Football trivial compared to this real-life battle

In this space 364 days ago we told of Lisle football coach Dan Sanko's marriage proposal to girlfriend April Sorce, nervously delivered in a gondola in Colorado's high country.

Tragedy struck the couple this July during their annual motorcycle trip west. On July 15 while in Steamboat Springs, Colo., Sorce was taking a photo when Sanko noticed that her left hand, and then the whole left side of her body, appeared to be numb.

Due to the disease fibromuscular dysplasia (narrowing) of both carotid arteries, the 30-something Sorce suffered a massive stroke.

After 28 days in the critical care unit at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, Colo., on the afternoon of Aug. 11 she was finally able to be moved to the rehabilitation wing. Her activities, which her mother detailed on the website CaringBridge.org, included picking little charms out of a bowl of rice.

"I wake up every morning saying, 'Wow,'" Sanko said at the time. "She's working her butt off."

He put April on the phone. A special-education teacher at Lisle who was to start teaching math this year, she sounded great despite brain damage Sanko later said decimated nearly a quarter of her right hemisphere. Both carotid arteries are completely blocked, yet smaller vessels still carry blood to the impacted area.

"She's a miracle," Sanko said. "Those are the doctor's words."

After physicians finally arrived at a proper balance of medicines, Sorce was released from the hospital. Sanko was reached Aug. 24 as the couple - planning a June 2011 wedding - were en route to Denver International Airport.

The term he remembered was "whiplash recovery."

"The way she has recovered, strokewise, has just been so rapid and amazing, especially physically," the coach said. "We're on our way, and 45 days later she'll finally be able to sleep in her own bed."

Hot days, lighted nightsIt was hot at St. Andrews Golf Country Club in West Chicago, where Montini coach Chris Andriano and offensive coordinator Lewis Borsellino graciously answered a call to explain how cool it was for the Broncos to be playing night football at John L. Duffy Memorial Field. "We actually put first-class lights in with 70-foot poles," said Borsellino, architect of a passing offense that led the Broncos to last year's Class 5A state title. "The place is going to look like daylight when it's done."He said all are thrilled with the prospect of home games under the lights, which debuts in competitive action Sept. 4 against Loyola. Montini's used to night football in a conference where only Immaculate Conception lacks lights, but Broncos backers anticipate high atmosphere and bigger crowds.Andriano said the main change will be in the weekly routine, with players coming in Saturday to view film and Monday being a true practice."I think it will help the coaches more than anything," Andriano said between whacks at the golf ball with playing partners Borsellino and Chuck Porcelli Sr., father of the former Montini lineman now at Northwestern.Next: a turf field possibly as soon as next season. Borsellino said a capital campaign is about midway toward the roughly $1 million necessary. It may be a little pricier than most turf fields, he said, due to the need for rainwater accommodation at landlocked Duffy."I'm getting a lesson in Engineering 101," Borsellino said.Uniting as oneThe start of Friday's opener between Neuqua Valley and Naperville North will feature a ceremonial coin toss with Jerry and Ruth Schlegel, parents of former Neuqua teacher and assistant coach Tom Schlegel, who succumbed to cancer in October 2006.Tom's wife, Julie, and children, Sammy and Nikki, will be flying in from Colorado to be at the game. Also at Naperville North will be one of Tom's friends, former Naperville resident Jim Schrank. Now living in Minnesota, Schrank is a football referee and chief of tonight's crew of officials, all of whom are traveling from Minnesota and will be donating their game checks to the Tom Schlegel Memorial Fund. (A flyer about this fund will be included in tonight's game program.)This all was supposed to happen two years ago, said Naperville North athletic director Doug Smith. Heavy rains postponed the game and the idea."It is always a very competitive game, but it's kind of nice when the kids can play a competitive game and play for something more than a game," said Smith, himself a cancer survivor.Homes away from homeWillowbrook and Hinsdale South will be playing their early home games at other locales, and St. Francis is playing its entire home schedule under lights at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn. In St. Francis' situation rain inevitably floods the field at least once a season, while construction delays in new facilities in Villa Park and Darien are due partially to heavy July rains but mainly to the since-resolved workers' strike."We would have anticipated playing our first game at home prior to that workers' strike," said Willowbrook athletic director Dave Andrews, who noted that the main difference in venues is the coin toss.The Warriors have moved what would have been tonight's home game to Glenbard East. Willowbrook's new stadium should be able to host Downers Grove North next Friday, Andrews said.Hinsdale South's first three games had been scheduled home games but will be moved to Hinsdale Central. The Hornets host Romeoville at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oak Park at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 3, and Leyden on Sept. 17. The Hornets' home debut may not occur until its homecoming Oct. 8 against Downers Grove South.Meanwhile, St. Francis coach Greg Purnell anticipates a great showcase at College of DuPage, where the Spartans play the first of five home games Sept. 3 against DuSable."We want a venue for our fans and students to be able to watch 85 football players, 55 band members, 20 cheerleaders, 20 pompons," he said. "That's about 180 students performing every night, and we want to make sure our student body and our fans are able to watch high school football in an atmosphere where we don't have to worry about canceling and moving it someplace."It takes a programAs usual, York football players and wrestlers - and the Dukes girls gymnasts, too - pitched in to package food for the Northern Illinois Food Bank in St. Charles. The students packed 5,440 pounds of food on July 14 to be delivered to the needy, drawing a complimentary e-mail from York Principal Diana Smith as well as a thank-you note from food bank volunteer manager Tia Milne. Milne noted that the NIFB was named 2010 Food Bank of the Year by the Feeding America hunger relief network.Quote of the preseason"We're just going to close our eyes, grab our tail and hang on," Metea Valley coach Ted Monken said of his first-year varsity program. "That's about all we can do this year, and I hope all the coaches remember what a nice guy I am and don't kick our butts."