{"id":53,"date":"2020-04-20T21:58:09","date_gmt":"2020-04-20T21:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/104.239.142.122\/?page_id=53"},"modified":"2020-04-21T02:46:46","modified_gmt":"2020-04-21T02:46:46","slug":"about-bill-ludwikowski","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wl33foundation.org\/index.php\/about-bill-ludwikowski\/","title":{"rendered":"About Bill Ludwikowski"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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His goal is life 
By KEVIN O\u2019KEEFE
OF THE EXPRESS-NEWS STAFF<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There will be no more third-down quarterback sacks for Bill Ludwikowski,. No more goal-line stands. No more blitzes. 
But there will be life, something that didn\u2019t appear certain seven months ago. 
Bill was a star linebacker for Holmes High School last season. This season he was still a star even thought he didn\u2019t play a down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last May 12, he went into the hospital after getting a neck injury in spring football. \u201cthat\u2019s all we thought it was.\u201d Bill said. \u201cBut while I was in there, I couldn\u2019t urinate. So they did a test and found out had a malignant tumor on my prostate and they had to operate.\u201d
Dr. Lynan Brothers led a team of seven doctors who operated on Bill in Wilford Hall Medical Center June 9th. After 15 hours of surgery, Bill had his prostate and bladder removal along with lymph nodes below his diaphragm. He also had the nerves of his legs scrapped because they too had been harmed by the cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have and artificial bladder now,\u201d he says, \u201cbut that\u2019s okay because I could go the bathroom outdoors and not get picked up for indecent exposure.\u201d It is that comment that typifies Bill\u2019s state of mind. He is loose and not afraid. He is not a bitter young man (he will be 18 on January 18th), but rather a man who is simply glad to be alive. A man not to be pitied, but to be admired for his courage.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll tell you, if it had happened to me, you would have had to scrape me off  the floor.\u201d Frank Arnold, Bill\u2019s coach at Holmes, said. \u201cHe\u2019s taken this much better than anyone else. He has an undying faith, that\u2019s what does it.\u201d \u201cI think there are three things that have kept me here.\u201d Bill said. \u201cOne, is the man upstairs, Two, my dad and three, the team. \u201cYou know, I still felt that I could play even with the artificial bladder. Jerry Kramer of the packers did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legs<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201dBut it is my legs that are holding me back. I have little strength in my left one. I just didn\u2019t believe how destroyed they were. The doctors told me I wasn\u2019t expected to walk I am going to prove them wrong though. When they had to scrape the nerves, that\u2019s the trouble.\u201d
And his legs are still a constant concern even though the doctors have place him in the 80 to 90 per cent cured bracket. 
\u201cI can\u2019t jump up and down and I have trouble climbing stairs, but I figure as long as I am walking, I\u2019m okay.\u201d Bill said. \u201cIt cares me to think of being in a wheelchair for the rest of my life.\u201d
\u201cI know his legs hurt him quite a bit,\u201d Arnold said. \u201cBut he has been at every one of our district games and has come to almost every practice. He is our co-captain and calls the coin toss (he was 7-1 on the flip). He is just an exceptional kid. A leader. A doer.
\u201cLast year he was one of our top college prospects. Notre Dame, Rice, Texas Tech, the Academies and Texas A&M were some of the schools that talked to him. Our kids just love him. It just tore them up when they heard about his illness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Missed<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou know, Bill missed our first four games, but before the Del Rio game, he came into the locker room.\u201d Coach Dennis Parker, an assistant, said. \u201cIt really got our kids up. We could have beaten the old Green Bay Packers that day.\u201d
\u201cHe\u2019s a senior everybody looks up to, \u201c Dan Schreiber, a two-away, senior starter for Holmes, said. \u201cLud gets us going. It was hard on us, but we thought only of how he would take it. You can\u2019t pity him. You have to act normal. \u201cHe gives us strength He gives everyone strength.\u201d
\u201cI can\u2019t explain it,\u201d Bill said, responding to the comments of his coaches and teammates. \u201cI guess I am the binding spirit that held the team together. I just get in there and talk. I think I have helped them stay together. \u201cI told the guys at one game that they couldn\u2019t quit, I would have died.\u201d Dying, such an unreal concept for someone who is 17.
The doctors were honest with me,\u201c Bill recalled. \u201c They told me that I might never get off the table. But I thought about it and decided I was too young to die. I hadn\u2019t accomplished what I wanted to yet.\u201d 
\u201cThey (the doctors) feel they have all the cancer,\u201c Bill said. \u201cNow, all I have to do is live through the chemotherapy. Boy that is tough. After my first radiation treatment, I had diarrhea and vomiting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pills<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI take four pills a day and get injections. I see the doctors often.\u201d \u201cYou know, it was hard to believe and hard to accept, \u201c Arnold said, remembering his first reactions to Bill\u2019s illness. \u201cHe is such a great person. I was pretty winded by it. I have a 14-year-old at home and I tend to look at him in a different light. You realize how much you take for granted.\u201d 
Besides being involved in football, Bill is the student council treasurer and vice president of the math club. He is ranked fifth in his senior class and carries a 96.2 scholastic average. \u201cI\u2019ve missed a lot of school, but I have caught up now except for a couple of physics experiments,\u201c Bill said.\u201dI will graduate with my class in the spring.\u201d 
He got a scare again last week when a lump showed up on his lower stomach area.  \u201cThe doctors thought is might be some more cancer, but the tests were negative. It just disappeared,\u201d Bill reported. 
\u201cWe deal with so many kids and some aren\u2019t too good.\u201d Arnold said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a shame that something like this had to happen to Bill. It\u2019s a real tragedy.. \u201cCoach Arnold has been very supportive, \u201c Bill said. \u201cHe has been there when I needed him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accurate<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bill continued.\u201d And it wouldn\u2019t be accurate to say this brought my father and I closer together. We have always been close. We have been through a lot together.\u201d 
Presently, Bill is pondering a four-year scholarship offer from Princeton. The scholarship calls for a two-year deferment so he might finish his therapy here.  
\u201cWhen I look at the future.\u201d Bill said. \u201cI go one day at a time. I don\u2019t know if I will wake up in the morning. But I will keep on going.\u201d When I was in the hospital, I sat crying one day.\u201d He recalled. \u201cI asked. \u201cWhy me?\u201d But my dad said that wasn\u2019t for me to answer. Then, I thought I can\u2019t lay here and give up. I\u2019m alive and thank God for that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, Bill and thank God for your spirit.<\/p>\n