When a crowd gathered for the opening of the Lion’s Den interactive play center at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, it wasn’t hard to spot 13-year-old Jimmy Szafranski. The tall young man with the engaging smile struck up conversations with adults and kids alike, teased the nurses, posed for a photo with hockey legend Pat LaFontaine.

Today there’s no hint of what Jimmy endured in 2007 during treatment for osteosarcoma, the most common type of bone cancer, which affects mostly teenagers. First came chemotherapy, then surgery to install an artificial knee and replace his femur with a titanium rod, then more chemotherapy. For a while he wore a leg brace, used crutches, watched his hair fall out – all of which would be hard enough on an adult. How do you cope when you’re only 13?

“At first it was rough,” recalls his mother, Monica Szafranski. “He broke down a couple of times.”

Some things were especially hard to accept. Because of his prosthesis, “he’ll never be able to play sports again – no basketball, no baseball,” she says. “That was his dream; he wanted to play professional baseball.”

But Jimmy pushed ahead with an athlete’s discipline – and persevered. Despite fatigue and the side effects of chemotherapy, he “didn’t try to use his illness as an excuse,” Monica says proudly.

Adds Ellen Jeffree, his teacher for the 2006-07 academic year, “Some people could take a lesson from him. He tried his best; he gave us everything he had.”

Mary Rogers, a teacher in the Buffalo Public Schools’ Health Impaired Program, tutored Jimmy when he couldn’t attend school. “I loved working with him,” she says. “He always worked through things and never complained.” His tenacity paid off: he finished the year with a 98.45 grade point average.

At Monica’s request, Roswell Park’s Cancer in the Classroom program helped smooth the transition back to school by educating his teachers and fellow students about his illness and the effects of treatment.

Jimmy became a source of inspiration for other pediatric cancer patients, especially the younger ones he took under his wing. “It felt really good to help the little kids,” says Jimmy. Even when he wasn’t feeling well himself, “I’d play games and watch movies with them.”

He often lit up the faces in Roswell Park’s pediatric center with jokes and lighthearted pranks. A true-blue Yankees fan, he also enjoyed some good-natured joshing with Mets fan David Mauricio, Principal of Lorraine Elementary School. Recalls Mauricio, “When the Mets were faltering, he’d say, ‘Mr. Mauricio, what happened to the Mets?’ "

“He has a great personality, and when he came back to school, he never missed a beat.”

Says Monica, “He was my centerpiece of strength.” In life’s arena, that’s the mark of a champion.

Jimmy’s holiday message of hope: “Stay strong. The nurses and doctors at Roswell Park are great. Just remember that, sooner or later, it will be OK.”