Survivor Jordan Cole wins his fight with cancer.

Jordan Cole (12) has been through a lot in his four years of high school. He started out at Eureka as a regular kid who liked to play hockey and hang out with his friends.

“The beginning of sophomore year he came to school one day with a bulge he had in his chest,” Christian Conway, Cole’s close friend, said. “He was acting nonchalant about it, but then the next day we found out he had cancer.”

The cancer Cole had during his sophomore year was Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.  Hodgkin’s Lymphoma is a common cancer among young adults that affects the lymphatic system, a system that helps the immune system to filter out bacteria, viruses and other unwanted substances.

When a person has Hodgkin’s Lymphoma their immune system doesn’t function correctly and they are much more susceptible to become sick.

Cole had to go through chemotherapy for five months and radiation for three weeks in order to remove tumors from his neck and chest. Through the treatment his body changed dramatically.

“Physically I lost a lot of weight, about 35 pounds,” Cole said. “I’m still trying to gain a lot of that back.”

The fight back has been a successful one for Cole. As a junior he was able to rejoin his teammates on the ice half way through the season, less than a year after he was diagnosed. However, the fight back wasn’t complete at that point.

“I played most of the games. I was just sort of slow and didn’t have a very good season,” Cole said. “Now I am back playing better than before.”

This season Jordan has made a full recovery and is back to full strength playing with his teammates.

As he fought with cancer, his body had a lot to fight through, but his mental toughness helped him make it through easily.

“He’s a really strong person. Even when he feels bad he doesn’t let it show. He just fights through things well,” Allie Craft, Cole’s girlfriend, said.

Hodgkin’s Lymphoma was a struggle to fight through for Cole, but he has recovered fully and has a new outlook on life.

“It really made me not take things for granted anymore and to really appreciate life,” Cole said.