Swimming well requires grace and precision, discipline and purpose, endurance and confidence.

For two decades, YMCA swimming coach Jon Brenner has been building such qualities in legions of young people, one freestyle stroke at a time. The kids he’s taught love him. Their parents love him. The staff at the La Crosse Area Family YMCA in Wisconsin loves him.

Now Brenner, 53, is relying in a big way on the support of his community, as well as the lessons he’s learned from the countless hours he’s spent at the pool. Seven months ago, he was stunned to discover that he had a cancerous brain tumor.

“I had been at a long swim meet all weekend,” Brenner recalled for TODAY. “We went out to eat at a local pizza place. And toward the end, I started to feel sick and my head really hurt.”

Brenner had a seizure and was rushed to a nearby hospital. He underwent surgery to have the late-stage tumor removed. At the time, doctors told him he had a year to live.

Since then, he’s endured grueling radiation and chemotherapy treatments. And he’s continued to coach.

“That’s Jon,” La Crosse Area Family YMCA executive director Bill Soper told the La Crosse Tribune. “We were all thrilled to see him back on the [pool] deck.”

Not only is he coaching, but he’s continuing to make swim practice fun. The kids who know him talk about the jokes he makes, the fun cheers he invents, the crazy hats he wears.

“I like the kids to feel I’m just a wonderful, corny old guy,” Brenner told TODAY.

Moving forward
Since Brenner took over as head coach of his local YMCA’s WAVE Swim Team in 1991, the team has mushroomed from about 40 swimmers to more than 225 between the ages of 5 and 18. More than a dozen of his swimmers have qualified to participate in next month’s YMCA National Swim Meet in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Despite the fatigue and nausea that are dogging him, Brenner hopes to be in Florida as well so he can witness the action in person.

Brenner was diagnosed last August with glioblastoma multiforme, the most common type of brain tumor and also the most aggressive. He’s encouraged that an MRI this week revealed no signs of a tumor.

Though staying active, Brenner has cut back on his arduous coaching and traveling schedule in recent months so he can rest and spend as much time as possible with his wife, Terry, and their three daughters, Erin, Jane and Lily.

“I am trying to be positive and focus little on my problems,” Brenner told the La Crosse Tribune. “I want to spend time with my kids and Terry and be playful.”

Since his diagnosis, his community in Wisconsin has rallied around him and his family. Blue bracelets bearing the words “For Jon” have been sold at swim meets to help raise money for the Brenners, the La Crosse Tribune reported.

That same newspaper named Brenner its 2008 Person of the Year “because of how he chooses to live his life, dedicating himself to his family and La Crosse area youth.”

Well-wishers also started the Jon Brenner Benefit Fund at Merchants Bank, 3140 Market Place, Onalaska, WI 54650.

‘Thank you, Jon’
Best of all are the piles of letters and e-mail messages he’s received from past and current swimming students who have been affected by his training and example. Notes from children have made a special impression on Brenner and his wife:

“Dear Jon, You are going through something no one as kind as you should have to go through. You taught me the joy of swimming and I will always be thankful.”

“I am so thankful God has brought you into my life. Your influences on me will last a lifetime.”

“I would like to thank you, Jon, for never giving up hope, not just in me, but in all of us.”

“Someday I hope to coach because I want to make an impact on people like you have.”

“I will always carry everything you have taught me in my heart forever.”

Brenner’s wife Terry said she and her daughters have been strengthened by the support of so many people.

“It confirms what I think I know or believe,” she said, “which is there is kindness and goodness everywhere. There is.”