By JEFF FEBUS

Like many cancer patients, Colin Jambekar knows what it is like to feel an array of emotions.
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He also knows what it is like to keep pressing forward.

On Saturday, he will walk across his Calvin finish line to receive his diploma to conclude a remarkable four years as a Calvin Knight.

The last eight months of the journey are most significant.

CALVIN BEGINNINGS

A native of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, Jambekar began his Calvin quest more than four years ago when looking for a school to pursue a major in engineering.

"Calvin got on my radar through my mother Jennifer," said Jambekar. "She is an engineer and knew that Calvin had a strong engineering program. I had a neighbor that was a Calvin graduate and there was a good distance runner from my high school (Will Hofmann) already at Calvin who was doing well. I chose Calvin because of its engineering program. It had an excellent academic reputation and a great career center (for engineering) with strong outcomes."

An accomplished athlete at Grosse Pointe North High School, Jambekar spent four years playing football as an outside linebacker and long snapper while also playing two years of baseball and a final two years of track and field.

At Calvin, he elected to continue his track and field career, ultimately settling into the javelin event which suited his athletic skills and the team's needs. He began with a 10^th place MIAA conference finish in the javelin his freshman year and then moved into (top-eight) scoring position, taking eighth in the MIAA in 2024 and fifth in 2025.

He spent the summer of 2025 committed to being in the best physical condition possible, enduring an offseason of rigorous training. He entered the fall semester of 2025 poised for a breakout year, tipping the scales at a well-muscled 210 pounds.

CANCER DIAGNOSIS

In late August, he noticed a series of bumps during a physical exam. With a history of cancer in his immediate family, Jambekar quickly scheduled an appointment and exam with Detroit Henry Ford Hospital Urologist Dr. Jeffrey Budzyn.

The result was testicular cancer.

"It's shocking at first," said Jambekar of receiving the cancer diagnosis. "It forces you on your knees to pray and I prayed a lot. Then things moved fast. The cancer was moving into my lymph nodes, and I made a difficult decision to have surgery in October."

A CT-scan during a follow-up visit with an oncologist led to the treatment decision of three rounds of chemotherapy.

In the midst of a senior year of prepping for a senior design project, Jambekar found himself traveling to Detroit for weeks of chemotherapy with daily infusions lasting between 5-7 hours. The first round of infusions began in early November and continued into December. He spent Christmas Eve in the hospital in one of his later rounds of chemo.

All the while, he kept up on his civil engineering coursework and even an elective kinesiology course in golf.

"My professors were great," said Jambekar. "I would not be graduating from Calvin without their help. My engineering professors helped me work ahead. They were willing to work around my medical treatments and helped with my time management. I had a golf class with Dr. (Michael) Wierenga in the fall. I couldn't fully swing a club because of my surgery, but he taught me how to putt and chip which is all my body could do at the time.

SIDE EFFECTS

There were plenty of low moments. As with many cancer patients, Jambekar lost his hair. He gained added food cravings but frequently struggled to digest the food he ate. His strength and stamina were drained. The added muscle he had worked so hard to add that summer began to disappear. "I went from 210 to 190 (pounds)," said Jambekar. "I lost muscle and I gained fat."

He also noticed his skin color turning an ashen grey. "I looked like a husk, and I felt like a husk," he said. "There is a psychological part of the battle and a level of anxiety. I kept telling myself that it wasn't about me. It was about glorifying God through my struggles."

During the later winter months, he began to train more consistently with his teammates. Although he did not compete, he joined his teammates at the MIAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in late February at Trine University. It was there he suffered a terrifying episode.

"One of the things you deal with as a cancer patient is dealing with PTSD that brings you back to your treatments and their surroundings," said Jambekar. "It could be a sound. It could be something you see, or it could be a smell that brings back a memory or environment. At Trine, there was a smell that powerfully brought me back to one of those moments. I had a full-blown panic attack. I had to go out to the parking lot because I was that nauseous."

He credits his parents Jay and Jennifer Jambekar for providing calm and comfort during some of these crisis moments. "Both of my parents have had cancer and as a boy growing up, I watched them go through their treatments and be God-fearing role models through their struggles. I remember my father sitting by my side during chemotherapy and I'm sure he had some PTSD moments himself sitting next to me. But he was strong and showed me what it means to rely on God as your rock and shield."

SPRINGING ANEW

In late March, he joined a Calvin track and field travel squad for its first outdoor competition of the 2026 season with the Knights competing at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

Jambekar entered the meet in the javelin, having not competed in a track and field event in nearly 11 months.

His javelin journey up to that point had reached a key moment. "Colin is a highly intelligent individual who is able to think through things backwards and forwards," said Calvin associate head track and field coach Jacob Graham who coaches the jumps and the javelin events. "I started coaching him his sophomore year and at the conference meet, he overthought things and ended up eighth which was far below the goals he set for himself. We had a long talk right after that where I told him to simplify things and to trust his training. We saw room for emotional maturation at that point of his life. Over the next year, we started to see that growth. I remember the first meet of his junior year as a turning point. He had two bad throws to start, and he had a long list of things he was trying to do to improve. I told him to let go, simplify his approach and trust his training. He was different from that point on. He let go of his fear and just started competing. He had a big conference meet, throwing over 48 meters (158-9) for a (fifth place) spot on the podium."

Prior to his cancer diagnosis, Jambekar had a goal of throwing 50 meters or more his senior year. With an academic year of cancer treatments, those prospects seemed slim.

"As a cancer patient, things get simplified for you," said Graham. "You try to get as much rest as possible and get up the next morning. You eat what you can. You exercise with what your body allows you to. With Colin this spring, everything was simplified by necessity. We just weren't sure how things would go."

On his second javelin throw at the Emory meet, Jambekar nearly hit his career-best, throwing over 46 meters for an English conversion distance of 152-3.

"It was warm and I felt good," said Jambekar. "Just to be able to compete again felt like a huge blessing."

On one of his final throws, he strained a calf muscle, an injury that would clip at his heels the rest of the season. "A soft tissue injury is one of the risks you worry about coming back from cancer treatments," said Graham. "An athlete loses some muscle and strength which creates a greater danger for a (muscle) strain. I felt bad about not getting over to Colin in time to pull him back from one of his last throws."

Back in Michigan, Jambekar worked to manage the calf strain while still finding a way to train and compete in meets at Grand Valley and Calvin in April. As the sun began to warm, his hair grew and his muscles began to thicken. His weight bumped up to 200 pounds as his strength returned."

BROTHERLY BOND

A growing subplot was the emergence of his younger brother Lucas in the javelin. The left-handed sophomore popped off personal-best throws in three consecutive meets in April, giving him the No. 2 seed for the MIAA Championships as well as the top spot in Calvin's three-man javelin lineup.

"Lucas is my only sibling and growing up we did everything together. I love him to death," said Colin. "Watching him come into his own this spring as a javelin thrower was awesome. It was cool to see him gain the respect of his teammates and prove any doubters wrong. He's been a great emotional support for me. He sat with me during one of my chemo treatments. When he shaved his hair along with some of our friends and teammates to support me, I was surprised but touched. It's one of the most significant things anyone has ever done for me."

The head shaving took place in early December, leaving the group with a tight-cropped look heading into the holiday season.

"My best friends are also Colin's best-friends and his best friends are mine so the hair-cut decision was pretty easy to make as a group," said Lucas. "Personally, shaving my hair was a little nerve-wracking at first because my first thought was my own self-image. But then I shifted to thinking about Colin and where he was at and supporting him. That thought was more important than any personal concerns that I had for myself."

CHAMPIONSHIP DREAMS

As the MIAA Championship meet approached, the Calvin men's track and field team was faced with adversity as two of its top competitors were sidelined by injury, making an already close meet with rival Hope that much closer.

"We looked at the seeds and entries the night before day two of the meet and on paper, Hope was supposed to win by a small margin," said Lucas. "

"We knew that everyone competing had to rise up and cover for the two guys that were out," said Colin. "The javelin was an area where we knew we had an opportunity to make a move for the team."

Lucas Jambekar was seeded first with Calvin junior Jarrett Febus seeded seventh and Colin seeded eight. With the day two track events beckoning, the Calvin trio went 1-3-7 to produce 18 key points for the final team score. All three Calvin throwers came up with career-best efforts in the event. Colin came up with his career-best on his fourth attempt, just missing his career goal of 50 meters with a toss of 49.08 meters (161-0). He later aggravated his calf on his sixth and final throw but had done enough. Lucas moved from second to first on his sixth and final throw, uncorking a toss of 54.81 meters (179-10). Febus had a career-best throw of 46.85 meters (153-8) to snare seventh.

Calvin went on to win the MIAA Championship with 238 points, 25 points ahead of Hope with the javelin playing one of many key roles in the final outcome.

"The night before, I wasn't sure exactly what would happen for sure, but I did know that because of the character of the people, all three guys would give it their very best," said Graham. "That came to fruition and all three came up with huge marks for our team. You get so much joy as a coach wanting your athletes achieve something that is meaningful for them and for the team."

Despite not hitting the 50-meter mark, the all-around result was more than enough.

"Getting to watch that story unfold the way it did, getting to watch Colin do that with his brother, getting to watch him overcome everything and finding joy in the performance was something right out of a movie," said Graham.

The event took place adjacent to the women's triple jump competition where Calvin took three of the top four spots.

"That helped a lot," said Lucas. "We had a big crowd of supporters rooting on the triple jumpers and the javelin throwers. Calvin track and field has great community and support and the people watching us brought a lot of energy. I know it gave the javelin throwers a lot of extra juice on our throws."

"Playing a role in helping our team win the meet felt really good," said Colin. "In some respects, it felt a little like a fairy tale. I felt good knowing that I gave everything that I had to give and going out an MIAA (team) champion was a special way to finish things out."

FINAL WEEK/LOOKING AHEAD

Jambekar completed his academic requirements this week. He successfully presented his Senior Design Group project in late April. His group, which also included senior track teammate Colin Lubberts, Calvin hockey player Harry Ottsen and senior Jonas Lanser was called the West Leonard Stream Team. The team partnered with the City of Grand Rapids to redesign an existing storm sewer pipe to be an open channel stream on the northwest side of the city.

"I received a lot of support from my senior design project teammates," Jambekar acknowledges. "They picked me up this year when I needed it and filled any holes. I'm grateful for the group of guys. They were awesome teammates."

He has accepted a job with Anchor Construction in its Grand Rapids office. He will be a traveling site manager in his first year, a prospect that has him excited and willing to serve in whatever capacity he can.

As he looks back on his time at Calvin, he sees the strengthening of relationships and the strengthening of his Christian faith as things that stand out the most.

"I got to know so many people during my time at Calvin, whether those were teammates, classmates or people in the administration. They helped me grow, as a person and in my faith," he says. "I got to know our chaplain Pastor Mary (Hulst) very well because of my health struggles and I value that relationship as I also do with members of our (Broene) counseling center."

LEARNING LESSONS

Jambekar has helped out those around him says Calvin head track and field coach Adam Haldorson. "The unique thing about track and field is that the team is so large with so many people with different life experiences," said Haldorson. "The individuals in our program that have experience with cancer in their family or other cancer adjacent things is numerous unfortunately but that helped them create a support network for Colin. The thing that Colin did for many of our team members was destigmatize being around someone with cancer. You hear the word 'cancer' and it can have such a negative overtone. That wasn't where his head space was. He had a meeting with me where he explained that he wanted to use his diagnosis to find a way to make other's lives better and further God's kingdom by showing God's grace and glory through his own hardships. He's been a great ambassador for people that one day will go through this cancer journey and leave a bit of a road map on how to navigate it."

His brother Lucas agrees.

"Colin has always been such a big strong physical guy," he said. "To see him be in a position of humility, to see someone as tough he is to be in complete reliance on God was something I hadn't processed before. Watching him handle his pain and suffering the way he did was eye opening."

Jambekar is considered cancer free but must meet with doctors several times a year for the near future to make sure the cancer does not return. He looks to the future without the fear.

"I know that God is in control and that his will is perfect," says Jambekar. "That brings me peace and the confidence to live for Him moving forward."