This lacrosse coach's son is facing cancer. Here's how his team showed support
Luke Beam could barely answer a question without his son, Wesley, doing something to make him smile and distract him Tuesday afternoon.
First, Wesley wanted to shake hands with the reporters. Then he asked for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Then he grabbed his dad's hand and pulled him away from the microphones and cameras.
A few minutes later, he was running around and throwing a lacrosse ball to his 9-year-old brother Preston.
"What we like to say is he's very 3," Beam said. "He's a whirlwind. He loves building. He likes watching 'Star Wars.'"
"Watch this, dad," Wesley said before blowing a raspberry with his mouth.
"He likes interrupting," Beam continued with a laugh. "He's not just 3. He's very 3."
Wesley is also fighting for his life.
Wesley Beam was diagnosed with Childhood Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) on Feb. 22. It is a very aggressive brain tumor that cannot be operated on due to its location in the brain stem.
A longtime local lacrosse coach who joined the Dallastown boys' program as an assistant last year, Luke Beam stepped away from coaching this season to care for his son. He drives Wesley to Johns Hopkins five times a week for radiation treatment or trial medication.
But his players and fellow coaches haven't forgotten about Beam or his family.
More YAIAA sports: After 24 years, this coach's players still consider him 'family' as he faces illness
Dallastown held a "Whiteout for Wesley" game against Kennard-Dale Tuesday afternoon. Wesley was an honorary captain and shook hands with players from both teams before the game. The school sold T-shirts reading "Wildcats for Wesley" for $25 with all proceeds going to the Beam family. Dallastown won, 19-0, to improve to 9-0 on the season.
Many of Dallastown's players also had "WB" stickers on their helmets. Wildcats head coach Scott Toman said his players thought of that idea on their own. Toman and Beam both previously served as head coach at York Suburban.
"We had an offseason practice when I told them coach Beam would have to leave the team and why. Guys were tearing up because of the close connection he had with them," Toman said. "It really hurt everyone. A lot of these guys have little brothers. We always say 'family' when we break the huddle, and I tell the guys you have to have everyone's back.
"Right now, coach Beam needs us."
A former lacrosse coach at Messiah University, Beam said he still tries to watch film for Dallastown when possible but spends most of his lacrosse time helping Preston's York Suburban youth team. He said that squad also had an awareness night for the family.
Beam said he was "proud but not surprised" the lacrosse community has given his family so much support.
"Lacrosse is a sport you just can't get away from," said Beam. "It's in our blood. In our family. It's easy to say it's tight-knit but it just keeps showing that it is.
"For them to take the time out of their days and not just be a bunch of high-schoolers, especially when I've known these guys for only a year-plus, it's been incredible. The support has been overwhelming."
Miracles and mad scientists
At first, Luke and his wife, Marcie, thought Wesley's shoes didn't fit.
He began falling a few months ago. Then his parents realized he was a little cross eyed.
They had another family member who had a child with cancer and decided to get Wesley an MRI. They saw the results in their online health portal before they had a chance to speak with their doctor.
"It's so shocking you end up removing yourself from it pretty quickly," Beam said. "You can't function if you're going to fully focus on it. It becomes an abstract thing sometimes. It's an eye opener."
Fortunately, Beam had family members who had friends working at Johns Hopkins. They helped Wesley get scheduled for a biopsy in early March. He started radiation treatment on March 15, less than a month after he was diagnosed with DIPG. He was also accepted into a clinical trial for research medication.
Luke drives Wesley to Baltimore every morning around 6 a.m. Because the 3-year-old likes to squirm, he needs to take anesthesia to receive the treatment. He's been through 20 treatments but still has 10 remaining.
He has long nights and busy weekends: Why he wants to rebuild a high school baseball team
Fortunately, the radiation and the medication have helped Wesley make progress. Luke said his son wasn't walking a few weeks ago but was running rambunctiously Tuesday afternoon.
However, Beam pointed out that DIPG is "gnarly" and there is no known cure. He said they plan to combine his current medication with another one once his radiation ends.
"The expression I keep using is 'miracles and mad scientists,'" Beam said. "This disease is not good. This thing has never been beaten that we know of yet. We're hoping there's people out there who have beaten it and we haven't realized it yet. We just want him on the list."
A GoFundMe for the family has already raised over $44,000 — something Beam said he and his wife are grateful for as they've needed to take time away from work. But Beam said he's also appreciative of the fist bumps and T-shirts that were on display Tuesday.
He said his son might not realize why he's getting so much attention, but he was still smiling the entire afternoon.
"It's amazing for the family to get a sense of how much support we have in the community," Beam said. "It's a horrible thing to be a part of but amazing to see the response. This sport just keeps coming through."
Matt Allibone is a sports reporter for GameTimePA. He can be reached at 717-881-8221, mallibone@ydr.com or on Twitter at @bad2theallibone.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Dallastown lacrosse team supporting coach's son as he faces cancer
