Not the news that his son, Joey Jr., developed a rare and extremely aggressive form of cancer in his back, but just how fast the metastatic sarcoma had reached the stage four level.
In part, because his son was preparing for his second round of chemotherapy on the same day the Pennsbury basketball community rallied in the creation of a one-day basketball clinic and fundraiser at Pennsbury Racquet Club called “Fighting for Joey.”Not just in the Pennsbury community, but within Philly basketball circles.
Life, mainly Ava’s and the preparation of her first year with the Terrapins, made little time for extracurricular activities like social media for Frank. But that was OK, as he’ll tell you it was a much-needed break coming off a frenetic season with the Falcons girls’ run to a“So I swore off social media coming out of the end of the basketball season,” said Sciolla. “[During] the last live recruiting period, I get a lot of direct messages from parents and it was getting overwhelming.
“This is the type of thing Joey Monaghan would do,” said Frank Sciolla. “This is one of these universally high energy positive, well-liked young men who always takes time for other people. Our community really stepped up to help. “They did a scan on his body and it showed some fluid in one [side] of his lung,” Monaghan recalls. “Within three or four days, by his next scan, his lungs were almost full. At that point, they pumped out 3.8 liters of fluid from his lung. But he’d never tell anyone how bad it got or how he felt. He’d tell doctors his pain was at like a three or a four, I’d say ‘dude, come on I know you, you’re at like an eight.’ But that’s just the kind of kid he is, he doesn’t want to be a burden on [anyone].