In a Kansas baseball all-star game, Haysville teen fighting cancer is ‘the true hero’

Ten minutes before she was supposed to walk 360 feet around the bases at Eck Stadium, Jessica Kilpatric, a 15-year-old Haysville native, was doubled over on the ground due to the sweltering, 95-degree heat Saturday night.

Her energy levels have been sapped ever since December when Kilpatric was diagnosed for the second time with neuroblastoma, a cancer that has at times paralyzed the entire right side of her body. She went from an energetic, freshman cheerleader at Campus High School to being wheelchair-bound for three months.

Kilpatric was an honorary team captain for the Sunflower Collegiate League All-Star game on Saturday night, one of four captains who were given the opportunity to round the bases to the applause of the crowd. Even though her body was telling her no, Kilpatric was determined to start — and finish — her walk around the bases.

“I haven’t been walking very well,” she said. “So I thought it would be nice to be able to walk it.”

“I’ve always said she’s a kid you can’t put a lid on,” her mother, Debi Koscenski, said. “She’s going to do whatever she sets her mind to. No fear. Nothing has ever stopped her.”

When Kilpatric was announced to the crowd, she summoned all of the energy she could muster. While the three others, all children battling cancer in the Wichita area, sprinted around the bases, Kilpatric had to settle for a slow-paced walk.

“It was nerve-wracking for me,” Stephen Koscenski, her father, said. “I was worried about her dropping.”

But those concerns were alleviated when Kilpatric rounded second base.

That’s when every player from both of the all-star teams sprinted on the field to walk the remaining 180 feet feet with Kilpatric, spurring her on with their applause and cheers in the background.

The sight of 55 players walking behind Kilpatric, who finished the walk with a grin that stretched ear to ear, down the third-base line was emotional. The first thing she did after crossing home plate was hug her mother.

“That was crazy,” Kilpatric said. “I didn’t expect that. It meant a lot.”

“I don’t know if I could put it in words,” said her mother, Debi. “It was just incredible.”

Kilpatric’s courage and strength to finish was an inspiration to the players and coaches.

“You just get chills in your body,” said Hutchinson Monarchs’ Dylan Nedved, who drove in four runs for the West in an 8-0 victory and was named the game’s MVP. “It was definitely an experience I’ll remember the rest of my life.”

“That’s what it’s all about right there. She is the true hero,” said Garrett Kocis, a Wichita State junior who won the home run derby. “She’s gone through more than I can even think of. It’s an honor to be able to walk with her and do that.”

“I wish I would have had my sunglasses on,” Cheney Diamond Dawgs coach Pat Hon, who was also the coach of the West team, said. “It was very emotional. Talk about setting your priorities in check. That was overwhelming to see.”

For the family, it was even more emotional because they knew just how incredible of a feat Kilpatric achieved on Saturday.

The journey began in December when doctors were stunned to discover the cancer, which she had defeated as a nine-month-old child and typically is only seen in patients five years or younger, had returned at the age of 15. The doctors found three tumors in her abdomen area and three more tumors on her skull, the latter of which left the entire right side of her body paralyzed for about two months.

First-line chemotherapy was attempted, but ultimately was unsuccessful. The next option was immunotherapy, a treatment that requires Kilpatric to be hospitalized for an entire week every three weeks. There are up to 17 rounds in the treatment and Kilpatric has currently completed seven rounds with results that have been encouraging for the family.

Only three weeks ago Kilpatric started walking without the help of a wheelchair or a walker. On Saturday, she was determined to prove to herself she could accomplish something she put her mind to.

“It just showed everyone what we’ve always known,” her father, Stephen, said. “That’s just Jessica. She tries to put 150% into everything she does and clearly she tried her very best to get through all of the bases. It was pretty amazing to see.”

A GoFundMe has been set up to help the family, which has five children, including Jessica, to offset the medical costs, while Kilpatric has started a Facebook group (“Jessica Strong”) and blogged about her experiences. Gold Glove Charities is also helping the family set up a dream experience for Kilpatric.

Her dream? To perform with the Kansas City Chiefs cheerleaders.

“It would be awesome,” Kilpatric said. “Just being a part of something.”

West dominates in 8-0 victory over East — The West all-stars scored five runs in the second inning and never looked back, as a dominant pitching performance from eight pitchers (four different Shockers) shut out the East team on five hits.

Dylan Nedved delivered the biggest hit of the game, a bases-clearing triple, for a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Nedved, a junior infielder at Iowa playing this summer for the Hutchinson Monarchs, finished with a game-high four runs driven in on two hits and even threw a scoreless inning on the mound en route to MVP honors.

Four Shockers — Jake Hamilton, Preston Snavely, Liam Eddy and Aaron Haase — each threw one scoreless inning for the West team. East’s Garrett Kocis, a WSU junior with four career home runs, won the event’s home run derby before the game with 10 home runs in three rounds.

“In batting practice, my goal is normally just to hit low line drives the other way,” Kocis said. “With the home run derby, I was just trying to let it fly to the pole side. Jake Jones, the guy throwing me batting practice, was just feeding me balls to hit out, so it was pretty easy.”

WP: Reynolds. LP: Bravo. E: East, Kocis; West, Barber. LOB: East 11, West 8. 2B: East, Andrews, Brown; West, Martinez. 3B: West, Nedved, Specht. HP: West, Barber. SF: West, Chadwick. SB: East, Baxley. CS: West, Reetz.

This story was originally published July 26, 2020 at 6:00 AM.

Taylor Eldridge

The Wichita Eagle

316-268-6270

Wichita State athletics beat reporter. Bringing you closer to the Shockers you love and inside the sports you love to watch.