penn State University-Behrend Men's Water
Polo Team as a freshman in the Fall of 2006 where he scored 19
goals, six assists and six steals, in which five goals came during
the Division 3 Eastern Championships held at Penn State Behrend,
where the Lions placed third for the first time in school
history.
Upon return to school for pre-season training in the Fall of 2007
and made it through 1 hour of practice before he could not proceed
anymore due to major back pains. The pains were so intense that it
sidelined him for the season. As Ian went through countless
Chiropractor appointments, MRI's and CT Scans for about 6 months,
one of the Doctor's noticed a mass in his chest. The mass turned
out to be a cancerous tumor that was putting pressure on his
spine.
Ian went through countless hours of Chemotherapy and surgeries to
have the mass removed, but during this time two more cancerous
tumors were found. One was located on his hip and was too large to
remove, and also forced him to get around in a wheelchair.
On February, 19th, the Penn Sate Behrend Athletics Department and
SAAC put together a bowl-a-thon in Ian's honor and raised just over
$1100 for expenses. The bowl-a-thon was great and Ian was in great
spirits and enjoyed the amount of people bowling to support him and
his battle.
Penn State Behrend Water Polo will miss Ian.
Please go to http://www.carepages.com to post a message and sign the guestbook. Type Ian Johnson into the search engine. Look for the InMemoryofIanJohnson Link under the "CarePages Websites to Explore" section. You will have to create a login in order to access the page.
Release & photos courtesy Joe Tristan, PSU-Behrend men's and women's water polo head coach
