Loyola’s Jordan Hicks playing with pain

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Jordan’s mother, Carla, comes from a family with a history of breast cancer. Her mother died when Carla was 15, and a sister passed two years before. Jordan has missed two seasons after breaking his left ankle twice. | Hicks family

Updated: February 21, 2012 8:32AM

There hasn’t been a time in senior Jordan Hicks’ three years at Loyola without health worries.

He has missed two seasons after breaking his left ankle twice, first as a sophomore and then at the start of last season after a misstep in practice.

But his mother’s four-year battle with breast cancer has pained him more.

“It’s always put things in perspective,’’ the 6-6 forward said. “She keeps fighting every day. My problems are minimal compared to it.

“She’s a best friend as much as my mom. I can text her and talk to her about anything. She feels the same about me.”

It’s why Carla worries more about his injuries and lost playing time and how her health battle affects him.

“I feel so bad for him because he loves basketball and — OK, this is mom talking — he’s such a good player,” said Carla, who raised her only child as a single mom. “The last couple years have been so hard for him, knowing what a good basketball player he is. And it’s so hard for him trying to work through all this.”

Life took a detour for the family in Jordan’s freshman year at Mayo High School in Rochester, Minn., where he was a budding basketball star. His grandfather and father figure, Carla’s dad, succumbed to liver cancer that year.

“It was tough for Jordan, but it changed him and made him grow up,” Carla said of how her son helped care for his grandfather in his last days.

Her own diagnosis two years later was all the more difficult because of her fears about the effect on Jordan.

“I think our lives are so parallel because I lost my mom [to breast cancer] when I was 15 and a sister two years before that [to the disease],” said Carla, 48, the youngest of seven children. “Jordan’s been on the same path.”

The initial months after her diagnosis were positive. Carla had a double mastectomy and follow-up treatment with a positive prognosis.

“But the spring of my freshman year [at Loyola], they found a spot on her lung,” Jordan said. “It’s been a battle to control it.”

Carla later was diagnosed with brain lesions. As she charts a new treatment course, Carla and Jordan continue to learn how to cope with the psychological ups and downs of life with cancer.

“Last year, with my [second] injury, I was able to go home for the whole [winter] break and spend quality time with her,” said Jordan, whose thoughts about skipping college quickly were dismissed by his mom.

“There wasn’t a second when she didn’t say, ‘You need to stay in school and play basketball.’ She wants the best for me. It’s a tough thing because sometimes you think you might be turning your back on what’s going on and it hurts, but this is also my way to make her proud and [tell her] she doesn’t have to worry about me.”

Jordan’s high school coach, Shaun Lang, and his family have become the Hicks’ extended family, helping ease Jordan’s thoughts about not being home for his mom. Her job as a desk supervisor with the Rochester Athletic Club also helps keep her engaged with everyday life, Jordan said.

For her part, Carla is thankful for Jordan’s Chicago basketball family and Loyola’s care.

“You don’t think that’s part of what you do coaching basketball,” Ramblers coach Porter Moser said, “but you’re their extended family, a father figure. You get so close to these young men. I inherited Jordan, but you spend so much time with them, they become your second family.”

Moser has spent special time with Jordan and Carla. He made a point of assuring Carla that Jordan’s education would be paid for even if he suffered another injury.

“I promised her, and it meant so much to her,” he said. “The one thing she doesn’t want is for Jordan to worry and go backward. She’s really a calming and incredibly caring woman.”

Part of the school’s care for Jordan includes counseling.

“He’s the type who would hold things in, like me,” she said. “I’ve gone to counseling, and I thought Jordan needed it, too, so I said, ‘Go and talk to someone, even if it’s about a lousy day at practice.’ ’’

Jordan said all of it has helped.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have those [bad] days, but as the years have gone on, I’ve gotten better at handling it,” he said. “It’s brought a lot of people into my life who I might never have gotten close to. I’ve learned there are positives in everything. You just have to find them.’’