By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

RESERVE — When Yussef Jasmine heard that universally dreaded word — cancer — last summer, a singular fear leapt to the forefront of his mind.

But it wasn’t the fear you might think.

“I didn’t want to miss basketball,” said Jasmine. “As far as the chemo, the treatment, I was like, ‘Can it wait until after the season?’”

Jasmine, in his third year as East St. John’s head boys’ basketball coach, wouldn’t get that particular wish. After being diagnosed with testicular cancer a weakened Jasmine was forced to leave his team early in the season in order to recover from his chemotherapy treatments. After being sidelined for five weeks, he returned to the sideline for good.

And he returned cancer free.

“I knew that day would come,” said Jasmine of the day he learned the cancer was gone.

Today, Jasmine prepares his team for its own uphill challenge, a date with No. 6 Jesuit in the first round of the Class 5A state playoffs. The Wildcats are only a few days removed from playing rival Hahnville for the District 6-5A championship and came seconds away from seizing a district crown for only the second time in school history. The first was last season.

But getting to this point wasn’t easy.

East St. John began the season with a 7-11 mark in non-district play, the majority of games coming with Jasmine not on the sideline.

“I thought I’d just go through my treatments and be there for every practice, every game,” said Jasmine. “I thought I could fight through it.”

But during an early season tournament at Ponchatoula, he realized he couldn’t guide his team as he needed to do.

“I had felt bad days before. I tried to push myself,” said Jasmine. “But I had nothing. I couldn’t get emotionally up; I couldn’t get on my players like I needed to.”

It was after that game he told his team he would have to step aside for a while.

“He didn’t want us to worry. He just wanted us to play hard,” said senior guard Kaylon Placide, ESJ’s leading scorer. “When we found out for the first time, it was a total shock. Nobody knew.”

Without their leader, the Wildcats struggled. East St. John lost six games by two points or less, eventually entering district play with a losing record.

“It felt a little empty without him,” said senior forward Kalen Henderson, “like a piece of our team was missing. We didn’t have him making those late game adjustments.”

Said senior center Patrick Gales: “I wasn’t playing as well. I kept thinking about it.”

But it would pass. Jasmine finished his treatments and returned to the team with two games remaining before district play began. The Wildcats battled for first place throughout 6-5A play and finished 7-3 as the runner-up.

As heavy an ordeal as it was on Jasmine and his family, his mind just never strayed that far from his team.

Part of the reason was he didn’t believe his time on earth was close to finished.

“I think (the confidence in his recovery) comes from my relationship with God. I’m still a young man,” said Jasmine, now 31. “Sometimes people mistake me for my (players). I just knew I’ve got so much more to do in life.”

On Jan. 26, Jasmine received word the treatments had worked and he was completely cancer free.

“Every day, I just kept telling myself, ‘It’ll be over today. I’ll be back in the gym with my kids,’” Jasmine said. “It was never a matter of, ‘Today, I might die.’ I expected it to be over.”

The cancer now behind him, Jasmine looks at it as an example of overcoming adversity, something his team now looks to do on a different level.

“It’s just a battle I had to overcome, just like the battle of the season,” he said. “When you hear cancer, you think ‘defeated.’ People look at us as a 27 seed going against the number six team and think we’ve got no chance. But we expect to win. To us, a win won’t be an upset.

“Right now,” he added, “I’m so excited. I feel like I’m a player again.”