Published: May 07, 2008 11:43 pm            

Area native shrugs off chemo to win 5K race

The fact that Dave Rovansek finished 24th in Sunday’s Race for Hope is an impressive accomplishment on its own merit.

The 34-year-old Westmont Hilltop graduate was among a field of 7,000 runners in a 5K race in Washington D.C. To place 24th in a time of 19:50 is quite a feat.

But perhaps of greater significance was that Rovansek was the top finisher among brain-cancer survivors. The Race for Hope raises funds for brain-tumor research.

Rovansek, who last year had a golf ball-sized cancerous tumor removed from his brain, was in the midst of five consecutive days of chemotherapy on the day of the race. But he found inner strength.

“I started out and felt pretty good. There was a lot of good energy with all the brain-tumor survivors and the support there. I felt good,” said Rovansek, who resides in Berlin, Md., where he had worked as a civil engineer prior to his cancer. “I got a good pace going and just kept it up.”

As the race neared the finish line, Rovansek and other cancer survivors wearing special yellow shirts saw crowds of cheering supporters. Among those were Rovansek’s family.

“All the survivors were wearing yellow shirts. The crowd could see me (near the front of the pack) and they were cheering me on. I was tired. I was proud of myself.

“I had passed my family with the rest of the crowd,” he added. “I’ve had great support the whole time through. I’m fortunate.”

Rovansek had been a familiar figure in the area’s amateur hockey scene throughout the 1990s, first as a star at Westmont Hilltop and later on Ohio University’s national championship Division I club team. Many former teammates and coaches have contacted Rovansek since he fell ill.

“I’ve gotten support from all kinds of people who I hadn’t talked to regularly for a long time,” said Rovansek. “I got back in touch with people. The community here in Berlin also has been great. It’s been as good an experience, I guess, as brain cancer could be. You have to stay positive.”

That seemed impossible on Aug. 17. During a family vacation to North Carolina’s Outer Banks, Rovansek nearly drowned after having a seizure. His brother, Ron, pulled him out of the water.

“It was a complete shock. I had a seizure in the ocean,” he said. “Ten days later I was in surgery. It was a golf-ball sized tumor removed from my head at Johns Hopkins Hospital (in Baltimore). It turned out to be a cancerous tumor after the pathology was done.

“It’s just a real shock. Everything stops and your health becomes your only concern. I’ve had great support here in Berlin and at home. Everyone’s been fantastic. I’ve been really lucky.”

He credited his wife, Marcy, as well as his father, Ron, and mother, Nancy. His sisters Wendy Grome and Ann Aiken, and brother.

Rovansek hopes to return to work soon and probably will continue running.

“I’ve got one more month of chemotherapy,” he said. “I’ve gone through the full 33 radiation treatments and six months of chemotherapy. I have a MRI at the end of June. I expect that will show no new tumor growth, and hopefully I can get back to a regular schedule and get back to all the things I enjoy.”

        

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