Jeanne Zelasko overcomes string of misfortune

It actually began in August, though, when her father, Stanley, died of a heart attack at 71 in his home in Escondido.

The shock of losing her father, Zelasko said, led to another shock -- learning in December that she had thyroid cancer. She recounted what she sees as a strange turn of events.

"My father died on my son Trevor's first day of kindergarten," said Zelasko, 41, who was so concerned with her son that she ignored the constant ringing of her cellphone.

"When I finally did answer it, it was my brother telling me what happened," she said of finding out about her dad. "I screamed, the kind of scream that comes from you gut, and blew out my voice."

Despite her hoarse voice, she was able to work the playoffs and World Series. It went largely unnoticed, perhaps because she has a bit of a gravelly voice anyway.

When the season ended, though, she had her voice problem checked out by a throat specialist. She recalled the doctor telling her she had a polyp and wanted to operate immediately. But Zelasko put off the surgery because of a couple of college football assignments she had been given at the end of last year.

Then, during a routine medical checkup, she mentioned her problem. Soon she was in the hands of Dr. Robert Andrews, a throat surgeon at St. John's Health Center, who said there "was no polyp . . . just an abrasion," recalled Zelasko. Andrews did discover, however, that Zelasko had thyroid cancer.

He operated on her Jan. 11 and in mid-February Zelasko underwent a one-shot, heavy-duty iodine radiation treatment to ensure the cancer would be zapped.

"I was in quarantine for 48 hours," she said. "They say radiation, compared to chemo, is the lesser of two evils. But I felt like they had taken a blow torch to me. It really knocked me for a loop."

She told her husband, Channel 7 sportscaster Curt Sandoval, "I only have 1% of me left. The kids get 75% of that 1%, I get 20% and all you get is 5%."

Of her husband of 10 years, Zelasko said, "He's been great. And he had to forgo running in his first Boston Marathon. He just wasn't able to get in the training he needed."