Hereau gets back on track
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As last August came to a close, Escanaba's Kevin Hereau was wrapping up a dream opportunity as an intern at Hendrick Motorsports working under fellow Yooper Greg Ives on the number 48 Ally Chevy driven by Alex Bowman.
By mid-September, however, his life was turned on its head when he was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia and began immediate treatment. His plans to finish his last year of school at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis in April of 2022 became a battle against cancer.
"I was looking forward to April because that's when I was going to be done with school and back out into the world of racing full-time," Hereau said. "Now I'm looking ahead to April because that's when I'll, hopefully, be able to go back to a racetrack and get back in the swing of things."
After a bout with COVID-19 in the opening two weeks of September, Hereau woke up on September 15 with breathing difficulty and had his roommate bring him to the hospital.
At first, doctors suspected Hereau had pneumonia induced by COVID-19.
When doing bloodwork associated with that, though, the true issue was found.
"They had decided to do some testing if (the pneumonia) was bacterial or something to see if they could get me some better antibiotics, basically," he said. "They drew my blood, and they were like 'hold on, we're going to keep you here for a little bit and do a few more blood tests' ... I had no idea what was going on.
"They ended up saying 'hey, we're going to keep you for the night,' and probably about nine or 10 o'clock that night, the doctor came in -- he was the oncologist -- he was like '88 percent of the cells in your blood are blast,' which are cancer cells basically. And they only found out because they had taken the labs for the pneumonia. So, that's basically how I found out."
Over the next few days, a game plan was put together to begin treatment as soon as possible.
"I called my parents, and they came down. They ended up driving half that night and half the next day," Hereau commented. "When I went in for COVID, I never left the hospital. I ended up staying for the weekend getting ready, making sure COVID was taken care of and everything, and then that Monday, I started chemo."
Currently, Hereau -- who is now in remission -- is undergoing what he hopes will be his last round of chemotherapy in Green Bay.
About this time last year, give or take a month or two, Hereau -- who has accumulated experience working on everything from open-wheel cars to off-road trucks -- was made aware that Greg Ives -- crew chief for the Hendrick Motorsports number 48 of Alex Bowman and a native of Bark River -- was looking to the Upper Peninsula for any interested candidates for an engineering internship with the team.
Through mutual connections, Hereau landed an interview and, eventually, the internship position and made his way to North Carolina.
"I was very excited," Hereau commented. "There's quite a few small teams that have opportunities available, but you're not necessarily going to always be doing engineering. ... So, working for a big team like Hendrick, you got to see a lot more engineering, and it's also such a higher level of engineering because they're running at the highest level of their sport and they're the best at it, too."
Hereau is not exaggerating or towing the company line when he says the best, either.
Last season, Hendrick Motorsports combined for 17 race wins (Larson -- 10, Bowman – 4, Chase Elliott – 2, William Byron – 1) -- just one race shy of going .500 on the season -- and won the driver's championship with Larson.
"Learning from the best is the best opportunity you can get," Hereau said. "Everything they do, they do the right way. Unfortunately, you see it quite a bit in racing, it's so expensive that teams try and cut costs by cutting corners. But, with Hendrick, they're like 'this is what we need done' and it's not like they're going to just make something work. They're going to do it the right way every step of the way. You learn the proper way to do things that way."
In his time at Hendrick, Hereau got to get experience with a myriad of aspects of motorsports engineering.
"They had me do just about everything," he commented. "Greg was really big on 'you're here to learn so that's what you're going to do.' I had weekly responsibilities and everything but if I was curious about how something was done, they'd let me go do that for a day."
Unsurprisingly, after leaving Hendrick after the summer -- initially to head back to school -- and laying in a hospital bed, Hereau's mind was on racing. Even during a bone marrow biopsy which can be a very unpleasant experience.
"One of the first times I (got a biopsy), they have the doctors come in and take it out of your hips from behind. So, you lay on your side," Hereau recounted. "There was a NASCAR race playing, and there was about 20 laps to go when they started doing it, and Alex was in the top five at the time. (The procedure) is not very pleasant, so they have a nurse that comes in and comforts you.
"So, she's holding my hand, and she's like, 'It's going to be ok. It's going to be alright.' And I'm like, 'just tell me where the 48 car is.' So, the whole time we're going through it, because I couldn't watch the TV, she's talking to me telling me what was going on and telling me where the 48 was. We got done, and she said, 'that was definitely the weirdest thing I've ever had to do during one of these.'"
The outpouring support he has experienced since his diagnosis in September, Hereau said, has been incredible.
"It's what has made it possible for me to be where I am now," he said. "My parents have been with me along every step of the way. I've had a lot of my extended family reach out, and I've had friends, when I'm in the hospital in Green Bay, help out there because we're a little further from home. I had a lot of people just reach out and say they're praying for me and stuff like that. Every little bit helps."
On the racing side, Hereau is grateful for everyone who has helped him thus far in his career, too.
"I'm thankful for a lot of the people that made things happen in the last year," he said. "Greg Ives has been a huge help with getting me the internship at Hendrick. I'm thankful for Arms Up/Stratus Motorsports and Gregg Borland (who Hereau has worked with since 2018) they have been super helpful."
One of Hereau's biggest inspirations in his battle against leukemia has actually been the namesake for Hendrick Motorsports, Rick Hendrick.
Hendrick himself was diagnosed with leukemia in November of 1996 and now -- some 26 years later -- is still hard at work as the owner of Hendrick Motorsports.
"Leaving Hendrick and then a couple of weeks later being diagnosed," Hereau stated, "He has been an inspiration for me."
Currently, in his last round of chemotherapy, Hereau is looking forward to the day he can back to a track and envelope himself in the professional motorsports world, wherever that may be.
"Hopefully, there is a future with Hendrick and NASCAR because, since I was a kid, that's been a goal of mine," he said. "If not, I don't know where I'll be. I've done a lot of different types of racing, and I've liked it all so the door is open to wherever it takes me."