Seven weeks after a metal plate was inserted in his right thighbone, the 17-year-old badly wanted to play lacrosse one last time.

Doctors, however, told Ryan Weitzel that playing in the all-star high school invitational tournament last July at Franklin & Marshall College was too risky.

"I have to play in this," Ryan told Joe Frank, his Lampter-Strasburg High School lacrosse coach.

Jeff and Penny Weitzel of Lampeter knew their only son, with stage 4 skin cancer, did not have long to live. So they let Ryan play the game he loved, despite the danger to his leg.

Frank put Ryan in an attack position so he wouldn't have to run as much, and he frequently sent in substitutes for the player.

Each time, Ryan implored his coach to put him back in for another shift.

"Just one more, coach. Just one more," Ryan pleaded. "Just one more."

In one sequence in the fourth and final game of the day, Ryan battled for a ground ball, scooped it up and took off on a fast break.

Two-thirds of the way down the field, he cut sharply to his left and his right femur snapped into two pieces.

As Ryan grimaced in pain before an ambulance arrived, his lacrosse teammates and their opponents from Virginia formed a circle around him, kneeled on the field and prayed.

It's an example of the remarkable way Ryan lived with cancer after being diagnosed when he was 14.

His friends and family say his positive, caring nature changed the way they view the world and made them better people.

Many say his journey brought the entire Lampeter-Strasburg community closer together.

On Saturday — five years after doctors said the cancer could kill him in six months — Ryan died.

"In my heart, I think I knew," his mother said. "I think he knew a lot more than we did and was trying to spare us."

Frank said the L-S community is "torn up and stunned" by the loss of Ryan.

Two viewings are scheduled, a special remembrance event at the high school is being planned and this Saturday, the rivalry lacrosse game between L-S and Penn Manor will be used to raise funds to help the Weitzels pay Ryan's medical bills.

On Aug. 14, 2003, Ryan celebrated his sister Ashley's 17th birthday with her and played video games with his best friend, Matt Miller.

While Ryan was playing lacrosse the following day, a mole on the eighth grader's scalp burst and bled.

A month later, he was diagnosed with a malignant melanoma four centimeters deep in his scalp.

Cancer was in his lymph nodes and spreading rapidly to the rest of his body.

Oncologists at the University of Pennsylvania said he might live six months.

"You're going to die," one of them told Ryan, his mother said.

A few weeks later, doctors moved a skin graft from his thigh to his scalp, a move that prompted some friends to nickname Ryan "Leghead."

Also known by many as "Whitey," Ryan spent the following year in treatment and got positive results.

For three years, Ryan was able to do many of the things he loved. Lacrosse was always at the top of the list.

Teammates say he stubbornly denied cancer the ability to keep him from leading his life to the fullest.

L-S's Eric Denlinger remembers Ryan's softer side, like when the upperclassman made the freshman Denlinger feel like part of the team.

"He sat on the bus with me every day," Denlinger said.

Ryan's only sibling, his sister Ashley Stringer of Strasburg, called Ryan her best friend and soulmate, who she could tell everything about her life.

She said Ryan's character changed after his cancer diagnosis.

"When you're told you have six months to live as a teenager, your life stops," Stringer said. "But at that time, Ryan became larger than life."

The teen became a selfless person who genuinely cared about how other people were feeling and what was going on in their lives, Stringer said.

"He said he was happy to get cancer, thankful that he got it because it made him realize what was important," she said.

Ryan focused on his relationships with people and enjoying the smaller things in life, like going to school.

Ashley's husband, Christopher, was run over by an armored Humvee in Iraq, and during his recovery period, Ryan stepped in to help her, especially with her baby, Madison.

"He changed dirty diapers. He fed her," Stringer said. "She was the apple of his eye. He spoiled her rotten."

In March 2007, Ryan started limping and he complained of leg pain.

Tests revealed a dark spot on his femur. Cancer was back.

Before it took its final toll, cancer attacked his brain twice, his wrist and his lung, in addition to his leg.

Ryan missed his junior year of lacrosse, but thanks to the metal plate inserted in his leg, he was able to play in the all-star tournament last July.

"What he went through..." his mother said, pausing. "He did it with a dignity and courage beyond his years.

"He always had a smile for everybody, no matter how bad he was feeling," Mrs. Weitzel said.

Many people told him how much he affected them, and his mother said his positive nature rubbed off on them.

"He loved life," she said. "His favorite line was, 'Positive things happen to positive people.' "

L-S teacher Tim Dougherty wrote a story in the school newspaper about Ryan and his bravery with cancer.

Dougherty said the teen tried to inspire as many people as possible before he died.

"He's my new hero," Dougherty wrote.

If he found himself getting down, Ryan told Dougherty he'd think of happy memories like the red and yellow plastic kiddie car he got for his fourth birthday, or the two months he spent with his father in Erie.

His greatest love, lacrosse, is the setting of a special event on Saturday, just hours after his 11 a.m. funeral at Strasburg Mennonite Church.

The Penn Manor and L-S lacrosse teams will play their annual rivalry game, the "Backyard Bash," at 7 p.m. at Penn Manor's Comet Field Complex. The junior varsity game will start at 5:30 p.m.

An admission fee, not yet determined, will be charged to raise money for the Ryan Weitzel Foundation to help pay the teenager's medical bills.

Raffle prizes and concessions will raise money for a special donation to the Livestrong Foundation in honor and memory of the teen.

Checks also can be made out to Penny Weitzel, with "FBO Ryan Weitzel" in the memo line, and mailed to Susquehanna Bank, Willow Street Office, P.O. Box 310, Willow Street, PA 17584.

Coach Frank said Ryan had no fear and was dearly loved in the community.

"I'll always see him with a grin on his face, No. 22 flying down field with his stick in the air."

 Ryan Weitzel tributes

Staff writer Ryan Robinson can be reached at rrobinson@LNPnews.com or 481-6032. blog comments powered by Disqus