Downingtown West star Pelkisson leans on best friend Lewis to get him through unspeakable tragedy
[ngg src=”galleries” ids=”15″ sortorder=”203,195,198,196,197,199,200,201,202″ display=”basic_slideshow” arrows=”1″]DOWNINGTOWN >> The scene couldn’t have been any more perfect.
Sean Pelkisson and the rest of the Downingtown West seniors hugged and posed for pictures with the scoreboard at Kottmeyer Stadium displaying the 63-35 score from the Whippets’ win over crosstown rival, Downingtown East.
It was Pelkisson who put the exclamation point on the game, scooping up a fumble he caused and rumbling in for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
A big smile lit up his baby blue eyes, and for that fleeting moment, everything in his whirlwind teenage life was right … until he checked his phone.
“My dad texted me and said I need you to call me as soon as you can,” Pelkisson said. “I called him and he told me. I went into PJ (Whelihan’s) and sat down with family and friends and tried to act as normal as possible.”
The news was about a fight that had paralleled Pelkisson’s rise to stardom on the football field: a 14-month battle against leukemia the football star could do nothing to fix.
His 9-year-old sister Jaelynn had died.
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Tyriq Lewis remembers the exact moment that brought he and Pelkisson together.
After calling out a fellow eighth-grade student for stealing a cell phone, Lewis quickly realized the potential consequences.
“Down at the park they tried to catch me off guard and Sean was there, right behind my back, to stand up for me and help me out,” Lewis said. “Ever since then we’ve been attached at the hip.”
The bond grew, whether it was on the football field or family vacations. Where Pelkisson was, Lewis was, too. That didn’t change with Jaelynn’s diagnosis or the trips up to New York, where Jaelynn lived with their dad, and his wife.
“It helps a lot,” Pelkisson said. “It makes it easier because I know I’m not going through it alone. (Lewis) drove the three-hour drive with me to go up and see her. He’s just always been there.”
A friendship that started in the face of adversity was built for this sort of thing, and for Lewis, not returning the favor for Pelkisson wasn’t even an option.
“We just know together we’re in it until the wheels fall off,” Lewis said. “That’s our thing, ’til the wheels fall off. I’m gonna roll with him and he’s gonna roll with me, and we’re gonna be together forever, honestly.”
After meeting in middle school, the two came up together, making impacts early on in a promising class.
As sophomores, Lewis played mostly on the defensive side of the ball, while Pelkisson appeared destined to be a cog on the offensive line.
“He started as a sophomore, as a lot of that group did, and we thought he might be a guard for us,” West coach Mike Milano said. “He was an athletic, big kid.”
But something happened following that season that triggered Pelkisson’s transition from a modest worker bee in the middle to a star defensive end and tight end.
“He came home after his sophomore year when they went 5-5 and he said, ‘All the seniors said ‘I wish I would’ve, I should’ve and if I could’ve,’ and he said, ‘That’s not what I’m gonna say in my senior speech,’” said Tara Brady-Sbei, Sean’s mom. “I said, we’re all in.”
Pelkisson dedicated himself to his training, in the classroom and on the football field. His play as a junior garnered the attention of college coaches and this past summer he accepted a full scholarship to play Division I college football at Georgia Southern University.
Fittingly, Lewis’ high school career followed a similar path. As a junior, Lewis got his chance to start at running back and excelled immediately, scoring 28 touchdowns. The duo has combined for 27 touchdowns this season, helping West to an 8-0 record, all with the thought of Jaelynn heavy on their minds.
“It’s been difficult,” Pelkisson said. “It has its ups and downs. Football definitely helps. The times I’m angry or the times I’m upset, I get to just take it out on people.”
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When he was younger, Pelkisson would make regular trips to New York to visit Jaelynn, and vice versa. As connected as they could be, despite living hours apart, they eventually grew apart due to different family dynamics.
The leukemia brought them back together. During the offseason, the Make-A-Wish Foundation set up a trip to Disney World for Jaelynn, and she demanded her big brother be there with her.
“Once I found out she had cancer we got back like it was before,” Pelkisson said. “I went down to Disney with her. We went on every single ride together. I was the only person allowed to sit next to her, so we got close again.”
In times like those, there’s no script to follow on how to cope or process, especially for a teenager. Sometimes the only thing a person can be is there.
That’s what Pelkisson tried to do.
Brady-Sbei recollected the time her son carried Jaelynn a city block from the Ronald McDonald House to the hospital.
“She didn’t want to get in a wheelchair and Sean just said, ‘C’mon,’” Brady-Sbei said.
With football and high school an easy distraction, the long car rides back and forth from New York or family trips gave Pelkisson and Lewis ample time to try to wrap their heads around it all.
“We always thought she was gonna push through and she was gonna finally be cancer-free, but in the back of our minds we knew the potential that she wasn’t gonna make it,” Pelkisson said. “We tried to push that out and just stay positive. … Finding out she had cancer, it hits you a little bit, but you think, ‘Oh, they caught it early, they can fix it.’ They did catch it early, they did initially fix it, but it mutated. They caught that mutation, but it did it a third time and by then, there was nothing they could do.”
The community and team was quick to wrap its arms around Pelkisson and his family, and even opponents joined the fight.
In week four, Perkiomen Valley came to Kottmeyer, their entire student section adorned in orange as a spectacle of unity for #jaelynnstrong. A week ago, West Chester East’s student section did the same, and the host Vikings had a moment of silence before the game.
“As is typically the case, you see a community rally,” Milano said. “West Chester East did it last week, Perk Valley, our own student body, it’s been pretty heart-warming.”
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For West’s preseason scrimmage, the Whippets swapped their practice jerseys to make it difficult for opposing teams to figure who was wearing which number while scouting. Pelkisson declined. He wears 22 in honor of former Whippet Ryan Miller, who died in a motorcycle accident in 2014.
That made it easier for Jaelynn to spot Pelkisson on the field when she came with her sister, Ryann, and parents to watch her hero play.
The Whippets signed a banner and hung balloons for Jaelynn, and she beamed at the way her white No. 22 jersey complemented her neon pink skirt.
Since doctors decided to end her treatment a few weeks prior, it would be the last time Jaelynn ever got to see Pelkisson play in Downingtown.
At least in person.
“I think that Friday night in the East game, in the second half, I came out different,” Pelkisson said. “I think it was partially her, being there with us.”
With 6-1 Coatesville in town this Friday, and at least one home playoff game guaranteed, Pelkisson will be counting on some of that Jaelynn strength the rest of the way.
“When we do the national anthem and Tyriq and I hold up the twos for Ryan Miller, I just ask him to come over me and help me throughout the game,” Pelkisson said. “Last game I asked her to do the same and it just helps me to feel that she’s there, helping me through it.”
