By Teresa Varley
Steelers.com

 

Photos of Lupus Loop

 

Practice had been over for at least 20 minutes, but offensive tackle Willie Colon remained on the field. His pale grey t-shirt was three colors darker as it was covered in sweat. His forehead glistened as the sun beat down on him. Sweat poured down his cheeks.

 

He stood still for a moment, his hands on his hips, catching his breath again. And then, he took off running one more time. The muscles in his legs had to be pounding after a two-hour practice, but he didn’t stop him from getting in a little extra work.

 

After all, how could it.

 

How could he not run those extra few yards, how could he not push himself a little harder when he knows at home in the Bronx, New York his mother, Jean Davis, was pushing herself even harder.

 

Davis is a strong woman. She is a fighter. But she faces a tough battle on a daily basis. She suffers from Lupus, a chronic, inflammatory disease in which the body’s immune system fails to serve its normal protective functions and instead forms antibodies that attack healthy tissues and organs.

 

It’s a battle she has been fighting for a long time. It came to light on the day Colon’s sister Joy was headed off to college. She suffered a stroke and the diagnosis of Lupus soon followed. Colon was only in the first grade, faced with the fear of what’s going to happen to his mom, a single-parent raising three kids.

 

 “It was a tough transition,” said Colon. “They said she had one foot in the grave. We made plans to do a lot of things. I took it the hardest out of the whole family. I looked up to her. I was close to her. I took it the hardest. It was one of my inner demons growing up. It was tough. I learned to deal with it along the way.”

 

Instead of succumbing to the life-threatening effects it was having on her, Davis fought back. She would always take her kids to sports practice. She would be there for their games. She would support them in any way that she could.   

 

But it wasn’t easy. There were times when she would break a bone just with a simple fall because of the weakness. There were times she wasn’t able to do the daily things kids depend on a mom to do because she was so weak. Joy would help out when she was home from college and Davis’ twin sister, Joan, was a major factor in holding things together. They helped care for Willie and his younger brother Antonio when mom couldn't.

 

It angered Colon to see what his mom was going through.

 

“I developed anger toward it because I didn’t understand why this was happening to my mother,” said Colon. “I didn’t understand, I wondered what we did to have this happen. I had a lot of anger inside of me. I guess that’s the why I am the way I am now. I think that was the hardest part dealing with. I didn’t know why. But I know God has a plan for us and I am blessed to be where I am now.”

 

Recently things have become a bit tougher. Davis was hospitalized when Colon was going into his sophomore year at Hofstra because her kidney plates were low. The only way to keep going was to begin dialysis. It was then that Colon truly understood how serious things were for his mom.

 

Three days a week she gets in a cab and heads from the Bronx to Harlem for treatment. She has a needle that Colon describes as being the size of his finger injected into her. It’s a draining process, but the way she handles it inspires Colon.

 

“She is a trooper. She deals with a lot,” he said. “Some days I call and she can barely speak because she is fatigued. Some days she is up and at it, running around doing things. If affects her. At times when I get fatigued or mentally drained, I imagine what she goes through that gives me energy. If my mother can do this on a day in, day out basis, I have to be able to focus in and get it done. She is my motivation from that aspect.”

 

Colon is only human, though. He works at a job that requires physical demands every day. He gets tired. There are times when he needs a break. There are times when he wants to call it a day. It’s those times that he thinks about his mom and gets mad at himself.

 

“I lot of times when I see myself slacking or lagging butt, it ticks me off a lot,” said Colon. “I don’t think I could go through what she does through. She is still back home in the Bronx in the environment that we live in and the lack of things that there are in the neighborhood as far as support and security.

 

“She is scared of elevators so she walks up the stairs after dialysis. She is a battle ax. It amazes me when I stop and think she comes from the doctor, walks up five flights of stairs, prepares dinner and goes about her day.”

 

Colon is now going to battle to help his mom and those who suffer from Lupus. He was the honorary chair for the Lupus Loop, a walk in Pittsburgh this past weekend that raises funds to help enable leading researchers to find the cause and cure for lupus, create programs to support lupus patients, help to educate healthcare professionals on all aspects of lupus and provide current information on lupus to the general public.

 

For him, it’s finally a chance to do something that can really make a difference for his mom and others who suffer from the disease. And it means a lot to his mom.

 

“She is very happy. She tells me every day she is proud,” said Colon. “I did this not just for her. She goes to dialysis and there are little girls, teenage girls affected by it. People don’t talk about it and understand it. It is one of the biggest things that affect minority women.

 

“She sees I understand what she is going through and this is why I am doing it. There is a bigger picture to it. I want people to know it’s a true disease. I want to fight for it.”

 

As he wiped away the last beads of sweat, you just knew, it’s a fight he wants to win more than anything.

 

Willie Colon's family all took part in the Lupus Loop. Shown are Antonio (brother), Joan (aunt), Willie, Jean (mom), James (brother-in-law), Joy (sister) and a camera-shy Bishop.