PERTH AMBOY, NJ — This 17-year-old Perth Amboy teen was honored during the Rutgers-Iowa women’s basketball game, on Friday, Jan. 5 at the Jersey Mike’s arena in Piscataway.
Yadielis Gonzalez was honored as the Shining Knight of The Game. She is a member of the Perth Amboy High School girls’ basketball team.
Last March, Gonzalez was diagnosed with ependymoma, a cancerous tumor in her brain that wrapped around her spinal cord. She needed to have emergency surgery at Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, part of RWJBarnabas Health.
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For the next two months, Yadielis then received radiation treatment at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey.
Yadielis was joined on the court by her sister Jossie and the Rutgers Scarlet Knight mascot. Her Mom Dee, stepdad Ismael, brother Yalianis, and uncle were in the crowd as she was honored for her bravery in fighting the tumor.
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Today, she has been able to embark on the road to recovery, allowing her to get back to school and back to playing on the basketball court.
Before she was honored on the court halfway through the game, Yadielis got to meet Rutgers head women’s basketball coach Coquese Washington in the team’s practice gym. She also got to stand with players during the performance of the national anthem.
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