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Written by Erin Frustaci
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Wednesday, 19 April 2006 |
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Although his right side is numb and he is starting to lose feeling in his left side, Stuart Nichols and his son Andrew Nichols are in the home stretch with two more games left. He won’t win the MVP or outplay baseball great Lou Gehrig, but a little red rubber bracelet reminds Stuart to keep going.
Their journey started in 1990, when Stuart couldn’t wait any longer to share America’s favorite pastime with his son.
Like so many little boys witnessing baseball for the first time, Andrew absorbed the salty smell of peanuts, the sight of the lush green field below and the sounds of die-hard fanatics in the stands. The 7-year-old looked up wide-eyed at his dad and said, “We should go to a game at every stadium.”
A little dumbfounded, Stuart thought this was a heck of an idea, not realizing what they would encounter along the way.
So, in 1990, the father and son from Houston, Texas, made a pact to see a home game of all the 30 Major League Baseball teams. They ventured to several new places in those first few years. But, like it does so often, life got in the way.
Stuart’s job as a global financial accounting manager for Exxon moved the family to Belgium when Exxon merged with Mobil. So, the baseball quest was tossed to the outfield for a couple years.
“We knew we would get it done, but it just wasn’t a priority,” Stuart said.
But then, life pitched him a curve ball.
In January 2004 he was on a fishing trip in Wisconsin. He had trouble picking things up off the bottom of the boat. At first he chalked it up to the cold, but it didn’t go away. After seeing a series of doctors, he heard devastating news. The life-long baseball fan was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease, named after the Iron Man of the New York Yankees in the first part of the 20th century.
Otherwise known as Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the devastating disease attacks the central nervous system that controls voluntary muscle movement, causing paralysis and respiratory complications.
Knowing that average life-expectancy is three to five years after diagnosis, Stuart had to decide what to do with the time he had left.
“I’ve been so blessed in my life and have traveled to so many places, there wasn’t a whole lot that I thought I had to do in my time,” he said. “But, I really wanted to finish the baseball tour.”
In the last two years the father-son duo have gone to games in Oakland, Los Angeles, Atlanta, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle and Tampa Bay, to name a few. Each time they bring home pennants and pins, scorecards, newspaper clippings, pictures and memories they’ll never forget.
One of their many highlights was Game 4 of the World Series last year. Stuart grew up in Chicago as a White Sox fan.
His fondest memories of his father were at White Sox games.
“I was that 7-year-old kid too who walked out and saw the green grass and older men on the field,” Stuart said.
In 1959, Stuart’s father got tickets to see the White Sox play Game 7 of the World Series. But they never went. The Series ended in Game 6, to Stuart’s disappointment. That was the last time the White Sox were in the World Series until last year. Jumping at the opportunity, Stuart and Andrew got tickets to Game 4. Call it fate, the White Sox beat the Houston Astros to win the Series in a four-game sweep.
“Sometimes you just know God is in control,” Stuart said. “I said to God, ‘Thank you for letting me be here to complete this.’”
Stuart, 53, and Andrew, now 22, are two games away from victory. They will fly to Denver to watch the Colorado Rockies take on the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field on Friday. Before making their way to the handicapped section, where Stuart can get in and out with ease, they will meet some of the players down on the field.
“I’ve never been to Colorado and am looking forward to it,” Andrew said. “With the high elevation it seems players always get lots of runs. Seeing Coors Field on TV, I have always wanted to visit.”
Like the great Lou Gehrig, Stuart and Andrew will finally rest on the bench, come May 2. This was the day in 1939 when Gehrig took himself out of the line-up ending his consecutive-game string at 2,130. Stuart and Andrew will visit the last park on their roadtrip May 2 when they watch the Arizona Diamondbacks play at Chase Field in Phoenix.
This year it will be an ALS Awareness Day and Stuart has hope.
“Andrew is going to wheel me out and throw the first pitch in a pre-game ceremony,” Stuart said.
Watching the disease slowly take its toll on his dad has been rough, but Andrew said he has learned a lot from his father.
“The biggest thing is never to give up,” Andrew said. “He is up against something so tough and hasn’t given up. He just tries even harder. I’ve also learned to enjoy life while it lasts because you never know what lies ahead.”
Andrew said he hopes to one day take his kids on a baseball tour too.
“By the time I have kids, there will probably be more stadiums I haven’t been to.”
Stuart looks down at his red bracelet now and again and reads, “Never give up.”
Though he wears a leg brace on his right leg now and uses a walker, he realizes his progression has been slow and he is one of the fortunate ones.
“I really feel like this was meant to happen,” Stuart said. “I just believe somehow I am going to survive it, but if not, I want to be remembered as one of the people who was on the team that beat the curse of ALS.”
Once he and Andrew finish their quest, Stuart will focus on fundraising and advocacy until one day when he will be up to bat again.
“What I would really like to do is in 10 to 15 years, take my grandchildren on a tour and hopefully walk into those stadiums.”
If you would like to learn more about the Muscular Dystrophy Association ALS Division please click here. | Only registered users can write comments.
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