Tokay High junior maintains 4.3 GPA while battling auto-immune disorder
Pulsing techno music fills the Tokay High School dance room as the cheerleading team holds their second practice of the year, while coach Stephanie Silveira shouts directions and encouragement over the pounding bass.
Jonathan Henry, 16, uses his hands as a base for Jessica Riberal, 15, to practice back flips as she is supported by two other teammates, before marching in time with the music to stand behind her and catch her as she leaps into the air, earning his title of “back spot.”
“It’s a nice change of pace. It’s nice to have someone with that kind of power for jumps,” said Riberal, a flier.
“He’s really motivational and inspirational. As the only male cheerleader, it’s great to see him fit in so easily,” said Laura Eberhardt, 15, a base and one of Henry’s other teammates.
Although this is his first year as a cheerleader, Henry has already made the varsity team, impressing Silveira as well as Jeannie Jones and Debbie Maciel, the cheer team’s advisors who call him “outstanding, enthusiastic and engaged, an asset to the team.”
“This is only our second practice, so I haven’t had a chance to get to know him personally yet, but he’s always cheerful. I hope to get to know him better over the next few years,” said Silveira.
Besides being on the varsity cheer and water polo teams, Henry is a member of the National Honor Society and California Scholarship Federation and is involved with the mock trial program and Science Olympiad.
He is also taking five AP classes: U.S. history, English, environmental science, psychology and calculus.
The only non-AP class he takes is student government, part of his duties as junior class president along with planning this year’s prom.
Henry started playing water polo just two days after having surgery on a broken elbow, and was supposed to stay in the pool only, avoiding any activity that might rip his stitches. According to his mother, Victoria, he did not exactly follow those directions. While attempting push-ups, his stitches ripped, earning him the nickname “Stitches.”
“He’s always been fast-paced, ambitious and motivated to help people,” said Victoria.
So far, Henry has managed to maintain a 4.3 GPA, although he is confident that he can achieve a 4.8 this year. And he manages to do it all while battling a rare form of Chron’s Disease, an auto-immune disorder that causes his immune system to view his digestive tract, specifically his small intestine, as a foreign body, attacking it with ulcers. Every eight weeks, Henry travels to the UC Davis Pediatric Cancer Center in Sacramento to receive treatment.
“The medication is called ‘Remicade.’ It’s similar to chemotherapy for cancer patients. I spend 4.5 hours hooked up to an IV bag that pumps in medicine to kill my immune system. I also take seven folic acid pills at the end of each week, to protect from the methotrexate,” said Henry.
The medications can get quite harsh, according to his mother, Victoria, who explained that her son was first diagnosed in 2013 when he experienced severe stomach pains and vomiting, losing 55 pounds in 10 weeks. He swallowed a camera at UC Davis, where doctors found multiple ulcers in his stomach and small intestine before referring him to Valley Children’s Hospital in Madera County, where doctors performed 222 biopsies before finally diagnosing him with Chron’s Disease after 21⁄2 months. Jonathan spent almost a year in the hospital before the disease was under control, Victoria said, taking 24 pills a day for three months, including steroids, so that his body could accept food again.
“His triggers are spaghetti, pizza, basically any food with red sauce or high acidity, along with milk and stress,” said Victoria.
Although Henry misses an average of 21⁄2 months of school each year, including nearly a full month in the spring, he refuses to let that stop him from achieving all that he can, such as working as a life guard at the Lakeshore Village Homeowner’s Association pool, or volunteering as a waiter at the Moose Lodge on weekends and at special events, or helping Children’s Dream Works provide needy families with groceries, gifts around the holidays and sponsor children who want to play city sports.
After graduating from Tokay High School, Henry plans to study pharmaceutical chemistry, possibly at Stanford University or UC Berkeley, or an Ivy League school on the East Coast. He became interested in the medical field through his own experiences with Chron’s Disease, motivating him to take every science class that Tokay High has to offer to prepare him to help others battling serious illnesses in the future.
“I want to develop new medications, maybe even cure cancer. I hope to work my way up from a chemist to a CEO one day,” said Henry.