Pope John Paul II baseball rallies for coach and cancer survivor Charles DeLuzio with ‘Strike Out Cancer’ game

ROYERSFORD >> Pope John Paul II baseball coach Charles DeLuzio kept his struggles to himself last spring.

While going through treatment for melanoma and colon cancer, the daily return to the baseball diamond — with the Golden Panthers in the spring, the Spring City Junior Legion program in the summer and Complete Game in Royersford throughout the rest of the year — was a reprieve from the physical and mental exhaustion he was going through outside the lines.

“Being on the field, it’s like I forget everything,” DeLuzio said. “But it just doesn’t affect me. It affects my family, it affects my two boys, my grandaughter, my wife. Everybody’s sweating, everybody’s worrying about you.”

DeLuzio’s assistant coaches and the athletic department at PJP were aware of his disease last season, but before the start of this year he wanted to fill in his players and their parents.

Upon learning what their head coach was going through, the Golden Panthers wanted to find some type of way to support him and others battling cancer during the season.

On Wednesday at PJP during a home game against Pottsgrove, the Golden Panthers celebrated their first ‘Strike Out Cancer’ game — an emotional event for their head coach.

“When I (told the players about my condition) at the meeting, nobody knew and they were like, ‘Hey, maybe we can do this later on for you.’ It wasn’t just for me, it’s for everybody,” DeLuzio said. “I’m sure there’s some parents that are going through it. You don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors. Everybody’s got something.”

“For me personally, it really means a lot,” he added.

DeLuzio said senior outfielder David Wagner’s mother, Jackie, spearheaded the event and several other parents helped put it together.

Some of DeLuzio’s players wore pink for breast cancer awareness. Proceeds from the baked goods and snack sales benefitted the Breast Cancer Center at Redeemer Health.

“At first I never even realized he was going through some of that stuff, so I was really taken back,” PJP senior outfielder Nik Rubendall said. “He’s going through all that stuff and coaching us, so it’s actually a good thing helping us out, keeping us going.”

DeLuzio was diagnosed during an annual wellness check and part of the reason he wanted to share his experiences was to make sure others made sure to take precautions.

“We’re sitting at home and we think we’re invincible,” DeLuzio said. “I felt good. I said, ‘Hey, maybe if I say this I can bring awareness to the parents,’ and I wanted to let them know that I went through it, I’m going through it.”

DeLuzio had two surgeries for his cancers and treatment every three weeks for a year and a half. He went into remission but the cancer returned.

But most recently, on Feb. 8, his doctors told him he was in the clear.

Though he feels healthy, there’s still the daily stress that comes from a small cough or sudden ache that could signal something worse. He will have scans again in June and said the stress will intensify again in the days and weeks leading up to it.

But Wednesday was a special day, and another opportunity to do what he loves.

“I feel healthy, I feel great,” DeLuzio said. “I’ll give you everything I’ve got out here. I love being out here.”