by John Sorce
john.sorce@theleaven.org
OVERLAND PARK — Blue Valley West High School graduate and Church of the Ascension parishioner Jack Punswick was one of the top high school swimmers in the state as a junior.
He claimed the Class 6A state title in the 100-yard breaststroke in 2024 and had his sights set on a repeat in 2025.
But Jack’s senior year brought greater challenges than many people experience in a lifetime after being diagnosed with pediatric cancer in September.
His faith has helped him through it.
Rooted in faith
The Catholic faith has been a big part of the Punswick family. They have been parishioners of Ascension in Overland Park for over 20 years and Jack attended the school there through eighth grade.
Both of Jack’s parents, Eric and Karen, were teaching at Blue Valley Northwest when Msgr. Thomas Tank was assigned to Ascension.
Msgr. Tank had been at Church of the Nativity in Leawood, where Karen grew up attending. But the family felt called to Ascension after his move.
That’s where they’ve been ever since. And Jack was an altar server from fifth grade right up until his diagnosis.
“I’ve always felt the sense of community at Ascension is really close,” he said. “It’s fun to see my parents talking to people after Mass and introducing me to new people.”
One of Jack’s assistant coaches, Kat Thurston, is a parishioner of St. Michael the Archangel in Leawood. A former coach at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Overland Park, Bishop Miege High School in Roeland Park and St. James Academy in Lenexa, she sees things in Jack that others in a public school may not.
“The way that Jack is subtly able to show glory to God is so apparent to me,” she said. “He looks up to God before every race and it serves as a constant reminder that it is so easy to do something so simple to give glory to the person who deserves it the most.”
Things take a turn
The summer before his senior year is when things started to escalate. Jack, who spends a lot of time swimming at Black Bob Bay in Olathe, said he noticed a few swollen lymph nodes in his neck.
He was initially diagnosed with pneumonia, and the family wasn’t too concerned at first because of how hard he was pushing himself in the pool.
But on the way back from his first college visit to the University of Nebraska Omaha in early September, Jack realized the lumps in his neck had gotten bigger. He went to see his pediatrician the next morning.
He was in Children’s Mercy a few hours later.
The diagnosis
A series of computed tomography (CT) scans revealed masses throughout his neck and chest area, including one on his thymus that Jack described as “the size of a grapefruit.”
He was diagnosed with Stage 2 Hodgkin’s lymphoma on Sept. 12 and started his first chemo treatment a week later.
Jack quickly shifted his focus to his faith.
“I cried for a little bit. But then, my focus went toward getting through this,” he said. “I knew if this is what God had in store for me, he would help me overcome it. Relying on that and my great support system, I knew everything was going to be fine.”
A lot of that support system came from their Ascension Parish family. Associate pastor Father Colm Larkin came to visit Jack in the hospital.
Karen got emotional when retelling the story.
“He said, ‘You know, Jack, God can bring good from anything. If you allow God to teach you how to suffer well, then you will learn the greatest and hardest lesson of all.’”
“That has really been our focus since then — both wrestling with what does that mean and how do we live that out — while also understanding that suffering well is not easy,” she said. “There’s no suffering well without profound suffering first and then choosing through God’s grace to not stay there.
“You can’t ignore it, but choosing to turn outward and pour into others has really been our focus through this.”
The comeback
Chemotherapy would be an arduous process for Jack. He would undergo treatments every other Thursday from Sept. 19 through Dec. 26. But that didn’t stop Jack from wanting to get back in the pool for his senior year.
He would attend practice Monday through Wednesday doing what he could before chemo knocked him out through the weekend. Then he would have a week and a half of practice before his next chemo session and repeating the process.
“He had the mindset that he was going to be positive and attack it,” said Tobin Sample, Jack’s head coach. “It was his goal to get the team to state and maybe win another state championship in the breaststroke.
“He wasn’t going to let this hold him back and he was set on coming to practice and improving throughout the season.”
His first meet would come on Dec. 5 in a dual against Blue Valley North High School at home.
Despite still undergoing chemo treatments and not having the strength to lift himself out of the pool, Jack won the breaststroke and qualified for state in that first meet.
“I was just so proud of him no matter what happened,” Karen said. “After he won, I stood up and roared — cheered is not the right word — and saw his teammates pull him out of the pool. I sat back down and sobbed.
“A teammate’s grandfather who we didn’t previously know was sitting behind us. He swam in college and has been around swimmers for a long time. He said that was one of the most amazing things he’s ever seen.”
While unable to repeat as a state champion, Jack ended up finishing second in the breaststroke at his final high school swim meet.
“He’s always been such a polite kid, but I think learning how to deal with adversity and having a lighthearted view of it and turning to his faith, family and teammates shows a lot of maturity,” said assistant coach Jordan Jacobs.
National recognition
Jack was honored with the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Spirit of Sport Award on June 28 in Chicago.
He initially found out about the award in March while at a club sectional meet in Columbia, Missouri.
“I was about to go warmup and my athletic director called and let me know,” he said. “It means a lot to be recognized for the adversity I’ve been through, and it represents the passion and drive that I wanted to display to make a difference for my team.”
“We started reading about the other kids that were regional winners and were amazed at their stories,” Eric added. “It’s amazing how these teenagers used sports to overcome their setbacks and find some normalcy in their lives.
“Every one of those individuals is a champion and Jack is just one chapter of that amazing story. And that is the beauty of having athletics as part of our schools.”
The road ahead
The future for Jack is still up in the air. He rang the bell on April 8 after scans showed no evidence of cancer and, after graduating from Blue Valley West in May, he plans on taking a gap year to regain his strength before considering his college options.
Jack hopes to pursue physical therapy and continue swimming at the next level, but he recently completed his certified nurse aide (CNA) training and is currently working as a restorative aide.
He has also been doing public speaking to raise awareness on pediatric cancer. He has spoken to a few local foundations and has more arrangements set up for the second half of the year.
It was something that nobody saw coming.
“Public speaking is not something that has ever been in his wheelhouse,” Karen said. “So, for him to be able to truly give back out of the water is another fruit that none of us saw coming when he was diagnosed.”
Jack has become an inspiration to many as just a teenager, including to his own parents.
“I look at my son and am so proud of him,” Eric said. “I don’t know how I would have done what he’s done, either in my youth or today.
“I sometimes get caught thinking about how we might look back on this down the road and see all the fruits that came from it. He’s an inspiration to a lot of people.”
Jack has learned a lot through all of this. But his best piece of advice when facing what appear to be overwhelming odds, he said, is to find one positive thing from each day, regardless of the circumstances.
“Find something in each day that you consider a win,” he said. “A big quote for me is ‘365 times 0 is 0, but 365 times 1 is 365.’ So, if you can find one good thing from each day, that is infinitely better than doing nothing.”
