- Westlake High School's band director Parker Holt is facing a second brain cancer diagnosis.
- Holt, 28, was first diagnosed in 2017 and is now undergoing treatment again.
- A GoFundMe has been set up to support Holt during this challenging time.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — A Westlake High School marching band director is facing his second bout with brain cancer, and many whose lives he's touched are stepping in to help.
Parker Holt, 28, was first diagnosed in 2017, at the age of 20, with a stage two, grade two diffuse astrocytoma brain tumor, which is a slow-growing (low-grade) tumor. He endured surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, and as a result, was cancer-free with little-to-no new tumor growth for the next eight years. He spent those years earning a degree in digital audio from Utah Valley University, giving private French horn lessons and working with the Westlake High marching band.
Recently, however, the cancer has returned, and Holt is facing the possibility of not being able to do what he loves.
"There is no way to completely get rid of this type of tumor," Holt explained. "It's full of maintenance and treatment as things progress, and I have follow-ups and scans every six to nine months. It was October of last year when doctors let me know that there had been some new growth.
"A couple of months ago, I had a really large seizure that was unlike anything else I had felt before, where it lasted a really long time. I went to the hospital for it, and they let me know that the treatment I was on was not effective and that the cancer had spread all over my left motor strip. I feel symptoms on the left side of my face, my left hand, and now my left foot and leg."
Former marching band member and one of Holt's first private French horn students, Halle Arnold, said that when she heard the news that her former teacher was facing another cancer diagnosis, she was heartbroken for him.
"It makes me so sad," Arnold said. "I've cried so many times about it because he's just such an amazing person and he doesn't deserve to be going through this.
"And to think that he might never play French horn again makes me so sad," she continued. "Everything that he does is French horn and mellophone and teaching people about French horn and mellophone. If I weren't able to play French horn ever again, I'd be so devastated. So I can't even imagine what he's going through with it. It just makes me so sad to think that he's going through this."
Holt began working with the marching band in 2019, following his first diagnosis while in remission. Head band director Randy Brady said hiring Holt has brought a much-needed calm energy to the staff and specifically to the students.
"Parker has worked for me since the 2019 marching band season and has become the brass coordinator and is over our basketball pep band," Brady said. "He is one of the most consistent, reliable people on my staff. And what's really great about Parker is the way that he works with students. The kids absolutely love him to death because he relates with them well, and he's really even-keeled. I get to be excitable and maybe have a temper sometimes, but I have never seen him mad. He's always so calm, and students really look to him as a levelheaded person who they can go to when they're feeling stressed out or anxious."
That calm under pressure has led the WHS Marching Band to many top performance rankings, including a recent win at the Bands of America Arizona Regional Championship at Northern Arizona University on September 27. This competition took place while Holt was in the hospital. He said he is sad to miss being with his students and hopes to be back with them soon.
"I've had to shut down my private lesson studio, because this next surgery is very likely to affect the muscle strength and lip coordination on the left half of my face," Holt said. "The hardest part, honestly, is having to step away from the marching band right now. The biggest part of the season is the fall, when all the competitions are. I do all my planning, scheduling and budgeting just to make sure that I can have this time to be with them, and so it's super unfortunate that all this started happening right at the worst possible time."
Holt is scheduled to have surgery in mid-October to remove some of the new tumor growth, followed by more rounds of radiation and chemotherapy over the next year.
He said he hopes to be well enough to be back with the band next summer and fall. Until then, family and friends are doing what they can to help him by setting up a GoFundMe* account to ease the financial strain of lost income and give him the chance to experience things when he's well enough to do so.
"Parker was talking to the kids the other day to let him know that he's not going to be around (at practice and performances)," Brady said. "He told them, 'I just feel like I need to let my body rest so that I can get through this, and I'll be thinking about you all.'"
*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited into the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.
