Sitting in front of his locker, Drew Adams' thought process is the same before every game. As he throws his shirts and pads over his head, he prepares like any other athlete -- until he slides into his cleats.

Staring up at him are lime green shoelaces that pop against his worn-down black cleats. The word "HEADstrong" can be seen in segments as the laces criss-cross the top of his game shoes.

As he glances over the phrase, he realizes this isn't just another game. Every time he steps into those cleats, it's a new opportunity to do what his childhood friend Nick cannot.

"When you're stepping out on the field and realizing that you get the chance to go out and play the game that he loved," Drew said, "you kinda think to yourself, 'Well, I'm gonna go out here and give it my all, because I know Nick would have if he had the opportunity.' "

After Drew and Nick Colleluori parted ways to different Division I schools, Nick remained in Drew's thoughts a year-and-a-half after non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma cut Nick's lacrosse career and life short.

Standing out amid the blue and white peppered on the field and in the stands, Nick's presence is felt with the lime green shoelaces on the cleats of every Penn State lacrosse player.

But, for a mother who lost her 21-year-old son to cancer, Cheryl Colleluori can't help but feel mixed emotions whenever she sees the HEADstrong laces on the lacrosse field.

"It's with pride that I look down and see it," Cheryl said. "At the same token, it's bittersweet because if he were still here, they wouldn't be wearing the laces."

***

Although the laces have taken on a role of motivation for many, their primary purpose was to raise money for the HEADstrong Foundation, which Nick created soon after his first diagnosis in hopes of raising awareness for blood cancer and providing a small step toward the cure for cancer.

Fourteen months after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, Nick was down to a weak 125 pounds when his doctors told him there was nothing left to do.

The Hofstra lacrosse player knew his time was limited when he asked his mother if she would bring his HEADstrong Foundation into fruition.

"Absolutely, positively," Cheryl told him.

It was one of the last things Nick told her before he passed away on Nov. 28, 2006.

"It's my means of survival," Cheryl said of the foundation. "We all have the drive and motivation that we promised him we would -- the same drive and motivation that he lived his life with is how we're moving forward with the foundation."

***

Nick's passion for the foundation remained undeterred throughout his tumultuous battle with cancer. He was involved with the foundation's creation soon after he was diagnosed and developed a list of goals for the non-profit organization's future.

The name came rather quickly to Nick when he told his mom he had to stay mentally strong in his personal fight. Fittingly enough, his nickname was also "head" after his brothers teased him for having a big head when he was younger. Nick would run to his mother with frustration because his brothers were calling him "Nicholas Headward" playing off of his middle name Edward.

But eventually, "Head" became so popular that Cheryl thought some people didn't even know Nick was his actual name.

With the foundation's name in place, Nick continued to make strides with the foundation every chance he got.

While in the hospital for one of his many treatments, Nick was about to go into the operating room to get a catheter put in his neck to extract stem cells.

He asked his mom for a piece of paper and a pencil, which she quickly found and handed over to him. He began doodling and piqued his mother's curiosity.

"What are you doing," she asked.

"Oh, I'm designing the logo," Nick responded matter of factly.

In shock, Cheryl shrieked, "What?!"

After a minute or two, Nick turned over the piece of paper and told his mom, "This is it. No changes needed."

It was his first and only sketch of the logo, and the same design is still being used with every wristband and T-shirt the foundation produces. The logo shows a lacrosse stick on its side with a cancer ribbon surrounding the stringing of the stick. The ribbon is lime green to represent lymphoma.

***

Nick's vision and commitment to the foundation repeatedly surprised the people around him. All while fighting his own illness, Nick's ultimate focus was to help others through his work with HEADstrong and exemplifying a positive attitude.

Even at the time of his diagnosis, when people thought he would break down, Nick began showing signs of his relentless strength.

It was Sept. 21, 2005, when Hofstra's then-head coach John Danowski met Nick outside one of his morning classes. The two walked to Danowski's office where Nick's parents were sitting with the team doctor.

After having his adenoids removed, the doctors told Nick a few weeks before that the tissue looked suspicious and there was a 10-percent chance it was cancer. When Nick walked into Danowski's office, he knew. He was angry at first but quickly switched gears.

On that same day, Nick walked to the locker room to address his teammates with the Pride coaches by his side.

"It was pretty emotional," assistant coach Joe Amplo said. "He just wanted to make sure the guys knew that he was going to be OK and let them hear it from him and nobody else. He stood up in the room and looked everybody in the eye and said, 'Don't cry for me, don't worry. I'm going to fight this thing.' "

One of his teammates happened to be his younger brother, Mike, who was a freshman on the team. In elementary school, the two said they were going to play Division I lacrosse together, but after only two or three weeks on the same Pride field, Nick's diagnosis forced him to withdraw from school to receive treatment.

***

After being told his diagnosis, Nick was not one to tell the news to everybody. Mike's long-time girlfriend Mariel Bryan -- a junior attacker on Penn State's women's lacrosse team -- said she felt like it was her duty to keep Nick's concerned friends, including Drew, updated on his progress.

Nick's close friend and Penn State club lacrosse player Dennis Valerio heard the news by word of mouth. Only when he asked Nick about it online did Nick tell his friend about his situation and how he was going to fight it.

It was this laid-back yet confident mindset that often helped Nick's family and friends deal with the curveball thrown at his promising life.

On the way to a fourth opinion, Cheryl was driving on I-95 with Nick when she started to get emotional. He showed his fearless nature to help ease his mom's stress.

"You know mom, I'm not scared of anything," Nick said as tears streamed down her face. "What are you afraid of?"

"I'm afraid of living my life without you. How about that?" she replied.

"I'm not nervous," Nick said. "It's OK. I can't control it, so we just have to go with it."

And go with it he did. Throughout his illness, Nick attended as many Hofstra lacrosse games as physically possible. At the end of the games he attended, Nick would join his team in the locker room, share his assessment of the performance, and give out his "fat head" award to the most deserving player or players.

As Nick's illness worsened, it became harder to stay involved with his team. But during Hofstra's fall scrimmage a few months before he passed in 2006, Nick was on the sidelines in a wheelchair. His teammates surrounded him and got another chance to see Nick's strength on display.

***

The courage Nick showed during his time as a player and throughout his illness never wavered -- even when his fight with cancer had him against the ropes.

It was 4 o'clock on a Saturday when the doctors explained to Nick and his family that the morning's scans showed a mass on his spine. The cancer had spread. His kidneys were inflamed too, and any drugs the doctors could give him would just make things worse.

Despite the bad news, Nick still found a way to act like he knew he was going to get past this.

He looked up at the doctors and said, "You don't know me very well. You're giving up on me? Are you kidding me?"

After Nick had made his decision to go home, Mike Colleluori stepped out into the hallway and made his first call to Hofstra's new head coach Seth Tierney. He told Tierney that his brother was not given much time, and Mike wanted the team to come see Nick.

The entire men's team boarded a bus that Monday. The mood was understandably quiet on the three-and-a-half hour bus ride. Before entering the house, the coaching staff told the team the goal was to make the meeting as normal as possible.

A few jokes were used to break the ice, and that's all it took to generate hours of reminiscing, laughing, and imitating one another. Furniture was moved to let all of his teammates sit on the floor surrounding their teammate. He was leading the conversation, laughing and upbeat -- putting other people first just like he always would.

"When it was time to go, it was gonna be tough to tell the guys, 'OK, it's time to go,' " Tierney said. "We basically told the guys to shake his hand and go down and give him a hug and say goodbye to him, because we weren't sure what was in store for him and make sure we have no regrets."

Twelve hours later, Nick passed away.

***

The Hofstra men's team has found its own ways to remember Nick. Each player has a blue and yellow patch sown on the right upper corner of his jersey. The patch has Nick's No. 27, with "Head" and "Relentless" written above and below the number.

Nick's presence can also be spotted as soon as the players enter their locker room. Despite moving into the new facility at the beginning of the 2008 season, Nick's name is still on a name plate above the first locker anybody sees when they walk in. Inside the locker hangs Nick's jersey with one of his radiation masks sitting atop the shelf. Mike's locker stands right by it.

And the laces flash bright green.

Alongside Nick's undisturbed locker, Mike slips into his game jersey -- a spotless white one like Drew's. Although the school name stitched in front is different, one word is always on their minds, in their hearts, and on their feet.

Mike makes sure his HEADstrong laces are tied tight and he slides on his No. 27 armband before walking out on the field. As both teams wait for the whistle, Mike sees his opponents also donning lime-green shoelaces.

These players are supposed to be enemies on the field, but to Mike, they are people who are showing support.

"It's almost like it's not real when I see the other team with the laces," Mike said. "It's like, wow. This kid has had such an impact on so many lives. More and more people want to get involved each day, and it shows what kind of person he was and what he stood for."

Mariel did her part by supporting Mike and his family during Nick's time of need, but she decided to bring the HEADstrong Foundation to Penn State women's team when the shoelaces were introduced. She spoke with her close friend and team captain Kerry Shea, and they decided to approach the team with the idea of wearing the laces in support of Nick and the Colleluori family.

The women's team immediately agreed and began wearing them after 2007's fall practices.

"The fact that the whole team whole-heartedly said this is something we should do, there was never any hesitation," Penn State head coach Suzanne Isidor said. "There was never any doubt. Being part of a team, there are so many things that we can be a part of and that we can help in small ways with our big group."

After the reception from the women's team, Mariel shared the idea with Drew who proposed the same thing to the men's team. Dennis also ordered more than 30 pairs of HEADstrong laces for himself and the Penn State club lacrosse team.

Cheryl can barely keep up with the orders for the laces, which have appeared overseas, in all levels of lacrosse, and in other sports. The shoelaces alone have brought in an estimated $50,000 to the foundation. The money raised by HEADstrong goes toward blood cancer research and families who are living with a sick relative.

After participating in last fall's Light the Night walk -- the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's annual tribute -- Cheryl and her oldest son, Pat, were brainstorming to find a way to "tie" the lacrosse community to the foundation. The laces were easy to produce and became immediately popular -- especially among both of Penn State's lacrosse teams.

Mariel said she thinks most about Nick when things aren't going her way on the field. A missed pass. A wide shot on goal. Things are just not falling the way she would like.

But with a simple look down, she becomes grateful for even being on the field. Every time she slides into her cleats, she remembers Nick as the player who "would run through a brick wall if he had to." Even though it may be hard at times, she has to play her best because that's how Nick would have played.

"When I'm out there and I'm having a bad day," Mariel said, "I just look down and I know Nick's here."