Good Counsel QBs sister died of cancer, so now he plays for her
On his first high school football snap, Good Counsel quarterback Frankie Weaver III threw a short pass into coverage that was almost intercepted. On the home sideline in April 2021, Coach Andy Stefanelli panicked about starting a freshman against one of the country’s top teams.
When Weaver ran to Stefanelli for the ensuing play-call, he displayed unusual stoicism for a first-year player.
“I got this,” Weaver said. “I’m good.”
In the second quarter, Weaver hurled a pass that two players tipped before the ball dropped into a Good Counsel wide receiver’s hands for a long gain. The Falcons shocked Baltimore powerhouse Saint Frances Academy.
“Our Lady of Good Counsel is watching this game today, apparently,” said an announcer from 1st Amendment Sports, a local streaming service. “And sitting very close to Mr. Frankie Weaver.”
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Listening to the broadcast, Weaver’s parents laughed. They also believed a higher power was guiding Weaver.
In December 2019, Weaver’s sister Lily died of Ewing sarcoma, a rare bone cancer, at 18. The traumatic experience expanded Weaver’s perspective and gratitude to play football while some peers don’t enjoy the same opportunities.
D.C. area coaches laud Weaver’s composure. For Weaver, playing football’s most important position in one of the country’s most competitive leagues isn’t pressure. The junior recognizes Lily and other children in her hospital endured larger challenges.
With Weaver under center, Good Counsel enters the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference playoffs this week seeking its third consecutive finals appearance. The Falcons will host St. John’s at 7 p.m. Friday.
As he has done every game at the Olney, Md., private school, Weaver will attach stickers featuring Lily’s name and a yellow ribbon to the back of his helmet and on his shoulder pads over his heart.
Role model
As a 10-year-old, Lily found exhilaration in mastering tumbling as a cheerleader. After she complained about pain in her left arm in the summer of 2011, a doctor diagnosed her with Ewing sarcoma in her left humerus and lungs.
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Weaver’s parents, Amy and Frank Jr., explained Lily’s diagnosis to their 5-year-old son without tarnishing his innocence. At their New Market, Md., home, they told Weaver that Lily required special medicine for her sickness, he couldn’t touch her and they wouldn’t be home as often. Weaver believed he caused Lily’s illness from play-fighting.
Weaver, who hoped to start elementary school alongside Lily that fall, became jealous of the attention she received. When friends organized a five-kilometer run to raise money for Lily’s treatment, Weaver wrote “I broke my arm too” in chalk. When Lily stayed home from school with a tutor, Weaver asked why he couldn’t remain in his Disney-themed pajamas and play with Legos.
Later, Weaver realized he was fortunate to attend school. He grasped Lily’s condition when she lost her blond hair and randomly threw up. The family kept bags in their cars in case Lily suffered motion sickness.
On Ocean City’s boardwalk as an 11-year-old, Lily noticed onlookers gazing at the scar on her left arm. To scare them away, Lily fibbed that the wound resulted from a shark fight. When people stared at Lily, she and Weaver stared back. Lily endured bullying, so when youth football coaches didn’t play Weaver, Lily advised him to believe in himself.
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Weaver witnessed Lily’s persistence to raise her left arm after doctors informed her she wouldn’t, and he saw her nonchalance undergoing chemotherapy. When Lily became a spokeswoman for the Truth 365, a nonprofit that provides voices to children cancer patients, Weaver admired Lily’s poise speaking to thousands of spectators in front of the U.S. Capitol and New York Stock Exchange. He met other children in Lily’s hospitals.
“I saw a lot of stuff that I probably shouldn’t have at that age, but it was important for me to understand,” Weaver said. “I’m thankful now that I saw that.”
Weaver still viewed Lily as his best friend who pulled pranks on their father with him, built Disney Lego sets, battled with Nerf blasters and competed in tense Monopoly contests. When Lily had breaks in chemotherapy, Weaver and Lily rode roller coasters at Hersheypark and Walt Disney World and built forts with blankets and cushions in their family room for movie nights and sleepovers. Weaver applied his throwing savvy to toss balls into milk jugs at carnivals and win Lily gigantic stuffed bears.
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Lily beat cancer twice, but on May 9, 2019, doctors found it had returned on her liver and spine. When she awoke with migraines the morning of her graduation from Linganore High that month, she visited Frederick Health. After Lily received treatment, Frank Jr. rushed her 20 miles to Mount St. Mary’s University while she changed into her red cap and gown.
With Weaver applauding, Lily walked across the stage and smiled to receive her diploma.
New reality
As a 13-year-old, Weaver figured Lily would survive another round of cancer when his parents delivered the news through tears. As Lily’s health deteriorated, however, Weaver hugged and kissed Lily in her Sinai Hospital bed in December 2019 to say goodbye.
On Dec. 20, 2019, Weaver and his eldest sister, Grace, watched a Christmas movie from their couch when their parents returned home without Lily, who died that morning. Weaver and his family gathered for a long hug and sobs.
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Weaver blamed himself for Lily’s death. In February 2018, Weaver was scheduled to provide Lily, who aspired to become an elementary school teacher, with a bone-marrow transplant. Doctors informed him he wasn’t a match one day before the procedure.
Two days after Lily’s death, Weaver and his teammates wore yellow socks — the color to represent bone cancer awareness — for a middle school basketball game. Weaver scored 21 points while his family members also cleared their minds sitting alone atop the bleachers. Weaver’s frustration showed when he fouled an opponent hard and apologized.
Reality hit during Christmas, Lily’s favorite holiday. She had wrapped gifts in pink paper. She bought Weaver a black-and-red Air Jordan shirt, which he barely removed.
Without his companion, Weaver internalized his grief. When he exited his house, Weaver grew somber when he viewed Lily’s black Volvo in the driveway. He processed Lily’s death around April 2020, when he spoke with a therapist.
Weaver turned his sorrow into motivation. He awoke at 6 a.m. daily to lift weights and throw. He wrote an essay about Lily for his high school applications.
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When the coronavirus forced Weaver into quarantine starting March 2020, he was reminded of Lily when he passed her empty room, which featured Mickey Mouse ears, bottles of Urban Decay makeup and a blowup picture of Lily with her favorite musician, Ariana Grande. Weaver, who is 6-foot-5 and 190 pounds, outgrew the Air Jordan shirt.
“But I’ll never get rid of that shirt,” Weaver said.
Legacy
When Weaver enrolled at Good Counsel and learned three days before the Saint Frances game that he would start, his dad told him: “No one in our family ever gives up. You go in there and do your best, and you’ll be fine.” Opponents teased Weaver he would get injured on the first play, but when he braved his first tackle after his initial throw, he felt comfortable.
In September 2021, Weaver earned primary quarterback responsibilities after rallying Good Counsel from a 21-point deficit to a win against Mount Saint Joseph. This season, Weaver has thrown for 1,550 yards and 17 touchdowns while completing 59 percent of his passes against one of the area’s toughest schedules. When opponents talk trash, Weaver, 16, laughs and responds, “Thanks for being my fan.”
For Good Counsel’s home game against Life Christian Academy on Sept. 30, Weaver organized a fundraiser for the battle against childhood cancer. Students paid to wear street clothes at school and buy gold shirts that read “FALCONS,” with the “O” shaped as a ribbon. With Good Counsel’s student section covered in yellow, the Falcons (8-2) cruised to a victory. Weaver said he raised about $7,500.
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Before every game since, Weaver has drawn a ribbon on his left cheek and a cross on his right cheek with eye black. Weaver, who possesses a scholarship offer from West Virginia, hopes to establish a platform through football to build more awareness. In college, he plans to visit patients at nearby children’s hospitals.
Lily paid for customers behind her in line at restaurants, and Weaver replicates that deed. He distributed Starbucks gift cards to strangers at Walt Disney World in December 2021 to honor Lily two years after her death. Whenever Weaver hears a Ariana Grande song or plays Monopoly, he reminisces.
On Friday night, Good Counsel’s semifinal against St. John’s probably will attract a large and tumultuous crowd. Weaver, as always, will remember Lily to ground himself.
“I miss her every day,” Weaver said. “I realized what her impact was supposed to be on this world and how she had done it in such little time. I just want to be able to have that much impact on people as she did in my time on this planet.”
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