Heralded North Jersey Wrestler, 26, Grappling With Stage IV Cancer

The Facebook post was blunt, ominous, and quick.

“Don’t panic, the huge malignant tumor they found by my tailbone is enormous and I am in stage 4.”

Jared Platt told his more than 3,700 social media friends why he was back in the hospital.

The lifelong grappler is one of the most successful mat maulers to evolve from New Jersey, starring at Blair Academy in high school and wrestling at Penn State University in the late 2000s.

According to teamusa.org, Platt was a Junior Nationals freestyle champion in 2007 at 215 pounds, placed second in the 2010 University Nationals and fourth in the 2008 University Nationals. He went on to win gold medals in freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2007 Pan American Junior Championships as well, the organization said.

Platt was also named an All-American during his days at Blair, wrestling under the famous Jeff Buxton.

And no matter how difficult those matches were, Platt, of the Oak Ridge section of Jefferson Township, is facing his biggest challenge yet in the form of cancer.

Platt, a Type 1 Diabetic, went into Morristown Medical Center on Sept. 2 to repair a herniated disk in his back, according to foxnews.com. Doctors said he’d be back on his feet within a day, and fully recovered in a week to return to his duties as a coach at Buxton Wrestling School in Sparta.

But the pain persisted even after surgery, the report said, and even spread to other parts of his body. Doctors thought it was his diabetes complicating the issue, and sent him home on Sept. 7.

Two days later, Platt had a 105-degree fever and was taken by ambulance to the hospital for testing, the report said. Doctors were able to diagnose him with Stage IV cancer, but are not yet able to determine which kind.

Friends and family jumped into action, launching a GoFundMe page with a goal of $100,000. In just 10 days some 775 donors have contributed $79,780 to help Platt as of Tuesday morning. See the GoFundMe page here.

Platt is a husband and father of two girls and he is currently in Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York.