Shane Jones probably has the bravado only a 10-year-old can have if you ask him about facing yet another battle with leukemia.

Saturday, August 14, 1999

Shane Jones probably has the bravado only a 10-year-old can have if you ask him about facing yet another battle with leukemia.

He says he will have a bone marrow transplant this October, and he will be back on Ironton’s Little League fields by spring.

And, there are many who wish just that for him and don’t doubt that he will do everything in his power to make that happen.

Shane appreciates something that many of us take for granted – good health. He is not going to let a recurrence of leukemia beat him, not without a fight. And, because of that quality, he is someone adults and children should admire.

And this week he found out that he and his family are not alone in their fight.

Shane’s friends and family planned a carnival this weekend to help pay for some of the expenses he and his family will face when they head to Columbus for the transplant this fall.

But although the money will probably be a big help to the Jones family, perhaps the biggest boost must have come from knowing that there were so many people who cared so much right in their hometown.

No one can possibly know how hard it must be to hear the word "recurrence," the emotional toll alone would be enough to send an adult quivering to a corner.

To come out swinging, again, takes heart and faith.

Sometimes knowing you have friends makes that kind of courage a little easier.

Thanks to hard work of his friends and family, Shane now knows he has them, in abundance.