Tumor no match for Meadows

By JED LOCKETT

GARDNER — Some people would say that sports are meaningless. The family of 12-year-old Zachary Meadows would be the first to disagree.

Five years ago, Meadows was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Now he is back where he wants to be the most, on a Little League baseball diamond and is taking the first of many steps to achieve his ultimate goal — becoming a West Virginia Mountaineer.

“It’s my favorite football team and I think they’re a good college,” Zachary said.

“I’ve heard that goal also and I’m rooting for him every day,” Zachary’s Little League coach Mike Skeens said. “He’s got the want and the desire and he’s that special type of kid that I think he will (get there).”

Zachary’s long journey began in October of 2002 when he got what at first seemed to be an ordinary headache.

“Zach was seven years old and never had a problem in his life,” recalled Zachary’s father Tucker Meadows. “He got a major headache and we took him to the hospital that night and they said it was an earache.

“And then the next day he had the same headache come back again. We took him (back) and then they found out that Sunday night that he had the tumor and we took him to (the University of Virginia). The surgeon did surgery about a week later on Zach.”

Zachary was diagnosed with a tumor called a craniopharyngioma. According to the website of the National Cancer Institute, a craniopharyngioma grows at the base of the brain near the pituitary gland. It is also most common in children.

His parents, along with his younger brothers Seth and Peyton, now 8 and 5 years-old respectively, feared for Zachary’s well-being. Zachary was afraid of surgery for another reason. He was afraid, “’Cause I never thought I would be back out here playing again.”

“His father and I both coached at Oakvale Middle School basketball, the boys and girls teams there,” Zachary’s mother, Salina Meadows, said. “And Zach, as soon as he was born, he could probably dribble a basketball by the time he was 18 months old.

“And by the time he was five, he could dribble in-between his legs, behind his back, (a) very good layup. Baseball came. He started playing tee ball. He’s overall very athletic.”

The surgeon removed the tumor. But he did not completely remove the problem. On several occasions the tumor returned, necessitating its removal. Zachary has twice gone under the knife to remove tumors in his brain, only for them to grow back.

When she is not coaching basketball, Zachary’s mother works as radiological diagnostic supervisor at Princeton Community Hospital and is very familiar with diagnostic procedures used for patients with similar ailments.

“I always kinda knew what was coming up ahead even before the University of Virginia,” Salina said. She also admitted there was “A lot of strain on his father and I both, and our immediate family.

“Zach really hasn’t had symptoms, it’s been me pushing for the checkups to make sure that everything was looking the way it was supposed to. But yeah, it’s stressful. I think sometimes in the medical field it’s a blessing but you also know too much.”

“This past year was really very trying,” Skeens said. “There were quite a few prayers that went out and quite a few answered, as you can tell.”

Last fall, Salina and Tucker took Zachary to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. so Zachary could undergo radiation therapy for six weeks. The treatment was successful and the tumor receded.

Zachary did need to have an IMO reservoir inserted into his skull to relieve pressure.

“It takes fluid out of the tumor,” Salina said. “So that’s the reason that Zach wears a baseball helmet now to play because (the reservoir) actually has an access right under the scalp that the doctors can pull the fluid out of.”

The presence of the reservoir means Zachary has to wear a helmet all the time when he plays baseball. But that does not make a difference to him.

“Anybody that knows Zach knows that he has a love for sports,” Salina said. “And to see him come out and do what he’s doing right now, it doesn’t bother him to wear a helmet at all times. He started out slow. But it’s what he wants to do and we as parents encourage him to be the best that he can be.

“As far as sports, he’s loved it since he was born. We’re big Colts fans, big WVU fans. We have season tickets to WVU, and Peyton Manning actually gave him a call last year.”

Thus far, Zachary’s condition has not allowed him to play the sport he really wants to, football. But he has not given up on that dream yet.

“Eventually he wants to go to college. Maybe go to WVU — that’s our favorite football team, the Mountaineers — and play football one day,” Tucker said. “So far he’s not gotten to play football yet. But he’s hoping eventually one day he’ll be cut loose to play football.”

The odds on Zachary suiting up on the gridiron are not very good. But the odds of his continued improvement on the diamond and the basketball court are definitely in his favor.

“He’s the type of person that would do anything for you, play any position,” Skeens said. “He’s an exception to the rule.

“If it was up to me, he’d be on the all-star team, but I really don’t think he wants to play this year. But he’s got that much talent in him.”

“It’s fun just getting out with your friends and competing,” Zachary said.

He would know.

— Contact Jed Lockett

at jlockett@bdtonline.com