Gorham Has Life, Baseball Back

The Providence Journal
May 18, 2006

EAST PROVIDENCE -- He has spent most of this spring riding the bench for the East Providence junior varsity baseball team. At best, he has had a dozen plate appearances and only a few chances in the field.

For most teenage baseball players that would add up to a frustrating season, but for Ryan Gorham it has been a fantastic experience.

You may remember the name. Back in December, 2003, he was the subject of one of the most heartwarming stories Rhode Island high school sports has ever seen.

He's the son of East Providence High football coach Sandy Gorham. It was on Thanksgiving morning in 2003 that the coach stood at Pierce Field and told his team that he would not be there five days later when the Townies played in the opening round of the state playoffs.

Instead of coaching his team, he told his players he would be in Boston waiting while his wife and son underwent operations in which the mother would donate one of her kidneys to her son.

So on Dec. 2, 2003, Maura Gorham, a teacher, wife and mother of three, donated one of her kidneys to save her eldest child's life.

At the time, Ryan was a 14-year-old East Providence High freshman. He was an honor student who loved baseball. He never was very big, but he was quick and smart. He didn't hit the long ball, but he always seemed to get on base and he could handle anything that came his way while playing second base.

Unfortunately, he also had been born with polycystic kidney disease. It's a disease in which each kidney has multiple cysts that, over time, grow and multiple, eventually causing the kidneys to shut down. Since his birth, medication had helped control the effects. But in the summer of 2003 his kidneys started to deteriorate rapidly. His parents were told he would need a kidney transplant, and quickly.

Both his father and his mother had wanted to be the donor, but tests showed his mother was a better match.

The operation went well. Within a few weeks Ryan was back home. But it wasn't long before there were complications because of his reactions to some experimental medications. He suffered through nearly two months of constant diarrhea. He also contracted mononucleosis, and he suffered mouth sores that restricted eating and resulted in his spending considerable time being fed through a tube.

He had hoped the spring of 2004 would be a time when he could at least start thinking about resuming his baseball career. Only five or six months after the operation, he knew he wouldn't be ready to be a full-time player, but he hoped at least to get on the field a few times. The feel of swinging a bat and scooping up grounders would be a sign that his life was returning to normal.

But rather than enjoying the feel of the infield dirt under his feet in the spring and summer of 2004, he spent nearly 100 days in and out of Boston Children's Hospital.

It was discouraging. Yet, even though he couldn't pick up a bat or put on his glove, it was baseball that helped him get through some of the tough times.

"The doctor in charge of the transplant team at Boston Children's Hospital is a baseball fanatic," said Sandy Gorham. "Every time he saw Ryan, they would talk about baseball."

It went well beyond just talking baseball, however.

The doctor arranged for Ryan to become a member of "Tek's 33," the program where Boston Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek brings young patients from Boston area hospitals to Fenway Park to meet the Red Sox.

So on a summer day in 2004, Ryan and his family were on the field at Fenway meeting the players who would go on to give the Red Sox their first World Series title in 86 years.

"The players were so nice to the kids," said Sandy Gorham. "Curt Schilling, David Ortiz, Derek Lowe -- they all talked with the kids for a long time. Even Manny [Ramirez] came over to say hello."

That helped boost Ryan's spirits. But if you're a teenager who loves playing baseball, nothing -- not even a Curt Schilling autograph -- can replace the feel of standing in the batter's box on a warm, summer day.

By the fall of 2004 he had started feeling better. He missed only one day of school from Labor Day to Thanksgiving, but his physical ordeal was not over . He encountered problems with his bones not receiving enough calcium, as well as problems with his thyroid gland, which at times swelled to 20 times its normal size. In March 2005 he underwent another operation, this time to remove his parathyroid gland.

The operation helped both his health and his spirits. Last spring, only two months after that operation, he was in uniform as a member of the East Providence junior varsity baseball team.

"He was basically just on the team. He still couldn't move well, but it was wonderful for him to just be out there," said Sandy Gorham. "Everybody has been great to him."

This year it's different. He's a real player again, although after not having played for three years he has a lot of catching up to do.

"I have a lot of grooming to do," said Ryan. "I'm basically still making the transition from Little League to the big field because I missed those years."

It has helped that he underwent a growth spur over the last year, going from 4-foot-11 and 65 pounds to 5-1 and 125 pounds.

"He looks like Hulk Hogan to me," said Sandy Gorham with a laugh. "His life has changed. After three years of life on a couch, he now has his driver's license and he gets to go out with his friends. The other night he went to the prom and his friends told me he was dancing all night."

And he has baseball again.

"It's great. I'm having fun just being back in the game," said Ryan.

Sometimes you don't need to hit .300 to have a great season.