Norwin community rallies around basketball player Ty Bilinsky after stroke, blood disorder diagnosis

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Monday, February 1, 2021 | 2:51 PM

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The Norwin community is rallying around senior basketball player Ty Bilinsky, who has missed some time because of health issues.

The boys basketball team wore #TyStrong shirts in pregame warmups Friday night at Hempfield, and shirts like the team wore are being sold to raise money for the Bilinsky family.

Orders can be placed online for the navy blue shirts that have gold lettering and Bilinsky’s No. 5 on the back.

Also, Bilinsky’s teammate, Josh Williams, started a GoFundMe page to collect money for the cause. The page had raised more than $6,000 by Monday afternoon.

“Ty is loved by everyone and a great kid to be around,” Williams said on the page. “(He) always wants to help out other kids before himself, and now is the time Ty can finally help himself and get through these tough times and know that everyone has his back. Prayers to Ty and his family.”

Bilinsky had a stroke just after Christmas but returned to play a few games for the Knights. It later was discovered he has a blood disorder — myeloproliferative neoplasms — and could miss the rest of the season. In many cases of MPN, bone marrow makes too many red or white blood cells and causes a thickening of the blood or prevents the blood cells from working.

The ailment is manageable. Bilinsky was going to see a specialist in New York.

The all-section guard led Norwin in scoring last season at 16.5 points per game. He also played football for the Knights and was slowed by an ankle injury.

Help support Knight family and order #TyStrong shirts to help support classmate, teammate and fellow Knight.

Order on link below. Orders taken until Feb 15. https://t.co/KfIi1yWFKm pic.twitter.com/EAlth3WxWI

— Norwin Newspaper (@knightkrier) January 31, 2021

Norwin wearing #TyStrong shirts in warmups to recognize senior Ty Bilinsky.

He had a stroke earlier this year and is dealing with some other health-related issues.

He’s not playing tonight.@norwinathletics @NorwinBoys @HASDathletics @TribLiveHSSN pic.twitter.com/UaW8vX5faF

— Bill Beckner (@BillBeckner) January 30, 2021

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Norwin