Home

We tried not to let him know how worried we really were.

We didn’t want him to know that we unable to sleep most nights, terrified of the future he might have in front of him if our worst fears were coming true.

After talking with his physical therapist, we had a very bad feeling that something was really wrong with our 12-year-old son. His legs simply were not working anymore.

Grady loved baseball more than most boys, but playing it was becoming closer and closer to impossible. He could not run, and he could no longer balance himself on one leg, so he could no longer pitch. His feet were hurting.

It was getting so bad that he had to grab the handle above the passenger door of my truck and pull himself in with his arms. It is just a basic 1993 Chevy Silverado, too. It is not all Walkervilled up or anything.

So, at the advice of his physical therapist, we went to see a physician assistant of a Kalispell neurologist in Helena to get some answers. This was really scary because Grady seemed to check all the boxes for muscular dystrophy, a nasty disease that causes progressive weakness and loss of muscle mass.

There is no cure for the disease, and it scared the hell out my wife and me. So many nights were spent tossing, turning and staring at the ceiling.

Grady was just worrying about whether he was going to be a Hall of Fame running back or a Hall of Fame third baseman.

That is a tough call.

It was just Grady and me as we drove to Helena that day in 2020. The physician’s assistant was great, and she put Grady through a whole litany of tests.

As we were leaving, she told us that she was not sure what was causing Grady’s problems. She ordered an MRI on his spine along with some other tests.

One thing she knew, however, was that Grady did not have muscular dystrophy.

I was so excited at that news that I had to tell him why I was so happy as we made our way back home. I let him behind the curtain of a worried dad life.

“I really thought you had muscular dystrophy,” I told him. “That would have been really bad. There is no cure, and it probably would have meant that you would be confined to a wheelchair in a few years.”

Just as I got the words out of my mouth, the phone rang. I answered the call, which came over the speakers in our car. It was the physician’s assistant, and she had an update for us.

She said she talked with her doctor, and “he doesn’t want to rule out muscular dystrophy just yet.”

Grady heard every word that I could not take back no matter how badly I wanted too. Now he was just as worried as I was.

The next year involved an MRI, a ton of worry, a lot of tests, a lot of visits with doctors and his physical therapist, a ton of fights with the insurance company to pay for it, more worry, and a lot of miles on the highway.

This was all in the middle of COVID, too.

Grady’s problems actually started in the summer of 2019. He said his feet hurt, particularly when he wore his baseball cleats. So, we took him through the hoops to get to see a foot specialist, who told him he had Sever’s disease, a painful condition that would heal when his growth plates closed.

It turns out he didn’t have that at all. He just suffered similar pain because he basically lost all of the muscle in his legs, and that put a lot of stress on his feet. He also gained weight.

Grady still played baseball. He was picked as an All-Star from the Northwest Little League when he was 11 in 2019. But he had to leave the team because his feet hurt so badly.

His 12-year-old season was cut short because of COVID in 2020, and he played in Butte’s Senior Little League in 2021. He got to play for great coaches like Matt Stepan and Luke Stajcar. They were amazingly understanding and helpful. They also knew Grady could hit.

The problem was he had to hit the ball pretty deep to hit a single. It would take him like 10 seconds to get from the batter’s box to first base. Going from first to third was impressible, so the coaches called a pinch runner after every hit.

We made two trips to a children’s hospital in Salt Lake City, but came away with more questions than answers each time. Then, we took him to the Seattle’s Children’s Hospital in July of 2021. A generous gift from the outstanding Jadyn Fred Foundation out of Missoula helped pay for the flight and hotel room.

In Seattle, Grady saw a doctor who said he stayed up all night the night before studying his file. He figured out what was wrong with him.

In 2015 and again in 2019, Grady had to be Life Flighted to Missoula because he was having severe asthma attacks. Each time, he had to be pumped with a ton of steroids to keep him breathing.

Those steroids saved his life, but they badly messed with his body. It was the steroids that were killing the muscles in his legs, not muscular dystrophy.

That was good news. But here is the better news: The doctor told us Grady would grow out of his problems.

It would take some time, and he would have to work hard. But the doctor said Grady would get better, and he was right.

Grady worked with Jake Querciagrossa and Beth Salusso at Lone Peak Physical Therapy as much as his insurance would let him. He was slowly learning to run again.

He played Senior Little League Baseball again in 2022, and he could still hit. But he still couldn’t run fast enough, so he spent more time in the dugout than on the field.

That fall, Grady played football for Butte High. At his physical, he checked in at 5 feet, 4 inches and 225 pounds.

A year later at his football physical, he was 5-11 ½ and 220 pounds. He grew 7 ½ inches and lost five pounds in a year. He is down another 10 pounds since then.

After only getting a handful of at bats while playing junior varsity baseball for the Butte High Bulldogs the last two seasons, Grady is finally starting to show his full potential.

He started playing first for the Butte Motormen, the C team from Butte’s American Legion Baseball program, and he kept getting hits. He drove in nine runs in one doubleheader sweep for Butte.

A couple days later, he got called up to play for the Butte Muckers, who are a step below the Butte Miners.

I felt Like Ebby Calvin LaLoosh’s dad after “Nuke” got called up to the “Show” on “Bull Durham” when I heard Grady was getting to play with the Muckers.

He continued to hit and play pretty good defense at first base after the promotion.

This past weekend, Grady played and contributed for the Muckers and Motormen as both teams had a great showing at the Butte Muckers tournament at 3 Legends Stadium.

Grady got to play more baseball in one nine-day stretch than he did over the last five years combined.

His coaches really seem to like his play, and they love his enthusiasm. They say he is a leader.

That passion is something that comes when you get a new lease on life. It is something that happens when suddenly all those painful steps start to come pain free. It is something that happens when you can feel and see the payoff from all that hard work in the weight room.

It is something that happens when you go from worrying about living in a wheelchair to running the bases.

Grady might not be the MVP, and he is still a longshot to be a Hall of Fame third baseman. But he is without question the Comeback Player of the Year.

Even though the Boston Red Sox are once again mired in mediocrity, this so far has been the best baseball season of my life because I get to see my all-time favorite player having fun again.

Life is just so much better when your child is healthy and happy.

It sure makes for some easy sleeping.

— Bill Foley, who is not a Hall of Fame third baseman, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.