BERKELEY, CALIF. — The diagnosis came a few weeks ago for California women’s team goalkeeper Jorden LaFontaine-Kussmann – lymphoma. Now the 18-year-old freshman is about to undergo her second round of chemotherapy to attack a large mass in the middle of her chest.
When she told her friends and dorm mates on the men’s soccer team she will soon be bald, they beat her to it: They shaved their heads in support.
“She’s amazing,” said Jordan Bethke, a freshman goalie on the Cal men’s team. “She’s dealing with it like a champ.”
She insists she will be back for next season: “I will pick back up where I left off. Not playing soccer is not an option.”
The men’s players sport what are now buzz cuts – the hair is growing back – and they plan to shave again. Her teammates are wearing navy blue wristbands with the initials “JLK.” Teammate Megan Jesolva cut her hair to have a wig made for LaFontaine-Kussmann.
“Why be down and depressed about it?” she said. “I have the best situation going – a school that cares. I kind of feel lucky.”
The Associated Press
