WHEN JOHNNY Rodriguez took over as lacrosse coach at Mater Dei High School in 2015, he passed on to his players the skills he developed as a lifelong athlete who competed at the highest levels.
Instilling solid Christian values along with the technical skills, Rodriguez transformed a once-struggling program into a perennial winner, earning recognition at the national level.
Today, as Rodriguez, 37, fights the battle of his life, the husband and father of three is relying on his faith like never before.
In October 2023, Rodriguez was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as ALS, a fatal neurodegenerative disease that leads to muscle weakness, paralysis and ultimately respiratory failure and death.
ALS is also referred to as “Lou Gehrig’s disease,” named for the Hall of Fame baseball player, whose career and life were cut short by the neurodegenerative disease. The diagnosis came just days after Rodriguez’s wife, Cristina, told him she was pregnant with the couple’s second child.
JOHNNY RODRIGUEZ COACHES LACROSSE AT MATER DEI HIGH SCHOOL. PHOTO COURTESY OF MATER DEI HIGH SCHOOL
“And so, I was in a moment where the doctor was talking and my life is just spinning around in my brain,” Rodriguez recalled. “And I’m just thinking about my wife telling me a couple of days before that she was pregnant with our second child and how awesome it was.”
When he shared the diagnosis with his team, Rodriguez started by gathering the players and coaches in the chapel on the Mater Dei campus to make the announcement.
“There was definitely plenty of tears shed from the coaching staff to the players and a lot of confusion,” said Monarchs lacrosse coach Knute Kraus, a former college teammate and longtime friend of Rodriguez. “It was, I think, a very fitting place for that news to be broken for the kids.”
JOHNNY RODRIGUEZ IS PICTURED WITH HIS WIFE CRISTINA AND BABY DAUGHTER HOPE. PHOTO BY LOU PONSI
Rodriguez had already stepped down as head coach and taken on the role of assistant coach even before the diagnosis in order to devote more time to his family. Within days of the team meeting, Rodriguez had spiraled into a deep depression, struggling with the realization that his strength, independence and future with his young family were being robbed.
Rodriguez played lacrosse and ice hockey at an all-boys Catholic high school in Baltimore, Maryland, and lettered in both sports at Salisbury University. Tapping into his faith, he Googled “Catholic churches near me” and made his way to the closest church he could find – Sts. Simon and Jude Catholic Church in Huntington Beach.
He remembered sitting in a pew and crying for three hours, sobbing so intensely that he had a headache for hours after leaving the church.
“I was just letting it all come out, praying and trying to connect in any way possible and asking for strength and hope and wisdom and purpose,” Rodriguez shared. “When I came out of that church, He picked me up and He picked the cross off my back. For 15 years, I was the one who could do everything. I didn’t need any help. And finally, I let that guard down and gave up control.”
Rodriguez left church that day with a new understanding that not only was he going to go to any length to prolong his life, but he was also going to live in the present and enjoy every moment with his wife and children.
“I trust that no matter what, you’re putting me in a position right now to do what’s best for myself and my family,” he recalled telling God.
Johnny’s wife, Cristina, said maintaining a sense of purpose and faith, both for Johnny and the family have been invaluable in influencing their outlook and decisions, including attending Mass and instilling faith in their children.
The family’s home parish is Our Lady Queen of Angels in Newport Beach, where all three of their children Jet, 3, Cruz, 19 months old, and Hope, who is five months old, were baptized by Fr. Steve Sallot.
“You never expect it to happen to you,” Cristina said. “Him being so positive about everything and having that kind of attitude really helps us to live our lives and not have this victim mentality about the whole situation. We just go day by day.”
Rodriguez had the opportunity to make a trip to Lourdes in France, a pilgrimage site for Catholics and considered to be a center for prayer, healing and hope. Lourdes is particularly known for its baths of unheated water, where individuals immerse themselves for spiritual, physical and emotional healing. His trip was sponsored by the Order of Malta, a Catholic order focused on helping the sick and those with disabilities.
“I go into the bath, and a statue of Mother Mary is sitting at the head of the bath,” Rodriguez said. “I start speaking out loud, praying. It was the most natural, authentic prayer. It was just so pure and beautiful, and it was just from the heart. And I remember her statue, was now just looking at me. It was her. It was just this wild, wild moment.”
Rodriguez has also committed to being a vessel for God, sharing his journey with the hope it can help others. He has shared his story to the student body at Mater Dei at the school’s annual Respect Life Mass.
Rodriguez has become an advocate for ALS awareness, partnering with Augie’s Quest, a nonprofit focused on ALS research and founded by Augie Nieto, a former fitness industry leader who popularized the first electronic exercise bicycle known as the Lifecycle. Nieto died from ALS in 2023 at age 65.
Through Augie’s Quest, Rodriguez then founded “Athletes vs. ALS,” with the goal of raising funds and awareness as well as to support research for ALS, specifically targeting the athletic community. Schools, universities and friends are supporting Johnny’s efforts and holding events under the Athletes vs. ALS banner. Rodriguez is also among the first group of individuals with ALS to participate in a newly launched study titled Champion Insights, which aims to investigate why high-performance populations, including athletes, military veterans and first responders, appear to experience higher rates of ALS.
Researchers will analyze genetic, biological and environmental factors with the goal of identifying biomarkers and accelerating treatment development.
Athletes vs. ALS has contributed $100,000 to Champion Insights, he said.
“A lot of other foundations would give money to patients and patient care,” he said. “As much as I supported that, I wanted the push to be research. I wanted to fund the research.”
Rodriguez has shared his story on local TV news shows and made an appearance on “The Jennifer Hudson Show” in 2024.
Rodriguez still reflects on the day he sat in a pew at Sts. Simon and Jude, looking for answers and then turning his life over to God.
“And I said, take me where you want me to go.”