Green Dragon, Ranger and Oehme Strong

Brian Oehme was a pretty good basketball player at Brick Township High School, a 6’4 forward who started for three seasons and graduated last June.

His basketball talents and academic achievements landed him at Drew University where he appeared in 17 games this past season, coming off the bench to hit 18 3-pointers for the Rangers.  With three of the team’s four leading scorers graduating it would appear that Oehme would have a great opportunity to contribute even more next year but there is something blocking his immediate basketball future: cancer.

Brian has been diagnosed with stage two testicular cancer which has moved onto the lymph nodes under his liver.  He is currently undergoing chemotherapy and right now the prognosis is a bit uncertain but he and his family, including his parents George & Kathy are staying strong and positive.

Oehme has received a lot of support from his alma mater as Brick Township High School has rallied around and behind him.  The school and the Green Dragons basketball program are selling tee shirts and bracelets to help with the growing costs associated with his fight against cancer. The shirts say “Oehme Strong” on the front with his number 33 on the back.  It would be great to see other Shore Conference schools jump on the bandwagon to support the effort and they can do so by reaching out to coach Mike Gawronski at mgawronski@brickschools.org.  You can also see a picture of the shirts on their @brickbasketball Twitter page.

Brian has a challenge that’s greater than any he has faced on the basketball court and who could blame him from being down and out.  Instead he’s facing it head on and wants to spread the word about testicular cancer which is the most common form of cancer for men between the ages of 15-35. Every year approximately 8500 men are diagnosed with the disease.

With the help of his doctors along with family, friends and teammates #33 will be shooting and making 3’s again in the future.