However, many people think there's no reason a person should have to suffer through cancer. Naturally, Shaun, a Saratoga native, couldn't believe it was happening to him. Just a year ago, he was deathly ill and was told that cancer had already spread throughout his testicles, into his stomach and lymph nodes and around the wall of his lungs. There was even a possibility it had reached his brain. Even if he survived, and the doctors were able to rid him of the cancer through chemotherapy, Shaun was told it was likely he would never be able to father a child.

Sitting in a café on Halloween with his wife, Nyssa, and holding his bouncing baby boy, Niko, 4 months old, one would never guess. Doctors call Niko a miracle.

Today, Shaun is happy, healthy and eager to get back to his professional soccer career--and he says that now he has clarity. He understands why all of this happened to him.

A rising star

As a student at Bellarmine College Preparatory, Shaun was the path toward a promising athletic career. He played soccer for the Bells, and earned a spot on several national teams, including both the under 17 and under 20 national teams. He even played in the under 20 World Cup in 1999.

After high school, Shaun set off for school at UCLA, where he met Nyssa, a geology student. In his senior year, he was drafted by New England Revolution of the Major League Soccer. So, he divided his time between Boston and Los Angeles. Looking back, Shaun and Nyssa say the distance was difficult, but somehow they made their relationship work.

However, life became even more difficult when his father, Demetri Tsakiris, died in 2001. Demetri is the namesake of the Tsakiris family salon they have run in Saratoga for roughly 30 years, Demetri's: The Hair People.

"That was a really tough time for me, being away from my family. I felt like I wasn't in a very good place, mentally, to be in that situation and be all by myself," Shaun says. "And to be thrown in with a pro team, it's tough. Even when everything's going right, that's tough. But when you have something that big happen in your life--that you don't have your dad anymore--and to be in Boston ... it was just a really tough time."

Tragically, his grandmother died not long after his father.

Shaun returned to California after playing for the Revolution for four months.

"I got waived, they released me from Boston, so I came back here to be with family," he says.

Shaun remained in Saratoga for six months, then was signed to play for an expansion team in Syracuse, N.Y. He played for that team for the first half of the season, then joined the Rochester Rhinos for the second half, including the playoffs. At the end of the season, the Rhinos signed him to a two-year contract.

Things were looking up.

The diagnosis

To stay fit during the off-seasons, which he spent in Los Angeles, Shaun took up training for triathlons. He bought himself a great bike and began working with a trainer.

One day, while riding with his trainer, Shaun felt that something just wasn't right. He was experiencing a lot of discomfort, and noticed that one of his testicles was larger than the other.

His trainer told him this was common for someone like Shaun who was new on a bike. However, when things were still looking and feeling bad a few weeks later, he consulted with doctors at UCLA, who immediately sent him to the medical plaza for tests.

The diagnosis was grim.

On Oct. 25, 2004, doctors discovered cancer in both of his testicles and a tumor the size of a golf ball in the one that was swollen.

Doctors were concerned at the incredibly fast rate Shaun's cancer had spread to other parts of his body. They wanted to operate immediately to remove the tumor, then start him on chemotherapy.

Shaun was told that, once he started chemo, the chances were low that he would ever be able to father a child. Therefore, they recommended that in the days before his surgery he visit a sperm bank and save some of his sperm. It could provide a small chance of becoming a father in the future, should he survive.

The results from the sperm bank were grim as well. He was told that the average man's deposit contains between 10 and 15 million sperm per vial--his had less than 100,000. He decided to go back and try again, but the results were the same. The doctors were convinced, by these results, that he would never have a child.

Shaun says hearing that was the toughest thing of all--more difficult even than knowing he had cancer.

"I had a pretty good feeling that I was going to get through the cancer," he says. "But the hardest part of all was the part about not being able to have kids. Nyssa and I want a ton of kids, a big family, and to be around for a long time. That was the hardest part to swallow, for both of us, and I'm sure for my family as well."

Shaun underwent surgery and began chemotherapy a few weeks later. He was offered two options for his treatment schedule. The first was an outpatient routine that would allow him to work, but not play soccer. He would undergo two hours of chemo per day, Monday through Friday, for seven to nine months. The second option was a considerably more intense, inpatient routine. He would undergo four different types of chemo for eight hours a day, Monday through Saturday of one week, then be given two weeks off out of the hospital before returning for his next round.

Doctors said that the more intense option would be less strenuous on his lungs in the long run, possibly allowing him to play soccer again in the future if he responded well. Hearing that, Shaun opted for the more intense routine.

The chosen routine definitely had its drawbacks. After being poked countless times with needles, leaving him black and blue up and down both arms, doctors fit Shaun with a stent that stretched from his arm into his heart. One night, while he was sleeping in the hospital, the stent came open, and Shaun woke up, blood covering his entire body and the floor around his bed. It was a scary but not life-threatening experience.

Like clockwork, though, Shaun became very sick about four to five days into his two weeks off.

"After my second round, I got so sick they checked me back into the hospital and gave me bags of blood, and nothing was helping. I was sick, I was freezing, my back was killing me and they gave me painkillers, but nothing was helping. I was thinking that I was dying. I was thinking, 'there's no way I can fight this off.' There were days or weeks where I would drop eight to 12 or 15 pounds. And it was tough for everybody to see me that way, like Nyssa, and my mom, who were there with me in the hospital.

"One of the worst things is just being in the hospital. You just want to get out; it drives you crazy. When I was out of the hospital, and someone would tell me I had to go back in, I got really upset," he recalls.

Shaun remembers people telling him that the treatments often left him out of it. He would snap at a nurse who came into his room, or a person who tried to tell him "they knew what he was going through." Then, not a minute later, someone would come in and he would be all smiles, saying, "Hi, how are you?" He had no memory of any of it.

Knowing that he might have to do five or six rounds of this, his outlook was anything but positive.

However, it seemed there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

The miracle

Shaun finished his second round of chemotherapy treatments shortly before last Christmas and was due to go back into the hospital for his third on Dec. 26. However, he got one of the best phone calls of his life on Dec. 23.

"He told me that I didn't need it," Shaun says. The doctors reported that so much of the cancer was gone, further chemotherapy wasn't necessary.

Today, there still remains a small amount of cancer on the wall of his lungs, but doctors say that because it is so small, and doesn't appear to be growing at all, removing it would be more detrimental to his health than letting it be. Shaun reports for examinations to monitor his condition every two months.

The second miracle? Baby Niko.

One week after the surgery to remove his tumor, Nyssa found out she was pregnant. The two were married on June 9 of this year, and Niko is now four months old.

Getting back in the game

The new soccer season was scheduled to begin in March of this year, and when Shaun heard the good news on Dec. 23 he set a goal to be back in shape in time to join the Rhinos in Rochester.

Just after New Year's Day, Shaun attempted his first walk around the neighborhood. He was surprised at how out of shape he was, considering how fit he had been before his diagnosis. Barely 20 minutes into the walk, Shaun had to call his brother to pick him up.

"Once I got tired, my body just literally shut down. I couldn't fight through it," he says. Shaun felt defeated.

"I thought, 'am I going to be able to play again?' I had no idea," he recalls.

But it wasn't long before he was out there again.

Shaun reached his goal, and was in good enough shape to join his team by March. Although it was a slow start, he made it through the entire season.

The support

Shaun said the two biggest things that got him through his illness were knowing that he had a son to take care of, and the support from his family, his team and the people of the West Valley and Rochester.

When his coach found out he had been diagnosed with cancer, he spread the word and the people of Rochester rallied.

A huge fundraiser was organized, and the team flew in all the players and had a clinic and game to raise money for Shaun. Practically the whole town got involved. They sported their "Beat It--The Shaun Tsakiris Fund" sweatshirts, with Shaun's team number on the back, and raised more than $12,000 toward his medical bills.

Shaun received hundreds of get-well cards and letters from all over, including the West Valley--even from current soccer players at Bellarmine and UCLA who never knew him, but had heard his story.

"My mom has been the best thing. She dropped everything [in Saratoga] and came to L.A. She lived with me; she was at the hospital every day. My condition took a toll on everyone who would come to see me every week, and I can only imagine how hard that must have been for her, especially in my second round," Shaun says. "I had a really bad reaction to the steroids they were giving me. I locked up; I would start breaking things. I was too weak to eat, too sick to eat. It must have been terrible for my mom to watch what I was going through.

"Nobody made her come, she came because of how much she loved me. That's the kind of family that we have. I know for sure I wouldn't be in this spot today if it weren't for my mom. She's the best, I love her. Between [my mom and Nyssa], they were in the hospital every day."

"I'm really very proud of him, how he tackled adversity, because it wasn't easy. It was your worst nightmare, having cancer. He has worked so hard to get back to a normal life," says his mother, Connie Mintegui. "It has taken a lot of desire, determination and focus. Life has really changed a whole lot for him. But I really believe that he is, believe it or not, a better person, with all that he has gone through."

Shaun's two older brothers, Tiki and Mike, who now run the salon with their mother, have also been a constant in his life.

"Even before he was ill I thought this--I've always thought of Shaun as an old soul, wise beyond his years," Mike says. "I've always respected him kind of like he was an older brother, even though he's 10 years younger than me. But then, on the other hand, I've always looked after him like an older brother would. I have a great, strong relationship with both my brothers.

"When this happened, it was a tough time, but we always knew he would get through it. I'm just amazed at how he handled it because it was very brutal; it was hard seeing him in the state he was in. But Shaun would always say 'don't worry about me, I'll be fine.' "

Reaching out to others

Now that he has his health back, Shaun says he believes he knows why it all happened to him. He believes his purpose is to help others who are suffering through cancer.

This year, while he was back in Rochester, Shaun made it a point to visit children with cancer in the hospital, and, for the ones who could temporarily leave the hospital, bring them to games with him. He remembers that when he was suffering, the only people he could really respond to were others who had been through the disease themselves. Therefore, now, he wants to be there for others as they were there for him.

"I feel like I have gone through this for a reason," he says. "After what I went through, I feel like any way I can help people to get through it, to find out more about it or to talk about it, that's the reason."

"There's just something about Shaun that makes people feel really comfortable and they will just open up, and I think that's really significant, especially now that he's been through cancer," Nyssa says.

"Sometimes we don't even talk about being sick, we just hang out," says Shaun of the kids he visits.

These days, Shaun is back in the Bay Area. His contract up with the Rochester Rhinos, he is enjoying time with his wife and new baby, and searching for a new team.

But most of all, he's enjoying his health and his newfound purpose.

"To think, what a difference a year makes," Connie Mintegui says. "Here he is now with a wife and a child. It really is a miracle."