A gymnast training in West Allis is reaching the peak of his sport despite an ongoing battle with cancer.
Evan Van Aacken, 15, just qualified for nationals despite a diagnosis of testicular cancer in January.
He’s received two chemotherapy treatments, nonetheless, competed in six different events at a regional competition in Minnesota.
"Because of chemo my endurance and my strength and everything kind of depleted to zero so I had to build that back up to get where I am now," Van Aacken said.
“It was truly amazing because doing six events as a competitive level 10, which is what he is, the highest level in junior Olympics gymnastics, to do all six while going through chemo is pretty hard,” said Ben Jacobs, Van Aacken’s coach.
Van Aacken heads to nationals down in Florida next month.
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