Wanting a Helping Hand

No matter how noisy the fans, Melissa Siracuse has always distinguished her father’s voice during swim meets. She easily found his large hands stretching through the crowd, ready to congratulate her after each performance.

Until last summer, Siracuse was certain her father, Phil, would be the first to greet her after the Southern Section Division II swimming championships Saturday at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach, hopefully to celebrate a victory in the 100-yard breaststroke.

But Siracuse hasn’t taken her father’s presence for granted in the last 10 months, not since cancer appeared in his right leg last summer, was later found to have originated in his left kidney and reappeared in his left arm last month.

“We all had our breakdowns last [month],” said Melissa, a senior at Flintridge Sacred Heart. “We thought [the cancer] was behind him.”

Despite feeling weak, having a limp from surgery last summer to remove the femur bone from his right thigh and having his arm in a sling from an operation to remove part of the major bone in his upper left arm two weeks ago, Phil plans to watch his daughter swim her final high school meet Saturday. Siracuse remains less optimistic that her father will be strong enough to attend, knowing the final decision will come from her mother, Emily.

“She’ll decide if he can go or not,” Melissa said.

The section finals this week will serve as a respite for the Siracuse family. It’s a meet Siracuse has been gearing for since finishing second in the 100 breaststroke at the Division II finals last season. Siracuse has a clear picture of how she hopes the race will unfold.

“It’s going to be the ultimate swim,” said Siracuse, who will compete for USC next year. She is hoping to touch the wall first, produce an All-American time for the second consecutive season and then embrace her father, who has been deeply involved in her swimming since she was 5.

“He had never missed a meet in 11 years, until last summer,” Siracuse said.

Phil, 61, has been a major facilitator of fund-raising efforts and other administrative duties related to his daughter’s youth, club and high school swim teams. As a commercial litigation lawyer, those things came naturally to him.

Siracuse, 17, was creating her own waves in the water, competing for the Crescenta-Canada YMCA for five years before joining Swim Pasadena two years ago. She went undefeated in the breaststroke for four years in the Mission League, earning All-American status last season after swimming the Division II finals in 1 minute 5.29 seconds, which remains her career best.

Soon after, cancer was discovered in Phil’s leg and traced to his kidney. While awaiting the first of several surgeries to remove his kidney and insert a titanium rod into his leg, Phil missed part of the Junior Olympics in Santa Maria, the first time he ever missed his daughter compete. Siracuse said her parents kept the seriousness of her father’s condition from her until he appeared out of danger.

While recovering, Phil attended as many meets as his health would allow, even sitting alongside the pool in a wheelchair. His strength returned to normal over the winter, but last month, he broke his arm while hoisting part of the engine from his car.

“I felt tremendous pain in my arm and I knew it wasn’t a good sign,” Phil said. “It’s fortunate they found [the cancer], but it’s unfortunate my arm had to break.”

The news came as a major setback for the family.

“Everything was going pretty well,” Siracuse said. “Once [the broken arm] happened, we knew something was wrong because it shouldn’t have broke like that.”

The Siracuse family, which includes three other children between the ages of 29 and 32, was called to the family home and the cause of the injury was confirmed. The news was so painful an uncle had to mouth the words.

“We had a gut feeling something was wrong,” Siracuse said.

The day Phil was released from the hospital, Siracuse had a swim meet against Sherman Oaks Notre Dame but hoped to leave early to welcome her father home. As she prepared to leave before the final relay, she noticed the score was still too close to call, so she decided to stay and led Sacred Heart to a narrow victory.

“She went in there and did what she had to do,” Coach Bruno Tapia said.

Siracuse was the only Sacred Heart swimmer to qualify for the section preliminaries Thursday at Belmont Plaza. She shouldn’t have a problem qualifying for the final.

Siracuse is seeded third in the breaststroke, behind freshman Maryann Boosalis of La Canada and sophomore Parisa Dana of Temple City. Siracuse believes neither have matched her rest in preparation for Saturday. In addition to winning the section title, Siracuse hopes to break the All-American standard of 1:04.77.

She also hopes to get something more on Saturday. That familiar hand reaching out from the crowd.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Swimming

What: Southern Section Championships

Where: Belmont Plaza, 4000 Olympic Plaza, Long Beach

When: Today-Saturday

Today’s schedule: Division IV preliminaries, 10 a.m.; Division I preliminaries, 4 p.m.

Thursday’s schedule: Division II preliminaries, 10 a.m.; Division IV finals, 4 p.m.

Friday’s schedule: Division III preliminaries, 10 a.m.; Division I finals, 4 p.m.

Saturday’s schedule: Division III finals, 10 a.m.; Division II finals, 4 p.m.

Admission: For preliminaries, $6 adults, $3 children under 12 and student presale; for finals, $7 adults, $4 children under 12 and student presale.