SWR's Suarez shows resilience after diagnosis

Having just been diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, Shoreham-Wading River's Kait Suarez turned to her mother and offered a knock-you-off-your-feet piece of introspection.

Carol Suarez, speaking Wednesday evening at Eastport-South recalled her daughter's words from two years ago. "I thought about why it had to be me who got this,''' Carol related. '"I thought about all my friends and all my cousins, and out of everybody, I'm the only one that would be able to get through this. I don't think anybody else would be able to handle this.'''

Mere moments after her mother spoke those words, the SWR junior took her customary spot on right defense for the SWR girls lacrosse team and, except for her slight frame, looked like any other girl on the field.

Though it was an arduous journey, Kait Suarez is thriving, which begs the question - how did she get here?

A relative unknown when she arrived at a team meeting the beginning of her sophomore year, Suarez told SWR coach Bob Vlahakis she was interested in joining the lacrosse team, though she hinted to the coach it might not be possible.

One month later, Suarez was diagnosed with a recurrence of cancer under her arm, requiring a port to be placed in her chest to receive treatment. Sports were out of the question.

At the request of close friends Codi Mullen and Corinne Wiederkehr, the team brought Suarez on as an honorary teammate. She came to as many practices as she could while getting treatment, and was on the field in Cortland last June when the team won its third straight state Class C title.

SEE PHOTOSHigh school sports -- April

SWR even held a benefit game in which they all wore purple (the color of Hodgkin's lymphoma awareness) - goggles, socks, shoelaces, and shirts that read "Love Lax: Kure Kait."

"In 10th grade, when I got diagnosed, I thought I was done [with lacrosse],'' said the extremely well-spoken Suarez on Wednesday. "Then the team adopted me and a whole new door opened. Now I'm actually playing on the team and it's phenomenal and I love it."

Yes, "Suaz,'' as her teammates call her, was determined to play. She returned to school last May and June, and after a successful cross-country season this past fall, e-mailed Vlahakis about her desire to play lacrosse this spring. Delightfully surprised with her speed and awareness, Vlahakis put her in his regular rotation.

"I had no expectations for her,'' the coach said. "All I knew was we were going to try like heck to get her into a game.''

Always exceeding expectations, Suarez has played in every game this season for the 9-0 Wildcats. And on April 9, she capped her remarkable comeback with her first career goal. There wasn't a dry eye in the stands or the sidelines - "Suaz'' was back.

"It empowers me to come back from everything I've been through to accomplish everything,'' Suarez said as Miley Cyrus' song "The Climb'' played on the stadium loudspeakers. "It closes a chapter in my life that's over and I move on from it.''

Suarez's recovery certainly has been a climb, but now she's all about giving back. The Principal's List student organized groups of teammates, known as The Breakfast Club, to visit the Child Life Center at Stony Brook University Hospital (where she was treated) on weekend mornings, and she raised enough money to buy a plasma television for a new Teen Room she helped create.

She did all this while still recovering herself as her hair grew back (she now has curls instead of the straight hair she had before being diagnosed), as she grew stronger, and as she played the game that helped her through it all: lacrosse.

Said her father, Joe Suarez: "I never thought I'd have to shave my own daughter's head.''

But, like she said, if there's anyone who can handle it, it's Kait.