Hot Pursuit

Walking with a cane in hand is about the only way Jonathan Isenor can get around these days. It’s a far cry from the way he was able to maneuver while acting on stage in high school and college. 
Isenor, who grew up in Blooming Prairie, went on to St. Cloud State University where he majored in theatre. He worked for a while at a theatre company in the Twin Cities and eventually went on to get his law degree and become an attorney.
He moved to International Falls to follow his wife who got a job as a prosecutor in the county attorney’s office. Isenor had just set up his own law firm before the world started crumbling around him.
Just a few months ago at the age of 33, Isenor found out he has a rare cancer in his leg called myxoid liposarcoma. “It was a tumor wrapped around muscles and bone,” he said in describing the cancer. 
Isenor has lost three grandparents to cancer, so the news didn’t come as a total shock. But he was a little surprised at coming down with cancer at his age. “I always assumed I was going to get cancer, but not leg cancer. It’s just a freak thing,” he told me recently. We featured him in a front-page news feature in last week’s edition of the Times.
The dreadful news caused Isenor to move back closer to home in Faribault. He wouldn’t mind moving even closer to Blooming Prairie. “Ever since I graduated from college, I wanted to get back to BP,” he said. “I love where I’m from.”
While his law career has been shoved to the sidelines, at least for now, he’s focused on his health and kicking the cancer. It has been 10 weeks since his surgery and radiation treatments. “Every week, I feel so much better,” Isenor said.
In addition to getting strength back into his leg by walking, Isenor has been “exercising my mind” by doing a lot of reading. “My brain turned to mush and now I’m trying to jumpstart it again,” he said. 
Asked what has pulled him through this ordeal, Isenor says, “Jack and my wife (Laura).” Jack is his son who will turn 1 in a couple weeks. “It’s been my goal to make sure I would be a good dad,” he said, adding his only regret right now is that he can’t take care of his son alone while his wife is working. 
Surgery and treatment have saved Isenor’s leg—at least for now. He recalls waking up after surgery and feeling a great sense of relief when he was able to wiggle his toes. He said there is a 30 percent chance the cancer could come back. If that happens, it’s likely he would lose the leg. He will be monitored every three months for the first year. 
Isenor’s mother, Anita, is planning a benefit for him this weekend in the Twin Cities. The benefit will be Sunday from 2-6 p.m. at Coon Rapids VFW. He recognizes the importance of family even more than ever before. 
The cancer diagnosis has caused an extreme financial and emotional hardship on this young family. But he’s determined to beat it. 
“It has made me realize you need to have family near you,” Isenor said. “You don’t get through this by being alone.”
This cancer survivor appears to be tough and he’ll definitely be going in hot pursuit of getting back to his dreams of being a lawyer again and being on stage, but this time in the courtroom.