Last year, 13-year-old Adrian Roman’s youth football team went undefeated and won the Super Bowl. As a two-way player, a running back on offense and a safety on defense, he enjoyed a pretty successful campaign. A pick-6 interception on defense and a couple of touchdowns on offense were among the highlights. He was certainly looking forward to one last year with the team this year before heading into high school next year. 

On a recent early Wednesday night, the sun shining its light down and temperatures comfortably in the low 70s, Adrian sat in a wheelchair, a mask covering his mouth and nose, in a grassy area underneath a large tree not far from the field where his younger brother Alex was practicing football.

Adrian’s mother Katlynn and father Hector were with him. His younger sister, 7-year-old Bella, twirled around the tree, at times leaning against her mom. 

If life had gone as planned, Adrian, an athlete with a burning passion for many sports, probably would have been at football practice. When football season was done, he’d be gearing up for basketball in the winter, followed by baseball and track and field in the spring. 

But life hasn’t gone as planned. Not one bit. 

Earlier this year, around May, he complained to his parents about pain in his right leg. The family assumed it was a sports injury, given he is always playing one sport or the other on a team or with friends. Maybe, Katlynn suggested, it was a pulled muscle. 

Then, one day in July, Adrian came into their house from playing outside with friends. The pain was unbearable.

 “I ended up taking him to the hospital because he was crying,” Katlynn said. 

Initial tests led to news Adrian and his family never expected to hear: Doctors believed he had osteosarcoma, an aggressive form of bone cancer, most common in children, teens, and young adults between the ages of 10 and 30. 

They were referred to UMass Memorial Children’s Medical Center in Worcester. There, Katlynn said, everything was a whirlwind. 

“Everything happened so quick,” she said. “Biopsies, scans, MRIs. He had them all.”

The biopsy, she said, confirmed it: Just one year into his teens, going into his eighth grade at school. Adrian had osteosarcoma.

“It was devastating. It was awful,” Katlynn said. “We never would have thought. He’s so athletic. This kid plays all these sports.”

Asked what it was like learning he had cancer, Adrian said, “It was shocking. I didn’t expect it. I was scared. I didn’t know what it was.”

His answer to the next question, however, may just be even worse news for his cancer.

“No,” he said when asked if he was still scared. No hesitation. No doubt. 

“He has an amazing support system,” Katlynn said. “We have had a lot of people rally around him. He’s got a lot of support from the town, from sports in general.”

Said Adrian: “A lot of people have been really supportive. It makes me keep going.”

His family keeps going, too. Right now, Adrian is in his second of six rounds of chemotherapy, each round lasting five weeks. 

In October, he will undergo limb-sparing surgery, the complex removal of bone to remove the cancer. There is the possibility of amputation if the initial surgery is unsuccessful. The goal is to prevent the cancer, which Katlynn said doctors believe is localized for now, as opposed to metastasized, from spreading to Adrian’s lungs. 

Asked what he felt when learning he could lose his leg, Adrian’s defiance appeared again: “I’m just going to have to lose my leg. If that’s the thing that’s going to make me feel better, I’ll just live with a prosthetic. I’ll play sports with a prosthetic.”

His family has put Adrian’s care in the hands of Dr. Stefanie Lowas, Interim Division Chief of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at UMass Memorial Children’s Medical Center. 

While not providing a prognosis, Lowas said that, for pediatric patients with the type of localized cancer Adrian has, about 75 percent who undergo surgery and chemo do not suffer a recurrence. 

Still, Lowas acknowledge, “It’s hard. There’s no other way to put it. But kids are so resilient. Kids will take things that would put another adult on their back. [Adrian] has been a trooper.”

She credited Adrian’s family and friends for being so supportive. 

For his part, Adrian maintains a positive attitude, even if he does wish he were able to be out on a football field and not just watching his brother. The family is trying to remain positive as well, Katlynn said. Hector is out of work through the Family Medical Leave Act, caring for the couple’s two younger children while Katlynn accompanies her oldest son to the hospital multiple times a week (Adrian has an older sister Beatriz). 

“It’s hard,” Katlynn acknowledged of the larger toll the illness has taken on their lives. “We were already struggling and this was kind of, boom, here you go. We still have months of treatments, which are in-patient most of the time, so there’s food, parking fees, the gas going in and out, and our bills.”

They’re not alone in their fight to save Adrian. 

Beatriz started a GoFundMe Page, Adrian’s Fight Against Osteosarcoma, for her brother. The effort had raised north of $27,000 as of Monday, Sept. 28. There is a stated goal of $50,000. 

In addition, the family received a $5,500 donation through the organization Cops for Kids with Cancer, thanks in part to the efforts of three of Adrian’s coaches, who just happen to be police officers: Lt. Travis Gould and Officer D’Vonte Peters with the Douglas Police Department and Webster Police Officer Robert Rockwood. The three of them sponsored Adrian’s application, filed by Jenna Scott, Pediatric Clinical Social Worker at UMass Memorial Children’s Medical Center. The foundation, along with members of Adrian’s football team, presented the check to Adrian and his family during a ceremony at the Oxford Police Department on Thursday, Sept. 17.

Gould has been Adrian’s coach since he took over as head coach of Oxford-Webster Pirates Football. 

“Just a hard-working kid, an energizer bunny,” Gould said of Adrian. “Gives you 100 percent every practice, every game.”

Sponsoring Adrian’s grant application was an easy decision for Gould, who said the league has rallied around the youngster. One parent designed a flag bearing Adrian’s number 28, which is carried out on the field along with the team flag for every game. 

The team has gotten off to a strong start, but Adrian is missed, Gould said, noting he came in his wheelchair to the team’s first practice this season.

“Everybody was around him,” Gould said. 

“When it’s personal and somebody you know it hits different,” he said. “When you have the [police] uniform on, you can make yourself numb. It’s easier to deal with things. But when something happens at home or to someone you know, on a personal level, it’s a lot tougher.”

In her role as a social worker at UMass, Scott does what she can to help families, including applying for grants. She said it was clear Adrian had a strong support system. 

“He has the community behind him,” she said. “He’s ever clearly loved. We extend our thanks to the police officers who made this happen and we appreciate Adrian’s story being highlighted.”

As fundraising efforts continue and Adrian and his family wage their battle against the cancer that has robbed him of precious time as a teenager, Adrian’s resolve remains unbroken.

“Watching [my brother] practice and watching my friends practice and play, I sometimes sit and think that could be me,” he said. “But I’m trying to stay positive. I’m not giving up. I’m not giving up at all.” W