‘So many people are behind him’: Lakeville South community rallies around 16-year-old battling leukemia

Under the Friday night lights at Lakeville South High School, a sea of orange balloons filled the sky. It was a show of support for Parker Eisinger, who is fighting a very personal battle off the gridiron.

"It’s great — just shows that football is family," Cougars quarterback Camden Dean declared. "Orange is the color for leukemia. That’s what Parker is diagnosed with."

The team and this community is rallying behind Parker, a sophomore tight end on the squad.

"Anything we can do to make his life a little bit better right now and raise awareness to help him in his fight for cancer is something we’re willing to do," Cougars coach Ben Burk said. "We talk about family in our program. And it’s about surrounding his family and him with as much support as we can get."

For Parker, this fight began with little warning, his family says.

"He started getting sick for about a month, and everybody kind of thought it was the flu," Parker’s sister, Mickenzi, recalls. "Everyone’s just kind of thinking it’s a virus. Just spiraled into this big thing. He did get diagnosed with mononucleosis, had mono on top of this leukemia."

Last week, the 16-year old was diagnosed with an aggressive form of blood cancer called acute myeloid leukemia.

He’s now undergoing chemotherapy at Children’s Minnesota in Minneapolis.

"So many people are behind him," Mickenzi said. "Like, so many people care about him and love him, and they’re praying for him and supporting him, and like, just super-overwhelming."

Family members say the past week has been a challenging time for Parker.

"The main thing right now is he’s having a real hard time with nausea and holding food down, so it’s been really tough," his father, Brent, explained. "The first several days were weighing hard on him mentally and physically, but I think his spirits are coming around a little bit."

That spirit was felt loud and clear as the Cougars prepared for play in their game against Hopkins.

The main message for Parker — that he’s not alone in this fight. Spectators in the stands and both teams on the field wore bright orange to support him.

"We all brought orange stuff through the week, and we’re going to be wearing it tonight," Camden said. "He’s got a great community behind him, great town behind him, to support him no matter what. He needs us to be there for him, we’ll be there."

"Parker’s Pack" is the Cougars’ new nickname.

His family is grateful for all the messages of support for him.

"He woke up the other day and he goes, ‘Dad, I got like a hundred some-odd messages on Snapchat,’" Brent said. "He’s trying to keep up with responding to everybody and try to stay with communication the best he can."

The family is starting a GoFundMe to help with expenses but their most fervent wish is free.

"Just please keep him in your wishes and your prayers. He is a wonderful kid," Mickenzi said quietly. "Just even thinking about him, and just saying him in your prayers before you go to bed is all we ask because we love him so much. He’s just everything to us."