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GREENSBORO — The doctor kept talking, but Kay Jacobs' mind had stopped.

The last two words any father wants to hear next to his son's name were resonating in his ears like a church bell on a quiet morning.

Cancer. Chemotherapy.

How could it be? Shaquille Jacobs hardly ever complained of a cold as a kid, and a half dozen doctors insisted the shifting soreness the 15-year-old had been feeling for two months in the fall of 2006 was just growing pains.

Then it hurt so bad he couldn't sleep or walk. One day at Grimsley he was 10 minutes late to every one of his classes, each step grinding his body like it was a mile.

"Forget what you've been told," a doctor at Moses Cone Hospital finally told Kay. "It's worse."

Blood tests revealed acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer of the white blood cells. Doctors told Kay his son had a 90 percent chance of being cured, but he'd have to start a three-year treatment plan immediately.

Kay took in the news and asked to be left alone in the room.

For 30 minutes, he cried.

* * * 

Jacobs' ensuing recovery and return to the Grimsley baseball team inspired hundreds throughout the area, let him meet one of his childhood heroes and caught the attention of ESPN, which will tell his story during a segment on SportsCenter this week.

The first few months of treatment were "some nasty stuff," the just-graduated senior said, an endless diet of pills, IVs and shots, including one that "literally felt like my brain was on fire."

Ninety-seven percent of his bone marrow had been overtaken by leukemia cells. The disease is usually only seen in small children, so Jacobs was classified as high risk. He stayed home from school until January, rarely saw his friends and tried to teach himself pre-calculus from bed. He was lonely.

A month after the diagnosis, Kay and Shaquille were watching TV when Ed Bradley's obituary flashed on the screen. The famous 60 Minutes reporter had died of leukemia at age 65.

"I didn't know you could ... die ... from this," Shaquille said.

Kay swallowed hard and explained that yes, it is possible, but your prognosis is good and the doctors know what they're doing and we're going to get through this together.

Shaquille never brought it up again.

"He was always upbeat," Kay said. "He never questioned, 'Why me?'"

* * * 

Jacobs was a rising star in the Whirlies baseball program, a gifted second baseman who was growing into his body. He was willing to sacrifice a lot to cancer, but not the game his dad taught him. So all winter, even while chemo drained him from 170 pounds to 130, Jacobs kept working out with his teammates, huffing along as best his body would allow.

"Can you imagine being 15 and having your life turned upside down?" then-Grimsley head coach Alan Ashkinazy said. "He was just trying to be as normal as he could."

Ashkinazy worried about pushing him too hard, but Jacobs didn't want special treatment. He would pull himself from practice some days when running became too much, excusing himself behind the dugout to catch his breath.

That spring, Jacobs started at second base for the Whirlies JV team. He played almost every game and never lost his spirit when the ball didn't pop off his bat like it once did.

Six months after the discovery, doctors declared Shaquille's cancer in remission. Though he was to remain on chemo once a month, it was a remarkably fast recovery.

But cancer has a way of making a scene on its way out the door. That summer, Jacobs was brushing his hair when a clump fell out. Then another. For someone who rocked dreadlocks as a kid and an afro in middle school, the ensuing chemo-induced baldness was the ultimate insult.

"I never cried in front of anybody," he said. "I just tried to keep my mind off it, really."

* * *

Shortly after his diagnosis, Shaquille got a call from the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which caters to children with life-threatening medical conditions.

Jacobs' wish was to meet Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins, a scrappy middle infielder like himself who would go on to win the National League Most Valuable Player award in the 2007 season.

A year went by. No word from the Phillies, who won the 2008 World Series.

Then, in January, Jacobs got the call. He'd get to hang out with Rollins during a spring training game at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Fla., and ESPN would follow the whole thing for its "My Wish" series.

On a weekend in March, Jacobs and his family flew to Tampa, Fla., where a limousine took them to Busch Gardens for the day. The next morning, Jacobs walked through the Disney stadium tunnel and found himself staring Rollins down. Literally. Rollins is 5-foot-8, two inches shorter than Jacobs. They became fast friends.

Rollins introduced him to teammates Shane Victorino and 2006 MVP Ryan Howard, who marveled at Jacobs' cleats, the same Nike style Rollins pitched in a Dick's Sporting Goods commercial last year.

Jacobs got his own Phillies uniform -- complete with "Jacobs #33" on the back -- and got to warm up with Rollins on the field. He sat in the dugout during the game and looked so much like one of the guys that as he and Rollins walked off together afterward, fans clamored for Jacobs' autograph as much as the MVP's. Jacobs happily signed every one.

* * * 

A few weeks later, ESPN reporter Chris Connelly and a film crew came to Greensboro to interview Jacobs and his family at their home, the Greensboro Batting Center and at Grimsley, where Jacobs focused on his physics class as much as any kid with a camera six inches from his face could.

Jacobs hasn't seen any of the ESPN piece yet, and he laughed that "hopefully they don't make me look too bad."

To see him now, you'd never know the battles he's fought. He's regained his playing strength and has been off chemo for a year. He'll attend N.C. A&T this fall, where he'll study chemical engineering and try to walk on the baseball team.

There's always a chance the cancer could come back. He says he's ready to fight again.

"I never really gave up on anything," Jacobs said. "I'm still going to try and do everything I'm capable of."

Contact Tom Keller at 373-7034 or tom.keller@news-record.com