"Sara (Kerrigan) is fighting like a tiger," Aquinas High School religion teacher Mark Koehne announced Friday to cheers from the student body. "Hayley (Born) just learned she's cancer free."
Then he went backstage.
He emerged wearing shorts and flipping nun-chucks. Steam covered the stage. He chased a phantom opponent, flipping the chains at a blur, transferring from hand to hand. The students went berserk.
Then he dropped the nun-chucks. He did cartwheels across the stage. The students laughed and clapped.
Then he went Harlem Globetrotters with a basketball.
Then he hula-hooped frenetically.
Finally, he hurled bags of cinnamon rolls into the crowd as students, already giddy about the pending start of spring break, launched into deeper euphoria and elbowed each other in pursuit of rolls.
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The stunts by Koehne, a martial arts enthusiast and 10-year veteran teacher, were punishment - or reward - for his earning the most money of any teacher for Cash for Cancer.
Aquinas' National Honor Society started the campaign a month ago to raise money for three students, two of them still at the school, who've been diagnosed with cancer of the lymphatic system.
Hoping to raise $1,500, the school got $6,500 in donations and presented the check Thursday to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Kerrigan, vice-president of National Honor Society at Aquinas, continues treatment for her cancer. Doctors discovered new tumors near her cheek. She'll undergo two weeks of radiation treatment and, possibly, a bone marrow transplant this summer.
"Then I'll be cured forever," she said, smiling.
Born, president of group, was pronounced cancer-free two weeks ago, although a chance of relapse still remains.
"It feels amazing," she said, wrapping her arm around Kerrigan, her close friend.
Maureen Breuer, English teacher and Honor Society advisor, said a number of teachers offered to perform acts of humiliation to reward student donations. She speculated Koehne earned the most because of a misunderstanding.
"Many people thought he was offering a nun-chucking gymnastics routine," she said, laughing. "But seriously, our student body has been wonderful through this whole thing. They're pretty selfless."
Dan Simmons can be reached at (608)791-8217 or dsimmons@lacrossetribune.com.
