Kevin Sherrington

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In January, when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer one day and underwent surgery the next, Wesley Hill called it "a pretty big shock."

When the cancer came back in June, the shock had spread with it.

"Pretty much everything I was hoping for," Wesley said, "was shot."

All that he'd hoped for was the opportunity to prepare for his senior season of football in Abernathy, a West Texas town of about 3,000 just north of Lubbock.

Wesley is the middle child of John and Lyntha Hill, who grew up in Abernathy and moved right back as soon as John finished veterinary school.

Wesley grew up big and smart. Big enough at 6-2, 190 pounds to play offensive tackle and defensive end for the Class A Antelopes; smart enough to start a few games as a sophomore.

But his prospects seemed remote and secondary with the news that came in June.

Courtesy Robin Youngblood

Wesley Hill (63) stood in uniform with his teammates for the first time this season Oct. 10 as Abernathy prepared to receive the opening kickoff against Littlefield.

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He would need nine weeks of chemotherapy. One week on, two weeks off. On weeks he received treatment, he was so sick he couldn't eat. On off weeks, he'd stuff himself to keep up his weight for football.

Still, he missed all of August and September. Football season came and went on without him.

Not that classmates and friends forgot. They left voice mails and sent text messages. They brought meals. Friends raised $5,000 at a carwash. A knot of 9-year-old girls kicked in $300 from a lemonade stand.

One group hawked yellow wristbands bearing Wesley's name. Another sold black ones imprinted with his No. 63.

On Wesley's birthday in August, when he was still too ill from the drugs to celebrate, a cheerleader took a video camera around town and recorded its best wishes.

When football seemed so far away, Wesley's coach, Tony Truelove, brought his jersey to the hospital to give him something to focus on.

When the chemo made Wesley's hair fall out, teammates and coaches shaved their heads.

"It's all those little things in life," Lyntha said, explaining what it all meant, "that you don't learn are major until a time like this.

"Sometimes it takes a bad thing for you to see that."

Finally, on Oct. 6, Wesley returned to practice. Four days later, against Littlefield, he played the first game of his senior season.

Weakened by his ordeal, he was supposed to go in for a few plays on defense. But a starter got hurt, and Wesley played more than expected.

Courtesy Shelly Nutt

Wesley Hill gets a hug from cheerleader Stormy Nutt, who made him a birthday video of townspeople wishing him well.

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"I kinda wish I'd been in better shape," he said, softly. "I tried really hard for 'em."

But life doesn't always play like a fairly tale, as Wesley knows. In his first game back, Abernathy lost, 36-35, on a last-minute two-point conversion.

"Losing like that really hurts," Truelove said. "And then after the game you see Wesley's ol' bald head over there, and suddenly you have a greater appreciation for things.

"This transcends football."

Stories like this one generally do. Harper Lee, a small-town girl herself, once famously wrote, "Neighbors bring food with death and flowers with sickness and little things in between."

In Abernathy, they brought hope to Wesley Hill. There was nothing small about it.

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