Norwalk's Demuth took cancer head on
Jan. 27—NORWALK — Everything felt normal.
As the final seconds ticked away in the first quarter, the Norwalk High School boys basketball team was scrambling and out of sorts in its Jan. 21 game vs. Perkins. The ball finally landed in the hands of junior Braedyn Demuth, who was several feet behind the three-point line.
Hearing sounds of angst from the crowd, Braedyn quickly set his feet and launched a deep shot at the quarter buzzer. The ball swished through the net for three points and Braedyn was mobbed by teammates congratulating him as he tried to show no emotion in walking back to the bench.
For anyone else, that would have been simply a good shot in any game. For Braedyn, this year's sports seasons have been anything but normal.
On an ordinary July day, Braedyn spent some time with his friend Bryan Sommers, hanging out, playing ping-pong and shooting hoops at Bryan's house. Soccer practice was still several weeks away for goalie Bryan and mid-fielder Braedyn.
Nothing was notable, just the way the quiet and reserved Braedyn expected the day to be.
But, driving home, when he glanced in the rearview mirror, everything changed.
"I looked up and casually put my hand on my neck with my left hand, and felt a bump," he said.
Immediately recalling how his knee would swell occasionally, his thoughts turned toward a possible swollen gland or an abscessed tooth.
"But when I pushed on it, the mass was very hard. I kind of had an idea something was up and that it wasn't normal," Braedyn noted.
"Normal" almost instantly disappeared from daily life for him and his family. Less than two weeks after he noticed the lump, the word "cancer" hung in the air in a room at Akron Children's Hospital.
Braedyn, who will turn 17 next month, a multi-sport athlete with no serious prior health history, was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma — a cancer of the body's immune system — that is most common in people ages 20-to-40 and those over 55.
"My family and I were shocked and didn't really know what to say or how to react," he said. "We were sad, obviously, and when those words came out ... everything just kind of stopped for a few seconds."
At the outset, he and his parents, Jason and Leah, were told that Hodgkin's lymphoma is very treatable and has a good cure rate. The waning days of summer and early weeks of fall quickly became a new routine of doctor's visits, chemotherapy and radiation, with many trips to Akron.
That process, predicted to last four-plus months, made soccer season appear doomed and put basketball season in doubt.
"It was quite a shock," Braedyn noted. "But it all happened so fast at the same time. I just had to push forward."
The process
In coincidental, kindred fashion, Steve Gray had been there too.
The longtime Norwalk boys basketball coach has been through the cancer process twice with his wife, Sue. When Gray heard about Braedyn's diagnosis, it hurt.
"When I first got the phone call, I think everyone has the same reaction when you hear a young kid has cancer — you expect the worst," Gray said. "It's enough to bring you to tears. These kids are like your family, especially during a season when you see each other every day.
"So in that moment, your heart just aches for him and his parents," he added. "But the class and toughness that he showed during this. I wish I was as tough as him."
Braedyn underwent four rounds of chemotherapy and 20 radiation treatments. Both Gray and NHS head soccer coach Wes Sellers — also an assistant on the basketball staff — marveled as the athlete went to Akron for treatment, yet still attended school and every practice drill when he was allowed.
Sellers said he probably shouldn't have been as shocked as he was when he received a message from Braedyn's mother, Leah, in mid-September.
"We were initially told it would be fortunate if he made it back for any of our basketball season," Sellers said. "As a first-year (soccer) coach with a young team, Braedyn was one of the few returners we were planning to lean on and who had been there all summer as one of our better players. Then you get that news that he's not going to be able to play — and it was a big hit to the team from an on-the-field aspect as an anchor in the middle.
"But at that point you're really not thinking about that side of it," he added. "It's about wanting him to be healthy and what we can do for him. So when his mom contacted me and said there was a break coming up in his treatment and he may be able to play in a few games — we were so excited. I knew he would be a good leader for us, even if he was only on the field for small stretches."
Getting back on the field was largely about getting back in shape, Braedyn said. During chemo treatments, he felt little while toxic fluids flowed through intravenous lines in his arms.
"I had to eat something cold, otherwise it would give me mouth sores," he said. "It didn't feel like anything was happening to my body. The radiation was way easier." Tired from the treatments, he just rested without much thought about what the future held.
"I actually didn't get any side effects at all," he said. "I only vomited once from the medicine from chemo, but everything else was pretty normal."
What wasn't normal about the Sept. 27 SBC Lake Division soccer match at Clyde was how he felt on the field. While being in the game with teammates was great, he was mistaken about his physical ability.
"When I started running, I could tell real quick I wasn't close to being in shape," Braedyn said. "I got tired faster. It was harder to breathe and I was pretty much out of gas after two minutes of sprinting." He felt he hadn't contributed much — but he was wrong.
"The kids really rallied around him," Sellers said. "And I cannot give him enough credit for how much he showed up to things. For what he was going through, he very rarely missed practices or games. He was always there."
Distance in his treatment timeline became key. Playing soccer soon after a treatment cycle felt like going back to the beginning.
"But I was able to be out there with my friends, so I was really excited to play," he added. "I didn't think I would be allowed to play at all, so every minute on the soccer field was a bonus."
He continued to play more minutes in more games through the end of the season.
Buzz the horn
Checking the game schedule in early December, Gray saw the perfect opportunity.
Basketball season was a few weeks old when Braedyn and his family drove to Akron for his final treatment on Dec. 13.
The very next night, the Truckers were scheduled to host Willard in not only a solid matchup on paper, but also a game between two longtime opponents sure to draw a large crowd.
"When I heard he was going to play in that soccer match at Clyde, I was shocked," Gray said. "(Assistant) Coach (Nick) Lee and I went to the game and he looked great running around out there in the first couple of minutes."
Gray also noticed how exhausted Braedyn looked — and why he was driven to arrange some recognition for him.
"The thing I'm in awe of the most is he missed one basketball practice because of a doctor's appointment," Gray said. "He's here every day. He runs every sprint and does every drill. This is where he can be normal and not think about the troubles he was going through. I just admire him so much."
Special t-shirts for players and coaches from both teams were made. Students and all in attendance were encouraged to wear purple in honor of the purple ribbon representing Hodgkin's lymphoma. Some players and coaches still had purple shoe laces, which started in the fall with Demuth's soccer teammates.
And Braedyn, a swing player between the junior varsity and varsity teams, would start in the varsity game. The best part of the plans for December 14 was that the Truckers' athlete knew nothing about it.
"I came in here not knowing anything, then I saw my brother (Garrett) wearing a different shirt from everyone else," he said. "Then I saw my teammates and I read the shirt, and realized they all had them on, too."
With five minutes left in the JV game, Braedyn was called to the locker room.
"So I knew something was going on at that point," he said. "When (Coach Gray) told me I was starting the varsity game, that really threw me off. I got very nervous."
Braedyn also didn't know Gray would speak to the crowd before the varsity game — or that his coach had one more surprise for him.
The day before, Braedyn "rang the bell" at Akron Children's Hospital. The tradition of ringing a bell to mark the end of treatment has been done at most cancer facilities nationwide for 25 years.
At the end of his speech — during which Braedyn had to wipe away tears at three points — Gray put a basketball twist on the occasion.
"There is a tradition at hospitals around the country that when a patient gets to leave for the last time, everyone in the area stands and claps as the patient rings the bell," Gray told the crowd. "We don't have a bell, but we do have a horn."
Gray and Braedyn walked to the scorer's table, and he then buzzed the stop-play horn three times.
Twice more he wiped away tears during the standing ovation.
"At Akron, it was just my family there to see me ring the bell," he said. "So to do that in front of everyone that night was just a really special moment."
Gray knew it was a big "gotcha" moment for Braedyn.
"It was like he took a deep breath and realized this is maybe behind me and I get to start all over again," Gray said. "We got more comments about ringing the horn than anything else — because I think that really hit home what this meant to him and his family and friends.
"I thought our fans and student body and Willard fans were truly touched by what he went through and what he's accomplished."
A time to reflect
The Truckers stand at 8-8 on the season entering tonight's home game with Sandusky.
Three losses by a single basket have been tough. And so was a loss by almost 40 points two weeks ago.
But when senior "big man" and leading scorer Ian Minor feels down, all he has to do is look at his teammate or, even, his younger brother. Evan Minor, now a freshman, went through a tough fight with cancer when he was in elementary school.
"It was quite shocking to find out, and the whole thing is quite incredible," Minor said of Braedyn's journey. "Our moms connected, and if he ever needed to talk since I had that similar feeling, he knew I'd be able to talk to and support him.
"When you lose, it's obviously disappointing right after the game. But then you see Braedyn and you just tell yourself to refocus and come back harder and better the next day."
The same is true for Braedyn himself. He was able to return to sports during treatments.
He has a clean bill of health. And he also saw firsthand how fortunate he is.
"The hospital gave me a bad vibe being in there — knowing everything that's happened in there," he said. "I saw some kids there who had it a lot rougher than I did, and I was grateful to go home every time. Ringing the bell was a joyful moment to know I was done with treatments and I could get back to normal and do the things I always did."
He's truly grateful, because, like most teens, he never envisioned facing a health challenge.
"You realize how fragile your own life is," he said.
And although many have commented on how much they like Braedyn's bald look from chemotherapy, that won't be part of returning to normal.
"No, not keeping it," he said of his hair loss. "People say it looks better on me, but I'm not sold. The hair is coming back."
