EX-FALCON, TORERO BATTLING CANCER
Gilliam raised $18K for others before his surgery took place
His high school coach said it was typical Jake Gilliam.
“How many kids 21-22 years old would get a cancer diagnosis, and think about others?” said Torrey Pines High basketball coach John Olive.
Last week, the 6-foot-10 Gilliam — an All-CIF player at Torrey Pines, averaging 15.6 points and 11.7 rebounds as a senior — got the sobering news he had testicular cancer.
He underwent successful, 90-minute, orchiectomy surgery on Tuesday morning Scripps Green La Jolla. And while the prognosis is good, recovery time is six weeks and Gilliam must still undergo a complete body scan with a pathology report.
Turning a negative into a positive, immediately upon getting his diagnosis, Gilliam asked for donations to the V Foundation for cancer research.
The V Foundation was founded in 1993 by Jim Valvano after the North Carolina State coach and ESPN basketball commentator was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Valvano’s Wolfpack won the NCAA championship in 1983.
In 1993, when he was dying, Valvano delivered his famous “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up” speech, at the ESPY Awards.
The V Foundation awards 100 percent of direct donations to cancer research and related programs.
“At first, I was in shock,” Gilliam said. “And yes, I was scared.
All kinds of things go through your mind. Will I be able to have children was a big one. Will I live? What is my quality of life going to be?
“Then I thought about who do I tell, and how do I tell at
them? So I decided to share my message. I implore people that if something isn’t right with your body, get it checked out.
“I want to help eliminate this horrific disease.”
After playing two years as a walk-on at USD, Gilliam helped Olive as an assistant coach at Torrey Pines last season, and was going back this season.
But USD coach Sam Scholl found himself in need of help not long before the start of this season.
“It was late and we were a man down,” Scholl said. “Jake’s name popped into my mind because I knew what he’d bring to the program.”
So Scholl hired Gilliam — now a senior at USD — as director of operations.
“He basically coordinates the program,” Scholl said. “He sets up practice times, arranges our travel and meals. He makes sure the managers are there and on time.
“He does a lot of nutsand-bolts stuff that a program needs to run smoothly.
“Obviously, his diagnosis took us by surprise, but what he has done with the V Foundation speaks to his spirit.
His attitude was ‘how can I compete against this.’ The way he approaches things, his work ethic, you forget he’s still in college.
“He didn’t get into many games for us (eight in two seasons), but he never complained. The way he handled himself on the scout team, the way he worked to make others better, was amazing. He communicates. He relates. He’s a natural. He’s such a high-energy guy, and he wants to impact others.”
So Scholl said he’s not surprised that not only Torrey Pines and USD, but the entire San Diego basketball community is behind Gilliam’s fundraising efforts.
As of early Tuesday afternoon, contributions to the V Foundation in Gilliam’s name were over $18,000 of his $25,000 goal.
“Coaches vs. Cancer was last week (Jan. 25-31), so the V Foundation was on my mind,” Gilliam said. “I want to become a coach, so the V Foundation was a natural.”
About 9,000 men a year — ages 15-44 — are diagnosed
with testicular cancer.
The survival rate is about 95 percent.
On Feb. 1, Gilliam said he was in “some of the worst pain” he’d ever been in.
On Feb. 2, he went to urgent care. The cancer diagnosis came down the following day.
Surgery was scheduled for Tuesday.
“Obviously, this is a sensitive subject,” Gilliam said. “The doctors said if I had waited a week to come in, the cancer could have spread. That’s when I decided to share my story. It’s so humbling that people have gotten behind the V Foundation.”
A communications major at USD, Gilliam will graduate this spring.
He wants to get into coaching as soon as possible.
“Honestly, this is a dream job,” Gilliam said. “I’m getting great experience in how a program operates, but I also get time on the court, get in a little coaching.
“John Olive and Sam Scholl have great connections. They’re reaching out for me.
“It might be a graduate assistant job where I go somewhere and work on a masters degree, and that would be great. I’m really lucky to have played for and
worked with two great coaches and mentors like John and Sam.”
Olive was a star player at Villanova, played two years in the NBA for the San Diego Clippers and was on Rollie Massimino’s staff when Villanova won the NCAA championship in 1985.
Olive was the head coach at Loyola Marymount and was the WCC Coach of the Year before taking the Torrey Pines job in 1997 and now has more than 500 wins.
Last year when Gilliam was on Olive’s staff, Falcons point guard Nick Herrmann made a dramatic comeback after undergoing cancer surgery on his leg.
“This is the second young man in our program to go through cancer,” Olive said. “Jake was awesome with Nick. Jake knew at 17 he wanted to be a coach, but I think last season cemented that for him. Jake treated every practice like he was the head coach. He talked, he
communicated.
“Having worked here, having worked with Sam at USD, Jake is so far ahead of the curve. He has a good command of the game. Takes things very serious. But he also knows how to communicate. He has great enthusiasm and vitality.
“He’ll beat this cancer thing, and be better for it. And he will be a great coach.”