Finding a baseball lifeline

That date of May 23, 2024 also served as a life-altering day for Wilson, as earlier that morning, after months of persistent throat pain, he underwent a biopsy in the morning hours before 4 p.m. first pitch in San Jose after being diagnoses with throat cancer just a few days prior.

“The first thing they asked me was: ‘Do you want to be sedated or do you want to be knocked out?” Wilson said.

“I said: ‘I’ve been waiting forever to win a CCS championship. I don’t know if I’ll get this opportunity.’ So, I just said: ‘Numb it up the best you can.’ Obviously, my health was very important to me. I’m not saying that it wasn’t. But who knows if that was the last time I was going to be able to coach? I didn’t know. So, in my eyes, it was: ‘This is what I’m going to do.’”

Wilson’s longtime investment in family, Capuchino and San Bruno immediately served as his lifeline. With the Mustangs in the CCS postseason, and Cap on the verge of graduating the nine seniors on the 2024 roster, Wilson only shared the news with his wife and his coaches. His players and his son weren’t informed until after the baseball season and school year ended.

When he finally told Brody in the days after his fifth-grade class let out for summer, Wilson sat him down in their living room to inform him of the diagnosis.

“It was hard,” Wilson said. “It was hard telling him. It was one of those things where I just was worried about him more.”

Wilson laid out his treatment plan, an aggressive seven-week schedule starting in late June, one that included radiation five times a week, and weekly chemotherapy.

“The radiation was hard,” Wilson said. “The effects of the radiation afterwards kicked my butt a little bit. I lost my voice. My throat to this day, when I wake up in the morning, I can hardly swallow because it’s all swollen.”

The treatment was as successful as can be. The tumor that had been creating months of health problems for Wilson was gone, and had not spread. It was while receiving the good news during the follow-up Wilson was informed by his doctor exactly how dire the situation was when the cancer was discovered.

“They said they didn’t detect the tumor anymore, and the scan didn’t detect it either, that it didn’t spread anywhere,” Wilson said. “Originally there were two lymph nodes that were compromised, and then the tumor in my throat. But they burned it all off with the radiation, and then the doctor told me afterwards that the tumor was covering 70% of my throat, and he said that ‘I had to be overly aggressive with your treatment because of if I wasn’t, you were going to die.’ That’s exactly how he said it.”

Because of the timing of the initial diagnosis, Wilson found a way to tap into a positive outlook that carried him through.

It was a long road to the cancer diagnosis, as her received three other types of lesser diagnoses along the way. First he was told he had strep throat. Medication didn’t heal the pain, so he returned to the doctor in March 2024, only to be diagnosed with mononucleosis. Less than a month later, with burning in his throat persisting, he was told he had ulcers, but was referred to a specialist.

Then came the news that rocked his world.

“They put a camera down my nose and within 30 seconds they told me I had cancer,” Wilson said.

The tumor was deemed to be a genetic type of cancer, Wilson said, one that could have been triggered by the mononucleosis.

“They think that I have like a gene or something, and when I got sick with the mono, it kind of enhanced it,” Wilson said. “So, that was it — throat cancer.”

“I sat in my car and I teared up a little bit,” Wilson said. “And my No. 1 worry wasn’t me, it was for my son, and — did I do enough for him? Am I leaving him with enough if something happens to me? Because I raised him to be a good man. And I did that for 10 minutes, and then snapped out of and: ‘OK, time to fight.’”

Wilson found his fight first through his love of baseball — then through the outpouring of love from his son.

“He literally turned into my shadow, which was awesome,” Wilson said. “We spent a lot of time together, and before I started doing all the treatment stuff, we took advantage of it as much as we could. We played a lot of catch. We came down here and hit.”

Before he ever told Brody, however, there was a baseball season to finish.

“I was focused on today and I had to worry about the stuff I had to go through tomorrow,” Wilson said. “But I wanted to enjoy today. And I got to. We ended up enjoying it. And it was the coolest experience in my 24 years as a coach, was winning that game.”

The CCS championship game was an absolute masterpiece. Senior starting pitcher Ryan Burton fronted the historic win with a three-hit shutout, as the Mustangs won it 1-0 against Santa Cruz.

“That last out was made and, because of all of it, I’m not going to lie, I had a little bit of a tear come out,” Wilson said. “For not only putting in ... at that time 23 years into something and winning the school’s first one, but also my health stuff was: ‘Uhhhh!’ ... I remember feeling happy because of the game ... but it was also like tomorrow I’m going to wake up and there’s going to be a whole other can of worms to think about.”

Wilson never missed coaching a game. He remained at the helm for the CIF Northern California playoff opener on March 28, as Cap was eliminated with a 13-1 loss at Piedmont-Oakland. He returned from his treatment and was in the dugout for the Feb. 25 season opener at home against El Camino.

While Wilson now has to undergo seasonal cancer checkups — remission cannot be declared until a patient is cancer free for five years — he is, nonetheless, cancer free.

“I love Capuchino, I love San Bruno, I love this program and the kids who have played for me, and the kids who are going to play for me,” Wilson said. “And it just kind of kept me going.”

As did the San Bruno sports community, through a showing off food and gift cards during his treatment.

“We didn’t ask for any of it, and they just did it,” Wilson said. “It’s a testament to what San Bruno and the Capuchino community really is all about. It’s pretty special.”