{"id":282328,"date":"2026-09-09T16:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T16:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/282328\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T16:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T16:50:11","slug":"jeannette-football-player-taken-to-hospital-for-game-injury-diagnosed-with-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/282328\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeannette football player taken to hospital for game injury diagnosed with cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jeannette football player taken to hospital for game injury was diagnosed with cancer<\/p>\n

\"Jordan<\/a>JEANNETTE, Pa. \u2014<\/p>\n

Jeannette High School junior Dane Simmons has played football for six years. <\/p>\n

Despite his experience, no amount of time on the field could have prepared the 16-year-old for what happened at the season opener on Aug .28. <\/p>\n

\u201cI remember the ball getting snapped and me releasing and just falling to the floor. Then I don’t really remember what happened after that,\u201d Simmons told Pittsburgh\u2019s Action News 4 Reporter Jordan Cioppa. <\/p>\n

Simmons was carried off the field halfway through the first quarter and rushed to UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh with what Jeannette Head Coach Thomas Paulone Jr. said was a suspected head and spinal injury. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime a stretcher comes out, I think that the whole stadium stops, including, you know, us as coaches; you know, we care about our players first as people,\u201d Paulone said. \u201cAnd we just want to make sure that he was okay first and foremost.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Simmons was cleared of injuries, his test results led doctors to a shocking discovery. <\/p>\n

He was diagnosed with B-Cell Leukemia. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was crazy. Especially because I\u2019m not supposed to be at the hospital for cancer; I\u2019m supposed to be there for a football injury. So, knowing that they found that because of what happened is crazy to me,\u201d Simmons said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think we saw a change in him this summer. He was sick and struggling with this for a while. And as coaches, we feel bad about that. But you never think that one of your players has leukemia,\u201d the coach said. <\/p>\n

Simmons spent the last several days at Children\u2019s Hospital while undergoing chemotherapy. <\/p>\n

Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt, who happened to be at the hospital, paid Simmons a visit. <\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Provided<\/p>\n

Dane Simmons with T.J. Watt<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Simmons returned home from the hospital on Tuesday. The Jayhawks football practice ended with a special reunion when Simmons surprised his teammates. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was amazing. I’ve had a lot of them text and reach out to me. All of them reached out to me,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cAnd just being able to see them again, I know, made them feel good and made me feel really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simmons is out for the rest of the season while he focuses on getting better. He said he is hopeful he will be back in his #60 jersey for his senior season. <\/p>\n

Until then, his teammates are wearing the number for him on their helmets. <\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve gotten a lot of love online from everybody,\u201d Simmons said. \u201c\u2026And even people I don’t know reaching out. So, it’s crazy how my story can make an impact on people that even I don’t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simmons\u2019 mom said the doctors anticipate his treatment will last 2.5 years. <\/p>\n

A GoFundMe<\/a> was started to help cover the cost of medical bills and other related expenses. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jeannette football player taken to hospital for game injury was diagnosed with cancer JEANNETTE, Pa. \u2014 Jeannette High…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282329,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[117899,9328,35135,4925,15896,117898,6111,117900,523,73,75,74,11991,3617,37492,21878,78],"class_list":["post-282328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-b-cell-leukemia","tag-cancer","tag-coach","tag-doctor","tag-field","tag-game-injury","tag-hospital","tag-jeannette-football-player","tag-people","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-player","tag-season","tag-simmons","tag-upmc-children","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}