Until the final snap: Albion senior puts transplant on hold for football

(Editor’s Note: Albion College defensive tackle Julian Paksi is expected to be in the Tigers’ starting line-up Saturday in Albion’s playoff opener at UW-Whitewater. Paksi is on the field despite being diagnosed with a rare form of cancers following the 2010 season. The following is a feature story written by Mick McCabe of the Detroit Free Press)

The 2010 Albion College football season was over, and Julian Paksi felt like he always did at the end of a season: Beat up.

Paksi, 5-feet-11, 240 pounds, was the smallest guy on Albion's defensive line. It was not unusual for him to battle against linemen 35 to 40 pounds heavier.
A full season of pounding on every play makes a guy want to take the rest of the semester's classes in the whirlpool.

"Every time I got in bed, I was having a weird stretch right on my side, a weird pain," he said. "It was more of a throbbing feeling. It just irritated me; it wouldn't go away."

Something was wrong – very wrong.

Paksi made an appointment last Dec. 23 with his family doctor in St. Johns, who promptly sent him to the local hospital for a CT scan and then to Lansing's Sparrow Hospital for more tests.

"Two days later, they called us at my house and said it was cancer and he was going to need more appointments."

Paksi should have been anywhere but on the field for his senior season at Albiion,. His college football career should have ended last winter when he was diagnosed with epithelioid hemangioendothelioma, which left a vascular tumor in his liver.

The cancer is so rare that the only cure is a liver transplant. Paksi should have been placed on the transplant list long before practice began in August. But that would have ended his chance for a senior season

Paksi was faced with the possibility that he would never play another football game, because once he was on the transplant list he could be called at any moment.
But that did not seem like a viable option for Paksi.

"I love football," he said. "It's been a part of me all my life. I wanted a last year so bad. I wanted to be with my class. I knew we were going to be a good team this year. I just didn't want to give it up right away."

Those who know Paksi knew he was not going to give up football without a fight, which is exactly what he told Albion coach Craig Rundle. He did not want to give it up after high school, which is why he is at Albion, majoring in physical education.

To read the entire story on Julian Paksi’s incredible journey through his senior season CLICK HERE