Blanchester football team honors teammate who had brain tumor removed

BLANCHESTER, Ohio (WXIX) - Before its last game of the regular season, the Blanchester High School football team honored a sophomore teammate.

L.J. Rineair had a softball-sized tumor removed from his brain six weeks ago.

Before Friday’s game, he was in the locker room with his teammates as they huddled around him prior to their 40-13 win over East Clinton.

Reineair led the team onto the field.

“He was complaining about a week before about a headache that wouldn’t go away,” his mom Maria Hall said. “We found out it was a tumor the size of a softball that he had for around five to six years.”

Hall said doctors were able to remove 95 percent of the tumor but was diagnosed with Posterior Fossa Syndrome, meaning he would have to learn to talk, eat and walk again.

“Things that we basically take for granted on a daily basis,” Rineair said.

Hall said he was expected to spend three to five months in the hospital recovering, but Rineair was out after less than two and able to see Blanchester play on Friday.

“We don’t really have the words for it,” Hall said. “Everybody’s been great. It was truly unexpected but it’s absolutely amazing.”

The Wild Cats clinched a playoff birth in Division V, Region 20, and will play on the road next week in the first round.

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