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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 2, 2001)
Cleveland battles against illness, makes miraculous return to court CLEVELAND from page 10 and scrapping for boards every day with the Huskers once again. In a season bill of down spots for Coach Paul Sanderford’s team, nothing lifts the players’ spirits more than seeing “A.C” on the court every day. "If s a miracle she’s even on the floor,” Sanderford said Said senior guard Amanda Went, the one remaining member of Cleveland’s recruiting class: “Tb see where she is and to see her smile the way she does - telling jokes and one-liners ... it’s just amazing.” NU Medical Director of Athletic Medicine Dr. Lonnie Albers calls Cleveland a “model patient” “Through everything, we never saw Amanda once when she wasn't in good spirits,” Albers said “She always managed to interject humor into everything, and she’s never seemed depressed” Of course, Cleveland bared no smiles the moment she found out she had aplastic anemia, hi the days leading up to her diagnosis at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Cleveland became overwhelming ly fatigued During warm-ups before the Huskers’ first game against Miami ofOhioonNov. 14,1997, Cleveland said she was exhausted by shoot ing, passing and running. The fol lowing days, her fatigue got worse. She had bruises all over her body and had no idea why.' “I started getting tired just walking up stairs,” Cleveland said. ”1 just thought I wasn’t getting enough sleep.” Her sleep was fine. Her body was not. UNMC doctors discov ered her body wasn’t producing enough oxygen- carrying red blood cells, infection-fighting white blood cells or platelets, which dot blood. Her bone mar row, the factory for producing cells, was shut down, and her immune system depleted. Aplastic anemia, Albers said, is so rare trnly two to six out of every million people contract it No one is sure how Cleveland got the non hereditary disease. The fatality rate is high, 10 per cent and staggering in underde veloped countries, where 90 per cent die shortly after contraction. A bone marrow transplant would have been the best cure, but after searching through 80 family members, including distant cousins, no match to Cleveland’s blood could be found. msicdu ui a utuupiiim, sue was told to move back to Dallas and receive chemotherapy, radia tion and frequent medical atten tion. Basketball was no part of her near future. “As soon as they told me, everything just hit me at once," Cleveland said. “As soon as I heard the words aplastic anemia, I start ed noticing every little detail - the bruises, the headaches, the fatigue.” And she started crying. It would be the first of many emo tional sessions she’d have with her mother, Doris. "When I talked to her on the phone, she was crying," Doris Cleveland said, “and you could tell how disappointed she was. She was just devastated about die dis ease “When she got home we just kind of cried about it, and I told her we’re going to get through this together.” Yet Amanda Cleveland planned for the worst After spend ing hours and days researching the disorder, Cleveland started to write her own wilL Doris Cleveland wasn’t about to let her sulk. “Once I got in the van, do that or Yd pass out. And I don't know what sun was in my eyes an< doht go to the light! Do about that light, Ym tal “It just shocked me," Doris Cleveland said. “I asked her, ‘You’re writing what?’ I said, ‘You’re not going to do this. You put that paper away. Stay positive.’ “For me, that was the lowest point. I was thinking ‘My God, there’s this 19-year-old writing her own will and die hasn't even tried yet’* When Sidney Cleveland found his daughter lying on the floor that early January morning, he imme diately called Dr. Scott McKenzie, a UNL graduate who spent count less hours looking after Amanda at Kaiser, and McKenzie told him to call an ambulance. Sidney Cleveland couldn’t wait He patted her on die face to wake her up. Amanda couldn’t move. So Cleveland, an average sized man, dragged his 6-foot-3, 200-pound daughter through the house, into his van and rushed her to the hospital. Now, Amanda Cleveland can find humor in what was then a grave situation. “Once I got in the van, he was trying to keep me awake because he had to do that or I’d pass out,” she said. "He kept saying, ‘A.C.. A.C, wake up. Wake up.’ “I was just out. And he kept saying, ’Wake up,’ and I said, ‘I cant' "And I don’t know what I was thinking, but my eyelids were down and the sun was in my eyes, and I said ‘I see the light11 see the light! And he said, ‘No, don't go to the light! Don’t go to the light!’ “That was the funniest thing through my whole sickness. I told him, ‘Dad, I’m not talking about that light, I’m talking about the damn light (shining) in the car.’” After several tests at the hospi tal, Cleveland needed a transfu sion of three pints of blood. Then, she was taken to an isolated room where only doctors and her par ents could visit - wearing masks and gloves and having their feet taped. She was there for four weeks. Her hands looked like lizard scales covered them, and she couldn’t move most of die time She would pass out when trying to get up, requiring four nurses to try to carry her. “They had to get these two men, about 5-foot-7, and they had the hardest time getting me oh a stretcher,” Cleveland laughs. “It was so funny, but at the same time it was so embarrassing because I couldn't help them. “At that time, I couldn't get up to go to the bathroom by myself. That was the most embarrassing thing. They brought in one of those (portable) bathroom things. I said, Tm not using it’ I could’ve been 98, but I had no choice. They said, ‘Yeah, you’re using it,’” she said, laughing at herself again. As hinny as some moments seem now, Cleveland’s parents still shiver at those days in the hospital. “I saw her laying there uncon scious, and she was so pale,” Doris Cleveland said. “Just seeing all those machines - all those tubes stuck in her-it just scared me.... Her dad couldn't stay in the room. He had to walk out” That month in the hospital, Amanda Cleveland could do little more than sleep, watch TV and he was trying to keep me a\ And he kept saying, ’wake u l was thinking, but my eyeli i I said 7 see the light! I see 1 n’t go to the light!’... 7 told h king about the damn light ( write. She kept a diary of every thing that was happening to her and how she felt every step of the way. “I go back and read it today, and I just think ‘Oh my God.’ I get so emotional,” Cleveland said. “I was writing about the pain I would fed and trying to figure out how it just happened and why. I just had a lotofwhat-ifs.” *** The what-ifs continued after Cleveland got out of the hospital. For the next several months, she stayed at home, continuing to lie around with litde energy to do much of anything. She couldn't eat any fresh foods or undercooked meals, so she drank most meals and ate most food from cans. Whenever an NU game was on TV Cleveland was a mess. “We’d watch it, andshe’d sit there and yell and cheer at her teammates as if they could hear her,” Doris Cleveland said. “Then, all of a sudden, she’d get real quiet and head to her room. I’d go in there, and she’d be crying. I told her, look, you’re going to be there one day. I know you will.’ “Then she’d come out and fin ish watching the game with us. Then she’d start crying again and ask herself, ‘Whyme?WhyamInot out there?’ It was such a hard ques tion for me to answer.” Amanda Cleveland also could n’t go outdoors for several months, which frustrated her because she loved playing with her dog, J.R. Instead, Cleveland would sit by the window, watch her three older sis ters play with the dog and cry. Besides frequent calls from her sisters, two things helped Cleveland’s spirits more than any thing: a book her dad gave her about Jackie Joyner-Kersee - the track and field star who overcame acute asthma to win several Olympic gold medals - and the truckloads of cards, posters and videos from people of all ages all across Nebraska. She spent hours a day reading cards, and to this day, her bedroom walls are almost completely plas tered with them. "Believe me, it made a differ ence,’’ Sidney Cleveland said. “It kept her spirits high and gave her the will to continue. When we see those Nebraska commercials with the man that says, ‘There is no place like Nebraska,’ we know what he means.” It wasn’t until late fall 1998 that Cleveland’s blood count was high enough to allow her to go outside without a mask, which meant she could go back to school. Throughout her illness, Sanderford, although he had lost a valuable blue-chipper, kept Cleveland on scholarship with die university. She attended classes and par ticipated in drills at a minimal level while conditioning herself back into shape during the 1998-99 sea son. While doctors would not dear her for the 1999-2000 season, she stayed determined to come back while she continued to recover her game. She had litde more than deter mination - Cleveland had lost vir tually all her athletic and basket ball Ability. vake, because he had to p,' and I said, 7 can’t.' ds were down and the he light!’And he said ’no, im, ’dad, I’m not talking shining) in the car” Amanda Cleveland Nebraska women’s basketball player “That made me want to quit more than anything, because I was like, ‘Nah, I don’t want to embar rass myself/” Cleveland said. Of course, it was Doris Cleveland who convinced her to keep playing. She had stuck through every challenge up until that, mother told daughter. So why quit now? Then, this past fall, doctors finally cleared Amanda Cleveland to play for NU. An ecstatic Cleveland called home screaming "I made it, Mom! I made it!" Once again, tears were shed. In the Huskers’ first game this season, ahome tiltwith Oakland of Michigan just over three years to the day where she first felt her body go on her, Cleveland checked in and played one minute. Since then, she has played in 15 games recording eight points, 11 rebounds, five steals, 12 turnovers and six minutes per game. While compiling seemingly ordinary statistics, Cleveland has amazed and inspired everyone. “The first time I saw her play, I was just so proud,” Doris Cleveland said. “Just to see her run up and down the court, I was thinking, ‘This is amazing,’ I am SO blessed.” Whenever Amanda Cleveland goes back home, she always takes visits back to Kaiser and to hospi tals, talking to kids and making them laugh. Her whole experi ence, Doris Cleveland said, has made Amanda think about becoming ai nurse once she's out of college. Amanda Cleveland remembers giving food, candy and jokes to children with cancer who laid next to her in the hospital, and she still feels the need to do mat “Before aplastic anemia, Amanda was like most teenagers - she took most tilings for granted," Doris Cleveland said. “She spends more time thinking about things now. She spends more time with her family, and that's brought the family closer together Her outlook on life is different “I see her doing so many things. I know she wants to help people. She wants to make them laugh and tell them, ‘This isn't the end. You can beatthis.’ Ilook ather, then I think about my aches and pains, things that seem to bother everyone. Then I see people who went through what she did, and I say, ‘Hey, that's not so bad.’ “You thank God for the little blessings.” Amanda Cleveland feels the same way. Sanderford, Went and Cleveland herself have all said she is making great strides on the court Sanderford still thinks she can be an “impact player" in a year's time. But in the big picture, that won't really matter What matters is Cleveland will live to tell her story and make thousands laugh and cry in the process. After all, that's how she and her mother got through it “I want to be able to tdl people you can do it I don't want people to be like, ‘Wfell, that's A.C., the girl who was all good in high school. Then she got sick, and she can't do it’" Cleveland said “I want them to belike, ‘Oh she was sick, butlookat her now. She didn't miss a step.’ That’s what I want to hear before I graduate.” Women, men begin tennis season at opposite ends BY VINCE KUPPIG The Nebraska men’s and women's tennis teams stand in opposite places as they enter their spring dual seasons. The women return just three of their top-six players from last year’s team, which had its best finish in school history. The men are coming off their worst conference fin ish in school history but return their six top players. • The women’s team starts its 2001 campaign today against Colorado State at 4 pm, followed by a showdown with Wichita State on Saturday at 10 a.m., both at Woods Tennis Center. After competing at the Rice Invitational last weekend, the men's team starts its season against Wichita State on Saturday at 5 p.m, also at Woods. Entering the season ranked 57*“, the NU women are led by junior Katarina Balan and senior Ndali Ijomah, who will play No. 1 and No. 2 sin gles, respectively. Also returning is junior Amy Frisch, who will play No. 4 singles. The rest of the Huskers’ top six are com posed of three freshmen. The Huskers start with a relatively easy schedule, \yith their first eight matches against un ranked opponents, all at home, before they take on No. 5 Texas and No. 37 Texas A&M in Texas. “Hopefully, we can gain some confidence from our first eight dual matches,” Coach Scott Jacobson said. “The goal is to build confidence that when we go down to Texas and Texas A&M that we will be able to play at a very high level.” Plagued by injuries last year, the men's team will get a boost by the return of junior Lance Mills, who played No. 2 two years ago but was sidelined with a foot injury last year. NU is led by sen ior Jorge Abos Sanchez, who is expected to play No.1, Coach Kerry McDermott, who watched his Huskers lose all eight conference matches last season, said the Huskers were much improved. “This year we’re much more positive that we are a good team and that we will beat some good teams this year,” he said. “Now it's just a matter of going out and doing it” Entering the season outside of the top 75, the men’s first competition of the year at the Rice Invitational gave McDermott high expecta tions. He said coaches came up to him and told him that NU looked a lot better than last year and deserved a spot in the top 75. Against Wichita State, the key matches will come at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, where the Shockers are strongest, said McDermott, who expects the Huskers to come out on top against WSU. Dual sends N(J coach back to former school BY DAVID DiEHL Nebraska Coach Mark Manning will return to familiar ground in Northern Iowa University’s west gym as the first-year NU coach returns to face his old sqaud at 7 p.m. tonight Manning was the Panthers’ coach from 1998-2000, orches trating a turnaround in UNI’s wrestling program. He led his squad to 10-5-2 record in 2000 and an 11th place finish in the NCAA's - not bad considering his first team went 5-9 and finished 30^. Under new coach and for mer NU assistant, Brad Penrith, UNI has accumulated a No. 20 ranking and 9-6 record. Manning has led ninth ranked NU to a 10-3 record, its 13th straight 10-win season. Win No. 11 for NU will have to come against Manning’s old mates. Assistant coaches Steve Hamilton and Tolly Thompson also coached at UNI last year. “I'll know all 20 guys that are wrestling tonight, personally” Manning said. “I played a big part in recruiting those guys there and so did Steve and Tolly." The two teams wrestled to a 20-20 stalemate last year in Lincoln after NU took eight points in the last two matches to escape with a tie. Manning said he expected just as big of a dog fight this time around. “They're an excellent team,” he said. “And we’re going to have to be at our best to beat these guys.” Last home meet may mean touah business BY TOBY BURGER Emotions are high for the Nebraska swimming and diving teams with some top-notch pro grams visiting the Huskers in their last home meet of the sea son. Action begins at the Devaney Sports Center pool tonight at 7 p.m. and concludes on Saturday with an 11 a.m. start The women will face a diffi cult challenge against No. 1 Georgia. The Bulldogs enter Lincoln claiming the past two NCAA team titles. Georgia places its 9-0 record on the line against the NU women’s 7-3 mark. The Husker men (6-2) also host a 7-3 Georgia squad cur rently ranked No. 12. The Wildcats of Northwestern (4-3) will join the mix and compete in the double dual. • For the women, the close proximity of this weekend’s dual and the Big 12 championships on Feb. 15-17 mean some swim mers will not swim in all their events. But Nelsen said with the intensity of such a meet, he still expected to see some season best times on both the women and men’s sides. Interim Coach Paul Nelsen acknowledged the caliber and quality of teams entering this weekend’s duals. Hd said that both Georgia and Northwestern would poise a challenge for the men, but he felt they could han dle Northwestern and keep pace with Georgia. This weekend’s duals mark the last regular season action for both teams before heading to the Big 12 championships on Feb. 15-17 for the women and March 1-3 for the men. Both teams are coming of a successful January where the men finished 6-1 and the women went 7-2. With the season coming to an end, Nelsen said the focus was on getting through this weekend and forging ahead to the Big 12 championships. “We can't question what we did with all the past success,” Nelsen said. “We need to stay in the present and not let this take away whatever happens at this meet.” Huskers primed for Cl) BIIFFSfrom page 10 perimeter players who can push tiie ball up the floor,” Ffriend said of the Buffs. “When they get the ball inside they are good finish ers.” Ffriend said the Buffs were first on the list of teams the Huskers must beat down the stretch run of the season if NU were to have any hope erf continu ing into post-season play. “Ifwe can end up with 17 Or 18 wins and with our strength of Huskers to take on 0U GYM from page 10 crowd, the better,” he said. Saturday's crowd may come hoping to see another team scor ing record, but NU’s coach isn't guaranteeing a win. Kendig said OU was a strong all-around team, especially talented in the bar events. "We will be facing a well-bal anced team,” he said. “They have had scored rather well through out the season, and we can't expect them to hand us a victo ry.” schedule, like fifth in the nation... with that, there's a good chance of making the [NCAA] tournament,” Ffriend said. “It’s very critical that we can get on a run right here and protect the home court” II si Mug Night $1 Mini Pizza Every Wednesday from 8pm to midnight upstairs only 2 for I Calzones Ali day Sunday /0\ 826-rStTMt • (402)477-2277 *n/ Get a FREE 8 oz. Blolage Solution with any Color or Pe When you come in by March 9, Good oafy with < *3 SPECIALS ON: Biolage • Nexxus • Paul Mitchell Rusk • Vital Nutrients College of Hair Design 4ITH& VST • B4RBERISG • COSVETOLOC) ' 474-4244 5 Blocks South of UNL Campus