Faith, high energy give illness no room
01:45 AM CDT on Sunday, September 20, 2009
When Barry Horn wrote in February about Cody Novak and the cancer that was running wild in him, some characteristics of the Prestonwood Christian Academy senior and his family easily stood out.
For instance, when a biopsy of the malignant tumor that started high on his left leg and had metastasized to his lungs finally was diagnosed by a Harvard pathologist, son and mother enjoyed a typical exchange.
Cody: "Mom, I made it to Harvard!"
Mom: "Only your butt did."
As Kristi Novak explained her family's rules for survival the other day, it's fairly simple: "Faith first, and then a sense of humor."
The two-pronged approach helped them through an ordeal four years ago when Dan Novak died from a heart defect at 47, leaving a wife, daughters Casey and Courtney and a son who would grow to 6-6, 230 pounds and play football and basketball at Prestonwood Christian.
The Novaks believe the same one-two punch – not to mention multiple rounds of chemotherapy and six weeks of radiation – wiped out Cody's cancer this summer.
Not a teeny-tiny cell left. Gone. Just like Cody, now a freshman at Baylor.
The goal of joining his sisters in Waco this fall was Cody's "incentive," Kristi said. He always had something on his mind more pressing than lab tests, treatment and gloom-and-doom reports. The effervescent energy that once drove his mother to distraction ultimately worked in his favor, a lesson Kristi hopes other parents will take to heart with their own high-spirited kids.
"The thing that made him hard to raise," she said of Cody, "is what got him through."
Baylor may never be the same as a result. When not wrapped up in 16 hours a week of business classes, Cody hangs out with friends in fraternities.
"Obviously," he said, "I'm meeting a lot of girls."
This is apparently what he meant by telling his mother he was "taking the sexy to Waco."
But before any Central Texas Baptists get the wrong idea, know that Cody has other plans for his life, post-cancer.
"When I first got diagnosed," he said, "I got this huge realm of peace. I realized there's a reason for this, and you need to use this as a platform.
"My dad always told me a smile could make a difference in someone's day."
Works for his mom, anyway.
"We're supposed to be living with joy," Kristi said, "even in the midst of trauma."
Only in Cody's case, joy ultimately kicks trauma's butt. Pardon my language. These people rub off on you.
• The Cowboys' win over Tampa Bay proved they have viable threats even without T.O. The game also exposed a serious problem against the run. If not corrected against the thundering Giants, it'll be brutal. If it's any consolation, at least it's easy getting under Eli Manning's skin.
• Figuring out the Rangers' outfield for next year should be interesting. Josh Hamilton should be only a part-timer because of wear and tear and inconsistent play. Left to right, it should be Nelson Cruz, Julio Borbon and Marlon Byrd. But Byrd's a free agent and, despite 32 home runs, Cruz isn't a favorite of the manager. He didn't do himself any favors with an unsolicited bunt with two on base Wednesday.
• Darwin Day leads a grassroots effort to keep Tom Hicks from shutting down the Ballpark's Legends of the Game Baseball Museum. Day, a museum tour guide, set up a Web site at www.SaveTheLegends.com.
• Interesting to see Marc Crawford, a noted vein-popper, take a more gingerly approach in early sessions with the Stars. A tough guy can lighten up, as Tom Coughlin proved with the Giants. It doesn't work in reverse order, though Wade Phillips continues to insist otherwise.
• Draft experts say Michael Crabtree won't help himself if he sits out the season and goes into next year's draft, and he'll never get lost money back. Sign, Michael.
• Faithful reader notes that, if Texas' Colt McCoy, Texas Tech's Taylor Potts and Houston's Case Keenum all eventually make a Heisman case for themselves, when's the last time three contenders grew up within 20 miles of each other, as they did around Abilene?
• And then there's Katy High School, which produced SMU's Bo Levi Mitchell and TCU's Andy Dalton all by its lonesome.
• Question: If the Nets are soliciting Russia's richest man, Mikhail Prokhorov and his $9.5 billion, to help build their new arena, should the Rangers ask if he likes baseball? And does Nolan Ryan speak any Russian?
• Not so surprised by Michael Jordan's dismissive remarks at his HOF induction. When I asked him in 1998 about the high school coach who cut him and has since fallen victim to hereditary mental problems, Jordan said, "I don't have time to talk about Pop Herring."
• Just think: If JerryWorld had been built at Fair Park, you could have ridden the new Green Line to the game. The only line to Arlington will be a long one.