Canyon’s Boyd has leukemia, and lots of support

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You have to feel good for Anaheim Canyon, which scored a 49-21 victory over Paramount in its first game without one of its captains, John Boyd.

Boyd, a senior, was been diagnosed with leukemia, which will rob him of his senior season. The way his teammates have rallied around him the last three weeks is portrayed beautifully in a story by Marcia Smith of the OC Register. If you read only one story today, this is the one.

Coach Brent McKee says the response to Boyd’s illness has been overwhelming. Paramount, Servite and Century League rival El Dorado are among the schools that purchased wristbands for $5 apiece in support of Boyd. El Dorado purchased at least 200.

‘It’s amazing the support we’re getting from schools,’ McKee said. ‘We ordered 2,000 wristbands and they were gone immediately, and we ordered 2,000 more and they’ll probably be gone by the end of the week. I expected some coaches to ask ‘How’s your kid doing?’ I didn’t see this coming. These other schools will try to beat the crap out of us on game night, but they understand the bigger picture.’

All proceeds from the sale of wristbands are going directly to Boyd’s family to help pay medical bills. They can be obtained by sending an email to McKee at [email protected].

On the field, Canyon rode the emotion to a stellar performance.

‘It was in our mind that John’s not there,’ McKee said. ‘We’re going to play 48 minutes for John every week and not worry about outcomes. If he was there, that’s what he would do. If you’re not going to do that, it’s a shame because there’s a kid at home in bed who wanted to.’

From a motivational standpoint, ‘I won’t play that card too much, because the kids know it,’ McKee said. ‘John’s in the back of our mind, but as the season goes on, [the focus] will shift to we want to win to win, just like everyone else.’

‘It was a first varsity game for a lot of kids, it was nice to come out and play well. The thing I was happy with is with all the emotion, we didn’t make a lot of dumb mistakes. We made mistakes, but we handled the emotion very well.

‘His white cell count will have to reach a certain level and he will be able to wear a mask, and he’ll be at the center of the field as our captain. You know there’s going to be some night when he’s going to be able to come, and I would not want to be on the other side.’

The best news, of course, is the long-range outlook for the linebacker/tight end.

‘They feel like he’s got a great chance of beating it, it’s just going to be a long battle, three years,’ McKee said. ‘He’s young, he’s strong, he’s healthy, and they’re very optimistic he’s going to beat this thing.’

-Martin Henderson