To get Dylan Zimmerman, it’d be special to progress in his Class 2A mount into the coveted “Parade of Champions” which presents the finalists Saturday night at the Pepsi Center.

But to walk under the lights together with his dad and coach, Mark, who has been battling with cancer for over three decades? That’s exactly what the Hayden sophomore is really grinding , as wrestling has functioned as inspiration and distraction for the household amid Mark’so conflict.

Mark was diagnosed with throat cancer at January 2017, along with the cancer spread over the previous calendar year. The 52-year-old went through 55 rounds of radiation along with three rounds of chemotherapy causing him to lose over 50 pounds.

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“It was hard to see him because he s been large, powerful dad,” Dylan said. “But it brought us closer as a family, it made us powerful, it made me more powerful as a young man. We knew we needed to help him and support him and lift him up. To put him into the Parade of Champions — which could be amazing to have him. ”

And the finals aren’t a pipe dream for Dylan, who placed third at 113 pounds. This was right about once the family discovered a quarter-size lump on Mark’s throat ; by May, his health care situation was increasingly dire.

“We thought we were handling it,” wife and mom, Gayle Zimmerman, said, “but blew upward and spread. ”

The blitz of radiation Mark went through his hearing and his attention. It also left his voice a low grumble, his voice mostly indistinguishable unless he s talking forcefully right into your ear. But he does only that through Dylan’s fits with his other kid, 20-year-old Drake, who also functions as an assistant coach for Hayden.

Mark yells into Drake’s ear, then Drake cries directions to Dylan. That’s been their way season, as it was Thursday when Dylan opened his second Pepsi Center appearance with a pin at the preliminaries. Father and son embraced using the former soaking it , following the match.

“Win or lose, I strive to not put pressure on himbecause he puts enough stress on himself,” Mark said. “(Wrestling) gives me something to look ahead, because cancer is tough … So I’m feeling great, considering. I m hoping to get my weight back. And my voice, ideally that comes back eventually. ”

Gayle, the stone of the household, confessed the burden Dylan has taken on this season.

“He’s been much more stressed than a year ago,” Gayle stated. “He’s one to have been worried, but this yearit’s been a little different because he s placing stress. He wants to do it for dad more than anything, and that he wants to perform better than last year. ”

As the household leans in on every other through wrestling — Gayle photos each match, whilst sister Darbi does the the local community has encouraged them, too. That contained a benefit dinner for Mark last fall, as well as a GoFundMe campaign that’s raised over $7,000 for his medical costs.

“We have family and friends constantly making us dinner all the time, and there was the (benefit) dinner, and there’s been other sorts of showings of support,” Dylan said. “The community has been really terrific. ”

That sort of support isn granted Mark’s track album at a community that he raised and was born . An associate of Moffat County’s country championship team in 1985, Mark co-founded Moffat County Youth Wrestling at 2012, which currently serves as the feeder platform for high school plans at the county. He also s been an assistant coach at Moffat County along with Hayden, and is well-known around the area for his family business, Bullseye Taxidermy.

Mark’s currently undergoing rounds of immunotherapy, together with plans to have another scan in mid-March, at which stage the household will understand when he s cancer free. Meanwhile they’ll hope, pray and origin as tough as for Dylan this weekend… with one person enjoying.

“It’d mean everything for him to create the playoffs,” Mark said, tears welling up. “And when he doesn’t make it, then I’m okay with that too. ”

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