SWR wrestler’s biggest move comes off the mat

Kaitlyn competed in varsity cross-country, winter track and lacrosse as well as junior varsity soccer for Shoreham-Wading River before graduating in 2011. She became a celebrity of sorts in high school. After her third bout with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Shoreham-Wading River High School’s hallways were a sea of purple as students wore purple T-shirts that read, “Kait 3, Cancer 0.”

Although the disease slowed Kaitlyn down at times, it hasn’t stopped her. One of the happiest moments of her life, she said, was when she learned she had been accepted into Union College in Schenectady, N.Y.

In the fall, Kaitlyn will be a senior at Union, where she is studying geology. She has already made her mark at the school. Not only has she run cross country and track and field, but last year she was one of seven Union student-athletes to be inducted into the Omnicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society, partially in recognition of her considerable volunteer work. She is also a National Science Foundation STEM scholar.

In an interview in a Union video, Kaitlyn said, “I don’t let cancer affect me, change who I am as a person or dictate how I am going to live my life.”

That was evident when Kaitlyn celebrated her 19th birthday in 2012 by running in the Disney Half-Marathon, something she had wanted to do for years. She raised money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society that day. Kaitlyn is a philanthropist, having raised tens of thousands of dollars for kids with cancer, said her father.

It looks as if James and his sister will share more than the same chromosomes. Like Kaitlyn, James said he wants to study geology. He hopes to attend SUNY/Oneonta. Asked if he has any more wrestling in his future, he said: “We’ll see. It depends. I’d have to see how I can manage college and if I can do sports, I’ll try out, but I’d love to. I’d love to wrestle. I just love the sport.”

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