Coaching lacrosse served as Mark Princehorn’s safe haven as his son battled a life-threatening illness

Mark Princehorn is stoic, but behind a dark pair of sunglasses and a cap that shielded his face, Princehorn couldn’t help but get a bit choked up when talking about this year’s St. Joseph’s Prep lacrosse team.

That’s because when the coach joined the program in the spring of 2023, he and his wife, Lindsay, were dealing with the hardest obstacle in their lives as parents.

In November 2020, they welcomed their first child to the world, a boy named Cole. At 2 months old, Cole was diagnosed with biliary atresia, a liver condition in infants. He underwent a seven-hour surgery at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, but a few months later, Mark and Lindsay could tell something wasn’t right.

They spent weeks in and out of the hospital. Then in the summer of 2022, doctors informed the Princehorns that Cole needed a liver transplant. It took about five to six months to find a donor, a 16-year-old girl who died in a car accident. Princehorn referred to her as his son’s “guardian angel.” Cole also dealt with other complications before the transplant surgery. He almost died three times, Princehorn said.

The couple thought their nightmares were over, until December 2022, when Cole developed a rare cancer called post-transplant lymphoma.

“I heard that news literally between the school day ending and practice starting,” said Princehorn, a 37-year-old Ohio native who played lacrosse at Ohio Wesleyan University. “[The players are] the first guys I see afterward. They had no idea, but it was an immediate pick-me-up, like immediate therapy for me, and that’s what they’ve given [me] my entire time with them. It‘s been an amazing journey. … I don’t think they realized what they’ve done for me.”

Cole, who’s now 4 years old, has been cancer-free for two years. While he still has check-ins and lab draws frequently to monitor his health, Cole is happy and thriving in preschool, and he’s also a big brother to almost-2-year-old Cooper.

The journey has changed Princehorn’s perspective on life and the kind of coach he wants to be. While the team’s presence has helped Princehorn, the seniors also have taken away valuable lessons from their coach, beyond what’s taught on the field: perseverance, never giving up, and the importance of family.

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On Thursday at Arcadia University, the Hawks look to return the favor by earning a Catholic League championship against La Salle College High School. A win could extend their season to district and state playoffs. A loss would end it.

St. Joe’s Prep (16-4) has not won a PCL lacrosse title since 2015, and this year’s group believes it has what it takes to make a run.

“We haven’t beaten them in 10 years,” said senior defender Nick Cunningham, an All-American who plans to play at Massachusetts next year. “No one I’ve ever played with has beat them, so this game means the world to me. I want to go out there, and I want to win for not only my team, but for everyone that’s stepped into this uniform and has played for us.”

Princehorn was the coach at Lansdale Catholic for three years before he was hired at The Prep. He also was the school’s athletic director and a social studies teacher, “wearing a lot of hats.” It got to a point where it became too much, given Cole’s health issues. Princehorn needed more flexibility in his schedule, so he decided it was time for a change.

“I really couldn’t give Lansdale Catholic in that community what they needed as an athletic director,” he said. “People often say family first, but that is very true in the fabric of my foundation as a coach, as an educator, and, obviously, as a family man. I needed to make a change so I could take Cole to his appointments and be there for him as he recovered from transplant surgery.”

The opportunity at The Prep allowed to him to do so. He’s had to miss practices or leave early to help take care of Cole, but from the start, the coach had support from the school.

Members of the team learned about what their coach was going through during his first year. They wanted to rally behind him, so at Christmastime, about a half-dozen of them dropped off a present for Cole at the Princehorn residence. They dedicated the 2023 season to him and made “CP” stickers to wear on their helmets. The Prep also continued the annual Cole’s Goals Liver Disease Awareness game, which started in 2022. All of the proceeds go toward CHOP’s liver research foundation.

This year’s seniors, who then were sophomores, still wear the “CP” sticker on their helmets. The idea came from midfielder Trot Cush, who will be playing at York College in the fall.

“He’s had our back since the day he stepped into office as the coach,” Cush said. “Even when he didn’t really know us, he had our back right away. I wanted to show that we have his back, too. We’ll be there for him. There’s been times where he showed up to practice with one to two hours of sleep, so we just wanted to really support him.”

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Princehorn has affected each of his players differently. Senior goalie Keegan Dunn struggled academically, and there were times when he had to sit out a scrimmage or game because of his grades. Princehorn did not get mad or yell at Dunn and instead told him to not give up.

“He brought me up and told me, ‘You could do this,’” Dunn said. “He talked about the times where he was with Cole in the hospital. That’s something that stuck with me because he was always there for me, and that’s what helped me get through high school and continue my lacrosse career into college [at Washington College in Chestertown, Md.].”

Cush said this year’s team has the best culture he has been part of during his four years. It showed as the coach stood off to the side of the Salvation Army Kroc Center field in Philadelphia for an interview Tuesday. It seemed as if Princehorn gave his team direction and drills to do beforehand, as the players seamlessly ran through a routine, but that wasn’t the case.

It was player-led, and “they hold each other accountable,” Princehorn said. It’s what he loves most about this group and would best describe why St. Joe’s Prep lacrosse became his safe haven through the most difficult period of his life.

“It’s the people that have made the journey,” he said. “If you’re coaching a group of kids that aren’t great people from great families that don’t care and hold themselves accountable or have a desire to go make the world a better place or be a better person or work hard, you’re not going to have the enjoyment as a coach. Thankfully, I’ve got a group of kids that do all those things.”