Battling cancer, RB vows to play again

Rio Rico’s Perez still practices when he can

Ricky Perez has gone through two chemotherapy sessions and has two more to go.

But despite a port in his chest, a grim diagnoses of testicular cancer and the recurrence of two more tumors in his body, the Rio Rico senior running back and team captain puts on the pads and gets out and practices, working as if he will open the high school football season with his teammates on Aug. 18 at Tucson Catalina.

“I’ve been practicing with them as much as I can,” said the 5-foot-9 Perez, who is down to 142 pounds from his weight of 160 he played at last season when he ran for more than 1,200 yards and 13 touchdowns, the team’s bright spot in a 4-6 season in 4A.

“I suit up with them. I can’t do any contact. I suit and do as much as I can take.”

The 17-year-old is an inspiration to his family, his friends, his coaches and teammates.

“He’s a fighter,” said senior quarterback David Sosa, who has grown up with Perez and is one of his closest friends. “It’s not going to stop him from doing the thing he loves, and the thing he loves is play football. I’ve known him since Day 1, and he’ll do what he loves.”

It was early in spring football practice in May when Perez began to feel discomfort. He asked his mother to take him in for a medical checkup.

A tumor was removed in the groin area, and it was diagnosed as testicular cancer.

He missed the last two weeks of spring and went through chemo. He had more CT scans and two more tumors were discovered – one in his stomach and the other below his lung.

“We thought we took care of it after