Daniel Boone, wrestling communities rallying around wrestler with leukemia

The Daniel Boone and wrestling communities are rallying around freshman wrestling standout Stephen Spitko, who was diagnosed with a form of leukemia on Sunday.

Spitko is currently in the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia after being diagnosed with T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Due to the urgency of the diagnosis, doctors began chemotherapy treatment immediately Sunday. Wednesday morning he was moved out of the intensive care unit and into oncology after responding well to treatment on the cluster of leukaemia cells behind his heart, in his stomach and in his spinal fluid.

The 106-pounder, who was a Mercury All-Area first team selection in the winter, reported breathing issues Saturday and was taken to Pottstown Memorial Medical Center by his parents, Kevin and Lesley, before being taken by ambulance to CHOP, according to Daniel Boone wrestling coach Kevin Oswalt, who visited Spitko along with members of the Blazers’ team on Monday.

Support on social media and other channels have poured in both from the Daniel Boone and wrestling communities.

“Stephen is a well-liked young man, not only in our community but throughout the wrestling world,” Oswalt said. “The wrestling community is a huge community. There’s been a lot of people from all over the place contacting me because they’ve heard about Stephen and want to help in any way they can.”

A GoFundMe page has been created to defray the cost of medical expenses for the Spitko family. The page can be found at www.gofundme.com/spitkostrong.

“I know the family greatly appreciates the support,” Oswalt said. “We’ve just got to pray everyday and hopefully he’s strong enough to beat this, which if there’s anybody on the team that could do it, it’s him. He’ll go after this full tilt, there’s no doubt in mind.”

For future updates on Spitko’s status, monitor the Daniel Boone HS Wrestling Facebook page.