Chris Hruska's still fighting, with an assist from his brother

Chris Hruska has always been a fighter.

When Hruska was playing defensive end for Conant in the 1989 Class 6A state football semifinals, he was going head-to-head all afternoon against powerhouse East St. Louis and Dana Howard.

A few months later, Hruska won his second state wrestling medal as he finished in third place - at 135 pounds. Howard went on to Illinois and won the Dick Butkus Award as the best college linebacker in 1994 and played two years in the NFL with the Rams and Bears.

"He was one of those just gritty, hard-nosed, tough kids," said Conant head football coach Bill Modelski, who was the team's defensive coordinator in 1989. "He was a good player. A really tough, tough kid."

Now Hruska is a tough 39-year-old in the biggest battle of his life. The gioblastoma multiforme brain cancer he was diagnosed with April 15 is tougher than Dana Howard or any wrestler he ever faced at Conant or as a university nationals All-American at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.

Hruska's best friend has seen him continue to fight the good fight.

"His spirits are still very good," said Hruska's 45-year-old brother Mike, who was also a two-time state place-winning wrestler at Conant and now teaches and coaches at Round Lake. "He seems upbeat - but he gets frustrated sometimes.

"He's been unbelievably resilient through his radiation and chemotherapy (treatments). He's still holding up and he's still tough mentally."

Tough enough that Chris and Mike went to watch Conant's thrilling comeback football victory over Wheeling last week.

And an incredible outpouring of support for Chris Hruska has been a big boost. Mike Hruska said almost 500 people attended a June fundraiser at Durty Nellie's in Palatine.

Iowa head wrestling coach Tom Brands also held a fundraising clinic in June - under auxiliary lights at Conant after the power was knocked out by severe storms.

A golf outing also helped bring the total money raised for Chris Hruska's fight to $43,000.

"There's no way we could possibly thank everybody individually, but my family really appreciates what they've done for my brother," Mike Hruska said. "I was amazed, but I know Chris is a pretty jovial guy, open guy and fun-loving.

"I was amazed this many people came and he really touched people's lives more than I imagined. It was super impressive."

Chris Hruska had coached collegiately at Southern Illinois and Northern Illinois. Then he started working with Conant's kids mat club in 2000 and coached in the high school program since 2003.

One of the wrestlers Hruska coached was Modelski's son Kevin, who is a junior at Conant.

"It was fun watching him coach," Bill Modelski said. "The kids love him. When they heard this they were crushed by what was going on."

Especially since Mike Hruska said his brother had no health problems. Mike did have testicular cancer 15 years ago and their dad also had cancer in his neck.

But when Chris started talking about persistent headaches, Mike told him he needed to see a doctor. The news of a tumor stunned Mike.

"I have diabetes, high cholesterol and gout," Mike said. "He had nothing. He goes from nothing to the worst stuff imaginable.

"There's no rhyme or reason to it. He was a really healthy guy for the most part."

But one thing Mike and many others know is Chris Hruska will keep fighting and battling.

Just as he did when he scored the game-winning touchdown in a second-round playoff win in 1989. Just as he did when he went up against Dana Howard.

Just as he has always done.

mmaciaszek@dailyherald.com