John Near, 30-year veteran faculty member – and much more – of The Harker School, has been moved to intermediate care following an aggressive bacterial infection that required surgery. Near has been battling cancer and has reduced immunity from treatments which allowed the infection to take hold. He checked in to El Camino Hospital Monday and underwent surgery to remove infected tissue in his left leg from hip to knee. Wife Pam Dickinson, Harker’s director of communications, and daughter Casey Near ’06 a student at Scripps College in Claremont, Calif., have been with him all along.
Dickinson said, “He has multiple doctors working with him daily – general surgeon, oncologist, orthopedic surgeon, infectious disease doctor – and each, to a person, have found his response and healing to the disease amazing and far above their expectations. I swear it’s the Viking genes.”
At this time, Near cannot have visitors or even flowers. “He’s in a private room in intermediate care now – which is great – so all is going well,” said Dickinson. “Check his Caring Bridge page for the full update, and to post messages. We’ll be posting updates there from now on rather than sending e-mails, and feel free to pass this along to anyone else who might love to check up on him.”