There’s the Game, Then the Real Battle : Rose Bowl: Oregon defensive lineman Slymen has mother’s fight against cancer on his mind.

It was last May when Mark Slymen learned that his mother’s cancer, which for eight years seemed only a chilling memory, had returned.

Slymen is a muscular, 252-pound defensive lineman for Oregon, which plays Penn State in today’sRose Bowl game. But that news was the kind that could make the biggest man crumble.

His mother had surgery in 1986, but an examination seven months ago revealed additional cancer. A mastectomy followed, and Juanita Slymen then faced a series of chemotherapy treatments until late November. Another surgery is planned in the next two months.

“You could tell it was taking a lot out of her, but she’s never shown it,” Slymen said.

At the Slymen home on a quiet, older street in Mission Viejo, however, the illness brought an agonizing uncertainty.

“My playing football has helped them a lot because it’s given my parents pleasure and a release from some of that tension,” Slymen said.

Fortunately for him, he has a good friend and roommate to lean on at Oregon, star quarterback Danny O’Neil of Newport Beach. It has been a strong friendship that has grown, and has extended through both their families.

“The O’Neils couldn’t have been any more supportive through my mother’s illness,” Slymen said. “They’ve spent a lot of time together in the last year, and my mother would stop off at their home if she wasn’t feeling well after one of her treatments.”

Juanita Slymen calls it “the kind of friendship that is the answer to your prayers.”

Slymen’s father, Ed, is general manager of the Aliso Creek Inn and golf course in Laguna Beach, and in 1992 when torrential rains raged through the area, the hotel was particularly hard hit. Dan O’Neil, who owns a moving business based in Santa Ana, had a couple of his trucks rolling there as soon as he heard about the trouble.

“That big rain went right through the hotel units,” Mark Slymen said, “but the O’Neils were there with their trucks helping us get stuff out when they found out we needed the help. That’s the kind of people Dan and Bonnie O’Neil are.”

The Slymens and the O’Neils didn’t know each other until their sons and football led them to each other.

Both players starred for Orange County high schools. O’Neil passed for more than 2,000 yards two consecutive seasons at Mater Dei, and Slymen was the defensive leader at Mission Viejo for two seasons, and team captain his senior year.

The O’Neils invited the Slymens to their home to get acquainted shortly after both players signed to play at Oregon, and their friendship has grown.

“We’ve been through so much together in the last five years,” Bonnie O’Neil said. “They’ve been there for us and we’ve been there for them. We’ve all had our ups and downs. Mark has had his injuries, and we had the crisis when Danny had the severe infection in the finger on his passing hand this year.

“Especially the first night, we were really concerned because we didn’t know what we had on our hands. The doctor told us later that if it hadn’t been treated aggressively then, it could have been much worse, and Danny even could have lost the finger. They were there for us then, as they have been at other times in the past.”

This Rose Bowl week has been special for both families, and they’ve been taking part in activities along with their sons.

It all has helped to boost Juanita Slymen’s spirits.

“We’re optimistic that the cancer is under control at this stage, and everything else that will be done from now on is preventive,” Ed Slymen said. “She’s been a bulldog through all of this. She’s a registered nurse, and she’s faced everything in that manner. It looks as though she’s going to come through this with flying colors.

“And Mark has always been there for her . . . and he’s one of the main reasons she’s stayed as ‘up’ as she has through this.”

The Slymens are especially proud of their son, not just for what he and his teammates have accomplished this season, but for other things as well.

Slymen completed work toward his undergraduate degree in finance and management last spring, but after redshirting as a freshman, he still had a year of eligibility left and wanted to make the most of it both athletically and academically.

If everything continues to go well, he will get his MBA in June. And if the NCAA needs a walking billboard for the academic side of college football, Slymen would be a good one.

“He’s always been very organized and goal-oriented,” his mother said. “I remember the first year he played football and quit baseball. He told his father, ‘Dad, I know you love baseball, but I can get a college scholarship by playing football.’ He set his mind to it and did it.”

Slymen is happy that he had the fifth year available when last season ended so abruptly for him.

He was playing what he believed was the best football of his career when an illegal block in the Washington game cut him down from behind. A ligament in his ankle was torn, and two screws were inserted during surgery. Slymen, crestfallen, was sidelined the last four games of the season.

The injury was a serious setback. It forced him to miss spring practice and left him struggling to catch up when fall workouts began. “I couldn’t even run again until this summer,” he said.

Partly because of that, this didn’t turn into a great year for him personally, but Slymen says the success of the team has been the important thing, and he is pleased he has been able to contribute. He started six regular-season games, and is scheduled to start at right defensive end against Penn State.

The team’s success this year has been something of a surprise, even to Slymen.

“I honestly thought we were going to have a stronger team last year than this year, but I guess this year we had the right mix,” he said. “I think we realized after we won the SC game that we could make it to a bowl.”

Slymen said he has never seriously hoped to continue playing after college. “You can dream, but when I went to Oregon, I had no ideas that I was ever going to play pro football,” he said.

He plans to join his father in business eventually, but he also hopes to do some coaching, at whatever level possible, on the side.

Slymen said he feels as though he will be helping to give his parents a gift today in Pasadena.

“In the whole picture of things,” he said, “it will be a reward for all their support.”