STERLING, Colo. — A 12-year-old dealing with a stage four cancerous brain tumor took the mound Friday to throw a pitch more important than any tossed in a game.

Jacoby Kramp, a 12-year-old sixth grader from Denver, threw the first pitch at the Northeastern Junior College baseball game in Sterling, CO. Just six months ago, Jacoby discovered he had a grade four cancerous brain tumor.

Jacoby’s dad, Scott Kramp said Jacoby started getting headaches early November of 2021.

“One morning he woke up and had a bad headache. He was howling in pain. He threw up,” Scott Kramp said. “We took him to the ER, and they did an MRI to rule out the 'scary stuff,' as they called it, and within 15 minutes the doctor was back and said he has a massive brain tumor.

Kramp said doctors explained this type of tumor is only seen about 15 to 20 times a year in the U.S.

“They removed about 90 percent of his tumor with surgery, and after they analyzed it they called it glioblastoma multiform,” Scott Kramp said. “Which is a very aggressive type of brain cancer, they grade it one through four, with four being the most aggressive, and Jacoby’s was a grade four.”

Kramp said from that point on Jacoby went to Children’s Hospital in Denver, and within 10 days of him being diagnosed with a brain tumor, he had surgery. The surgery removed 90 percent of the tumor.

“After the surgery, he started radiation treatment first and went through 33 sessions of that over the course of about six weeks.” Scott Kramp said.

Kramp said Jacoby goes to Children’s Hospital every three weeks for amino therapy.

Jacoby said his favorite sport is baseball and he has been looking forward to throwing the pitch at NJC.

“I play first base for my team in Parker, they’re called Blaze” Jacoby Kramp said.

Scott Kramp said he is very thankful for Coach Kachel and the NJC Athletic Administration for setting up this opportunity for Jacoby to throw the first pitch.

The NJC Athletic Director wrote a letter to the NJCAA and got a one-time exemption for Jacoby to come out and be a part of the team and throw the first pitch at the game.

“We saw the story about Jacoby and what he was going through, so we reached out to try and see what we could do,” Baseball Head Coach Andrew Kachel said. “We knew he was going to go through the first round of chemo, and we weren’t sure come May how things would be. We kept in touch and fortunately things are going great and he’s been doing better and better and he made it through the first round.”

Kachel said he enjoyed seeing Jacoby spend the day being a kid.

“It’s been a really neat day, more so for the boys to see what Jacoby is going through and how brave and strong he is. Just to see Jacoby smile, and be a kid, which at 12-years-old that’s all he should be worried about” Kachel said. “It’s been fun just to watch the day with him, taking batting practice and interacting with the boys. We’re so blessed and we’re happy he’s here to be with us today and throw out the first pitch. We’re just happy that we could hopefully provide a neat experience and a fun day for him and his family for everything that they’ve been battling though.”

Jacoby's family was thankful and very positive.

“This has been a tough five months for him but really he’s feeling good,” Scott Kramp said. “The important thing is he’s feeling good right now he’s not having headaches, the medicine is managing it.”

To learn more about Jacoby and his family visit https://www.jacobystrong.com/ or to support Jacoby donate here.  

https://gofund.me/7b839e70