Le Moyne College Stories

Patrick Wiese ’14 was preparing to return to the Heights for his senior year as the captain of the baseball team when he received a staggering diagnosis. He had osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer.

Then 21, Wiese had the tumor removed, along with his knee, femur and several ligaments and tendons. He tackled that surgery – along with physical therapy and chemotherapy –with an athlete’s grit and determination. He wrote at the time of his cancer, “ … it cannot cripple love and it cannot kill friendship. It cannot shatter hope. It can only strengthen those things.”

Wiese’s dream of playing professional baseball was transformed to one of helping others, especially the approximately 800 people who are diagnosed with osteosarcoma annually. He founded the Patrick Wiese Foundation, whose mission is to promote healthy minds, bodies and souls. It offers support for patients and their families, as well as for cancer research.

He was honored for his work with the 2014 TD Ameritrade Fan’s Choice Award. It was presented to him at the College Home Run Derby in Omaha, Neb.