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By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

The week started with an event Jaime Kaplan has been a part of for more than three decades, and it will end with an event Kaplan didn’t necessarily expect to be a part of.

*Photo: Michael A. Lough/Central Georgia Sports Report*

And by the time “Jaime’s Love Tennis Weekend” is over, Kaplan will be ready to do nothing for awhile.

Health update
          From being diagnosed in December with pancreatic cancer to finishing up helping to put on the Five Star Celebrity Classic, Jaime Kaplan has had an overflowing past eight months.
          Upon completion of chemotherapy at the end of May, Kaplan’s next treatment involved intense radiation at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer in New York City in July.
          Post-treatment scans showed no growth of the tumor - which is located underneath vessels and intertwining with three major blood vessels - in size or intensity, continuing a trend of mild but notable progress.
It’s technically operable, but it’s a very complex procedure with the negative risk of surviving surgery. And the post-operative quality of life was too harsh for Kaplan to consider.
          Along the way, Kaplan was honored in April by Stratford for herfor her 500th career win. In May, she was able to accept a Distinguished Alumni award from Stratford in a small ceremony at Natalia’s, and then speak at her alma mater’s graduation a few days later on May 18, a day after a round of chemo, honored again with the award.
          Kaplan is now on maintenance chemo treatment called Xeloda, a regimen of three pills in the morning and then at night for two weeks – she started on Sept. 7 – for two weeks, then a week off before resuming.
          She hopes, as she posted on Facebook on Sept. 7, that “these little pills … do their thing and kill any friends of the unwanted visitor that may be lurking around and not visible on a scan because they are so small (micro-spread it's called) as well as keep that unwanted visitor from spawning new friends in the future.”
          Kaplan remains active and in comparatively good health as the battle continues.

‘Face it with courage’: Through a brand-new diagnosis, tennis legend Jaime Kaplan keeps fighting

Stratford celebrates the 500th win of Jaime Kaplan, and celebrates Kaplan in her latest and most serious health fight

A shoutout from Martina Navratilova

The Macon tennis and fund-raising icon is the focal point for this weekend’s event, at John Drew Smith Tennis Center and Idle Hour Country Club, to raise money for the Jaime Kaplan Scholarship through the Southern Tennis Foundation.

Kaplan is battling pancreatic cancer, diagnosed last December, and a few months ago decided she wanted to endow a scholarship through the Foundation, where she’s worked for almost two years. The Foundation has a scholarship program of $30,000 a year spread out among a number of scholarships, and Kaplan – the foundation’s Director of Development and Operations since November of 2022 - wanted to take part.

She talked about it with some officials at the Foundation, and they decided to go a step further.

“They said that they instead of me doing it that they wanted to a fund-raiser and raise that money to do a scholarship in my name,” Kaplan said recently. “They want to raise a lot more than $30,000. They were actually talking about $200,000.”

That would increase the value of each scholarship substantially. And so “Jaime’s Love Tennis Weekend” was born.

It comes a few days after the completion of the 35th Five Star Kevin Brown Russell Henley Celebrity Classic on Monday and Tuesday, a collection of events: a clay shoot, auction, and charity golf tournament spread out over four courses: Idle Hour, River North, The Brickyard, and River Forest with a post-tournament awards party.

That event benefits the Rescue Mission of Middle Georgia, the Macon Volunteer Clinic, and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Kaplan has a few days before diving into another flurry of action.

On Friday, John Drew Smith will host clinics for Bibb County students, as well as adaptive and special population (autism, Special Olympics, and visually impaired) as well as veterans, ending with a sponsor/special guest party at the home of longtime friends Beverly and Ed Olson.

There’s more tennis on Saturday at John Drew Smith with youth programs’ junior tennis, high school teams, and the National Tennis and Learning network.

Meanwhile, at Idle Hour, there will be women’s and men’s round robins, an exhibition featuring current college players, and a tournament involving players Kaplan has coached during her long career that started at Tattnall and continued at Stratford.

The capper is in the evening when Kaplan becomes the first woman added to Idle Hour’s “Wall of Fame.”

To donate: Make checks payable to “Southern Tennis Foundation” and send to Mike Kaplan, c/o Sanford Insurance, 4468 Forsyth Rd, Macon, Ga., 31210, or Matt Olson c/o STF. 5685 Spalding Drive Peachtree Corners Ga 30092, or click here.

The Southern Tennis Foundation is a 501(c)3 organization, so all donations are tax deductable.