Ian Johnson

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