It’s not known if senior-to-be point guard Nick Murtha from Leland of San Jose will able to play this season due to undergoing brain surgery earlier this month. A good friend has reached out to the Cal-Hi Sports community with an address to send get-well cards.
One of the key players from last season’s CIF Central Coast Section Division II runner-up boys basketball team is in a tough fight.
Nick Murtha started at point guard for the Chargers last season and along with standout James Kelbert and others had been working hard earlier this summer in preparation for another 22-5 campaign or better.
Everything changed, however, when doctors discovered he had a brain tumor. Surgery was performed “about a week and a half ago” and one of Murtha’s best friends, Joe Namba, has reached out both to our site and to the Cal-Hi Sports Bay Area TV Show (host Robert Braunstein also is a Leland grad).
We’ll let Joe’s email tell the story from here:
Nick Murtha (center) is shown with two of his friends in photo taken from Twitter page.
“I am contacting you in favor of helping give some inspiration and motivation to one of my best friends, or aka Leland basketball’s best pointguard Nick Murtha, who just underwent surgery in order to remove a brain tumor. He is one of the most dedicated high school athletes I know and it breaks the community’s heart to see his senior year tip off this way.
“After his surgery, doctors broke the news to Nick that it is questionable if he’ll even be able to play his senior year of basketball at Leland, due to chemotherapy treatment that’ll start August 10 for him at Lucile Packard, Stanford hospital.
“Nick is a huge fan of Cal-Hi Sports, and feels honored when you guys are out recording footage of him and the team during his season games at Leland.
“On behalf of friends and family, it’d be greatly appreciated if Cal-Hi Sports could show Nick some love and support in hope of giving him the motivation to push himself in becoming a better athlete than he was before. His address is 1160 Via Mateo San Jose, CA 95120-2811.”
Thanks for the email, Joe. Good luck to Nick, yourself and the rest of the Leland basketball community.
One Comment
This Leland Alum (Class of 85) hopes you recovery quickly so you can compete during your Senior yeat!
GO GET’M NICK, And, GO CHARGERS!!!