Miss-Delectable

American School For The Deaf Dedicates Yearbook To Student - Courant.com

The teenager's pain persisted. Bryan Dolan's doctor, at first, wondered whether an infection could be causing the hurt.

Only after three examinations and a CAT scan did Dolan, an American School for the Deaf student, get his diagnosis in March 2008: testicular cancer.

"Very shocked," Dolan, 19, said recently at the school's West Hartford campus through an interpreter of American Sign Language. "But I remained optimistic, I kept busy and went through the chemo. I tried not to pay too much attention to it, you know. Went out with my friends, fixed cars. And I was tired, of course, but I dealt with it."

Dolan, of Bozrah, graduated from the school last week with high honors. He received the Headmaster's Award, the most prestigious honor conferred at commencement. Asked to deliver the class address, Dolan thanked his friends and teachers, some of whom visited him at home and in the hospital as he recovered last year.

But there is another tribute, revealed a few weeks ago, that leaves Dolan particularly giddy. Historically, students have dedicated the yearbook to a faculty member. For the first time in the school's 192-year history, officials said, students have dedicated it to a classmate — Dolan.

"They weren't afraid to break tradition," Executive Director Ed Peltier said of the 24-member graduating class. "The seniors were thoughtful about the decision and liked the example he set as he struggled with his illness. He had just a positive attitude toward this whole thing."

Once Dolan, a Red Cross volunteer, auto body ace and license plate collector, learned he had cancer, he underwent two surgeries that removed cancerous lymph nodes and one testicle. Rounds of chemotherapy followed, the most recent one from November to December. A home tutor helped him catch up with course work. Still, Dolan would occasionally stop by the school to chat with classmates.

For support, Dolan said he relied heavily on his mother, a nurse, and fellow graduate Joey Weingart, Dolan's sidekick at the American School for the Deaf since preschool. "My best friend," Dolan said.

Now cancer-free, Dolan plans to attend Southwest Collegiate Institute for the Deaf in Texas this fall, studying under a one-year automotive maintenance technician program.

He still needs to be checked by a doctor every three months. But, Dolan said, "I feel great. I feel normal. I feel wonderful."

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