South Meck baseball coach Jon Tuscan, now cancer-free: ‘My dog saved my life’

Sometime next month, South Mecklenburg High baseball coach Jon Tuscan and his wife, Sarah, are expecting their first child.

It’s a girl. Her name will be Ava.

It’s been about 20 months since Tuscan was told his testicular cancer had gone into remission. His doctors tell him that if his scans still look good at the end of this summer, his prognosis for the long term future will look really bright.

“Things are looking up,” Tuscan said.

In the spring of 2013, things looked a lot different.

Tuscan’s baseball team was beginning an unexpected late season push. He was at home one night watching television, when his dog, Mick, a hound mix, thought he heard a noise. Mick, laying on other end of the couch, started barking and jumped up suddenly. He accidentally landed right on Tuscan’s lap.

Tuscan, 31, immediately felt a sharp pain, as if he had been kneed severely in his groin.

“I fell on the floor,” he said. “It hurt so bad.”

The pain never went away, so a week later, Tuscan went to the doctor. Only his primary doctor saw something on the X-ray. So he sent Tuscan to another doctor, who sent him to a specialist, who sent him to another.

After four doctors and a full day driving around town, Tuscan got the diagnosis: He had testicular cancer and needed surgery and aggressive treatment right away.

Without Mick’s bark and leap, well, Tuscan likely wouldn’t be coaching right now.

“My dog saved my life,” he said. “If he doesn’t freak out, I have no reason to go to the doctor.”

Tuscan missed a little time in what turned out to be a magical 2013 season. He had surgery to remove a tumor and went through three cycles of chemo. One session required him to go for six hours every day. He sat in a leather recliner, wrote practice plans and slept. Another session required four hours of treatment on Tuesdays.

Tuscan was back full-time by the 2013 playoffs and led South Mecklenburg to its first state championship since 1989. He was named Observer Coach of the Year.

Last season, the Sabres were 20-8 and reached the third round of the state playoffs. Tuscan admits that, while successful, the 2014 season was a tough.

“It took us a while to start putting things together” after winning the state title in 2013, he said. “Players tried to hold onto to the same way we played and the same roles they had the previous year. I stopped practice one day and said, ‘Guys, we’re not last year’s team.”

This year’s team is different. Only a few players remain from the state title bunch. Tuscan starts freshman Reed Hedberg at third base, freshman Andrew Motsinger at shortstop. Two sophomores, Juan Diaz and Nick Reynosa, start at first base and left field. The Sabres’ center fielder, Lawson Mcarthur, is a junior. Tuscan’s pitching staff? Primarily underclassmen, anchored by juniors Colby Bruce and Christian Umphlett.

But in his fifth year, Tuscan is 93-40 overall and has his team in position for a SoMeck 8 conference title. The Sabres (16-4, 10-2) will play Providence (20-1, 11-1) Tuesday night at Providence for first place. First pitch is at 6:30. Each team has two regular-season games remaining. If South Meck wins out, it wins the championship.

“We’re very young in certain spots,” Tuscan said. “But it’s a scrappy group. They keep finding ways to grind out games.”

And Tuscan is just happy to be coaching them.

“Man, I’m having a blast,” he said. “Everything is going well. I’ve got the all-clear on cancer and I’ve got a little girl on the way. I’m just loving life right now.”

This story was originally published April 27, 2015 at 5:22 PM with the headline "South Meck baseball coach Jon Tuscan, now cancer-free: ‘My dog saved my life’."