News and Events from the Loveland, Ohio Area
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Loveland, Ohio – Loveland resident Alicia Blum has asked that Loveland Magazine share this information about Loveland school bus driver Laura Kissick who is fighting cancer.
Laura’s support squad has set up a tee shirt fundraiser through RP Diamond and also set up a “meal train” asking for help.
by Cassie Mattia
Loveland, Ohio – The LHS Women’s Basketball Team is still doing it #ourway while keeping their head coach #parkerstrong!
The 2020-2021 LHS Women’s Basketball season was quite the eventful one! The Tigers not only captured the ECC title for the second year in a row during a chaotic Pandemic but were also able to successfully motivate their coach, Darnell Parker as he battled cancer and dealt with the loss of his father giving him the strength to not only beat Cancer but also win the ECC Coach of the Year title for the second year in a row.
Here at Loveland Magazine, we decided it would be a great idea to catch up with Coach Darnell Parker via Zoom to see just how he felt about the 2020-2021 basketball season, the COVID-19 Pandemic, and his personal journey with cancer.
So without further ado, Loveland Magazine TV brings to you our loyal readers, “One-On-One Zoom Style With Darnell Parker!” Believe me, you don’t want to miss this inspiring interview!
Click below to view the Zoom interview now!
Thank you to team photographer Gayle Rothmeeler for allowing the use of her wonderful photos during this Zoom interview!
By Zach Connor, ESP Media
Loveland, Ohio – Being a competitive cheer coach is hard work. Being an occupational therapist for special needs children is tough. Fighting cancer takes toughness. Doing all three at the same time? Seemingly impossible, yet at Loveland High School, it’s exactly what Varsity Cheerleading Coach Emily Christman has been doing for the past year.
Emily is a Xavier University grad where she cheered for the Muskies basketball team while working on her Master’s degree for Occupational Therapy. She made her way to Loveland in 2015 filling in for a cheerleading coach on maternity leave, parlaying into full time coaching status by 2017. Everything was moving along as planned until October of 2019 when Christman’s life would be forever changed.
A trip to the doctor and multiple scans and tests would reveal that Emily Christman had cancer in the breast and lymph nodes. “The entire month of October was just a whirlwind…and by November I was starting chemo.” Christman would require treatments every three weeks, receiving six of them in total.
“I feel very fortunate because I didn’t really have some of the heavy hitting side effects that some people can get.” As if the pandemic wasn’t enough to deal with, fast-forward to March of 2020 when Emily would need a double mastectomy. The next few months would see more radiation treatments through the month of May, and even now Emily still has to go in for a treatment once every three weeks, which will last until January.
This story is re-published with the permission of the Loveland High School Athletic Department where it was first published.
Never allowing herself to get down about it all she is quick to point out that even these current treatments are not nearly as taxing as they might seem. “Again, all things considered, it really was probably the best of the worst situation.”
While one might think a cancer diagnosis would slow someone down, it seemed to have the opposite effect on Emily as she was just recently married in August, so for those of you keeping track, that would be two full time jobs, fighting off cancer, and planning/getting married all happening simultaneously.
Her diagnosis hasn’t slowed down the ability to get the best out of Loveland Tigers competitive cheer squad either: 2018 saw the team place 3rd in the Eastern Cincinnati Conference (ECC), and 2019 had them climb up to 2nd place. “There’s only one spot left to climb and we definitely have the girls to do it…it’s just an awesome group that we have.”
Emily could not have had a better attitude when I spoke with her about everything she’s been through and she is truly a success story and someone Loveland Athletic Director Brian Conatser is happy to have. As for the secret behind making the oftentimes chaotic schedule work and the long car rides between jobs? Emily kept it simple, “that’s what podcasts and E-books are for.”
by Cassie Mattia
Loveland, Ohio – Loveland is full of individuals who inspire us in one way or another. Whether it’s through simple acts of kindness, like planting beautiful flowers throughout downtown, or holding events that bring the community together for a good cause, Loveland people are always giving back. Chris Dombroski, a 2016 Loveland High School graduate, has made it his personal mission to not only give back to the Loveland community but give back to an entire community of those fighting cancer.
Dombroski has always had a passion for the city of Loveland as his hometown has provided him with some of the best memories.
“I have lived in Loveland my entire life before moving to Oxford, Ohio to start my educational career at Miami University, and always consider Loveland to be my home. I graduated from Loveland High School in 2016 and I am very proud of where I come from,” Dombroski said, “From the coaches on the field to the teachers in the classroom to the mentors I am lucky enough to have in our great community, I am very proud to be a Loveland Tiger. One of my main motivations as to why I want to be successful is to have the opportunity to give back to the great community I am from and hopefully inspire other members of our community to find their passions and never stop until they are fulfilled. I think what makes Loveland so special is the people in our community. Our community has helped mold me into the man I am today and I have been lucky enough to get to know so many amazing individuals along the way, each who have made a positive impact on my life,” Dombroski added.
Registration for The Scramble Against Cancer golf outing closes Friday April 5th. (www.heavensgamefoundation.org/events).
Growing up in Loveland, Dombroski was inspired daily by his father, John Dombroski, to “enhance the lives of others through acts of kindness and generosity.” After Dombroski’s father passed in March of 2018 from stage IV colon cancer, he came to the realization that now was his opportunity to create something that not only he could be proud of, but his dad could look down and be proud of as well. That’s when the “Heaven’s Game Foundation” was created.
“Following my father’s passing, I realized I had the opportunity to make a positive impact in the lives of others and honor my dad’s memory, while incorporating members of the Loveland community and passionate college students,” Dombroski explained, “This combined with the national impact of our partner foundation, The V Foundation for Cancer Research, I feel like the Heaven’s Game Foundation team has two incredibly unique aspects that differentiate us from other foundations. In short, our foundation utilizes passionate college students to achieve victory over cancer by providing a national impact delivered locally.”
The “Heaven’s Game Foundation,” which is a Cincinnati-based charitable organization, is unique in that the foundation is run entirely by young adults who are dedicated to saving the lives of those battling cancer. Dombroski says that one of his foundation’s main goal is to raise money for cancer research.
“When I created this foundation I based it on the idea of creating a platform for college students to collaborate in the name of impacting the lives of others battling cancer while recognizing that one of the primary difficulties with this positioning is a lack of developed networks for college and overcoming that obstacle through our association and relationship with the V Foundation,” Dombroski said, “To me, this foundation represents hope for the future as it is run entirely by the next generation of world leaders and people who are passionate about living in a world where no one has to feel the pain of losing a loved one to cancer and we are motivated to work until that dream is a reality.”
Since the foundation’s start, it has gained quite a bit of support as well as a dedicated following here in the Loveland community. The “Heaven’s Game Foundation” is run by a team of 11 college students that attend universities in the Midwest and a team of adult advisories from the Loveland Community.
“What is particularly special to me is the fact that some of these college students happen to be fellow Loveland alums, passionate members of our great community, and lifelong friends of mine,” Dombroski said, “Additionally, seeing as we are a student-run organization, I have also established an advisory board of adult members of the Loveland community who serve as advisors for the foundation through providing insight, assistance, and recommendations and opening their networks for the benefit of the foundation. I very much enjoy collaborating with the people and businesses in our community in an effort to keep the foundation within the community.”
Dombroski and the “Heaven’s Game Foundation” has a couple of huge focuses right now, which is their flagship event, The Scramble Against Cancer, which will be held at TPC River’s Bend at 1 p.m. on April 15th, and the establishment of a yearly scholarship for a graduating senior at Loveland High School called the “Heaven’s Game Foundation” Impact Scholarship.
“The Scramble Against Cancer golf outing on April 15th is an opportunity for members of the community to come together for a good cause at the premier golfing venue in Cincinnati. It is an opportunity for community members and businesses to support the ambitions of college students whose mission is to impact others. The profits of the outing will be donated to our partner charity, The V Foundation for Cancer Research, and will be put towards funding cancer research endeavors of National Cancer Institutes,” Dombroski explained, “The golf outing represents something my dad and I enjoyed doing together before his passing and opens the door for a light-hearted and fun day for community members to enjoy each other’s company, play golf at amazing facilities, and support a great cause. It is an opportunity to start establishing our organization as a member of our great community and to honor the life of my father and thank all of the people and businesses who chose to support our team’s ambition.”
Dombroski and his team are truly excited to see what the future holds for the “Heaven’s Game Foundation,” and couldn’t think of a better way to honor Dombroski’s father’s life.
“I am inspired by my father and the fact that I have the opportunity to make a positive impact in the lives of others with a group of like-minded college students who are entirely selfless and not at all interested in the glory, recognition, etc. of this foundation but are inspired by their desire to help others,” Dombroski said.
If you would like to learn more about the Heaven’s Game Foundation or register for the Scramble Against Cancer golf outing go to www.heavensgamefoundation.org/events. You can also visit @heavensgamefoundation on Facebook, @heavens_game_foundation on Instagram, or www.jimmyv.org to see how you can get more involved.
