While Riley Folk, a sophomore at Cathedral, may be struggling with cancer, he can be sure that his water polo teammates have his back. Riley was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on October 5, 2012. Chemotherapy treatments began on October 8.

It is well known that one of the results of chemotherapy is hair loss. Riley chose to shave his head, instead of waiting for his hair to fall out. On Wednesday, October 10, as a show of support, all of his teammates chose to shave their heads as well.

According to both teammates and the coach, it was a collective idea. As Cooper Milton, a ninth grader said, “Riley’s been great, and we had to do something for him.”

From all accounts of Riley, it is easy to see why he would inspire such loyalty. He has consistently been described as a positive, friendly person. His coach, Mr. Brett  Ormsby, said that Riley is “very mature”, and “gets along with just about everybody”.

This optimistic attitude seems to be applied to his diagnosis as well. “I think he’s scared, but he’s handling it well. He’s still laughing,” said junior, Austin Rone.

His team’s gesture has most likely helped as well. Coach Ormsby said, “The ability the team has is to help him sort of escape.” Austin confirms this, saying that after Riley saw the team with their shaved heads, “he [Riley] said that for a couple of hours, he wasn’t thinking about cancer.”

There is no worry that this support will fade, as both the coach and the team regularly visit Riley in the hospital.

Riley may have been placed in unfortunate circumstances, but he’s not going down without a fight, and his teammates will be there every step of the way. As Cooper said, “He better kick cancer’s butt.”