If you want to know the true meaning of teamwork then look at this uplifting video of a high school cross country team in New York.
The video shows Yeva Klingbeil, a senior at Shenendehowa High School, diagnosed with cancer in November 2019, getting help from her teammates in crossing the finish line at a meet on Monday. Klingbeil was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare form of cancer that affects muscle tissue, mostly in adolescents.
“What a great moment to see Senior Yeva Klingbeil at today’s girls track and field meet,” the school’s athletic department wrote, posting the video on Twitter.
The post said, “Yeva’s teammates help her across the line in the 4X1 relay,” the post continued. “Yeva continues her fight with cancer and we continue to be amazed by her spirit!!”
The video has already got more than 180,000 views and shows Klingbeil walking arm-in-arm with three of her teammates as they helped her finish the race. After that the rest of the team and runners from other schools join in congratulating her after, chanting her name in unison.
Watch: High School Runner Finishes The Race With The Help Of Her Teammates
What a great moment to see Senior Yeva Klingbeil at today’s girls track & field meet. Yeva’s teammates help her across the line in the 4X1 relay. Yeva continues her fight with cancer and we continue to be amazed by her spirit!! @CoachCloutier @ShenNews @Agostinoni_Ron pic.twitter.com/pMs35dYLgY
— ShenAthletics (@ShenAthletics) May 25, 2021
A Pledge It fundraising page for Klingbeil said that she began chemotherapy in 2019 for a cancerous mass around her jaw, followed by radiation treatments, which damaged her brainstem. She spent weeks in the ICU and worked with several specialists, and has now regained some of her function, and the tumor has shrunk to half of its original size.
“Yeva and her family pray her brain will continue healing and she’ll be able to breathe, walk, and eat once again,” her coach Rob Cloutier wrote on Pledge It.
“While Yeva has gone through all of this and more, she has never stopped caring about her friends and family and has never given up hope of recovery.”
