Memorial Children's Hospital and Your South Bend Silver Hawks Partner for Home Run for Life
Memorial Children's Hospital and your Silver Hawks will celebrate Zachary Talley , during a special celebration ceremony, Home Run for Life, on Friday, August 15th.
The celebration will take place in the middle of the 3rd inning at Four Winds Field. Your Silver Hawks, along with the Lansing Lugnuts, will line the field to join in on the ceremony as Zachary Talley rounds the bases. Upon completing the celebratory home run, Silver Hawks' Manager, Mark Haley will present him with a personalized Silver Hawks jersey. Home Run for Life celebrates and honors children who have battled serious medical conditions. Each child is honored and takes a home run lap around the bases during a Silver Hawks home game.
At the closing of the celebration staff and volunteers from Memorial Children's Hospital will pass around donation buckets. Please consider giving a donation to help enhance the care children can receive right here in your community.
Zachary Talley Story
Zachary Talley first played baseball, at the age of 5, without a walker and ran the bases without any assistance. From that moment on, the love of baseball has never left the boy, now almost 16, despite the growing physical hardships from a rare neurodegenerative muscular disease called Ataxia-Telangiectasia (A-T).
Since December 18, 2013, Zachary, who exhibits the toughness of a soldier and the humor of a stand-up comedian, has virtually called Memorial Children's Hospital home. Largely due to respiratory problems and an immune deficiency caused by his disease, Zachary, who has no mental deficiencies, has spent more than 180 days at the hospital for specialized care he couldn't receive anywhere else in the region.
"I wouldn't go anywhere else," says his mother Brigid of Memorial Children's Hospital. "The nurses and doctors have been so wonderful here. I have been to other hospitals, including in Indy and on the East Coast. Here, it's different because they are like family. The staff appreciates Zachary and will ask about him. Dr. Okanlami even calls our home to ask, 'How's my boy doing?' That's not something you read or hear about much anymore."
On four occasions over the last eight months, Zachary's mother Brigid said her son nearly died, but timely medical action at Memorial and Zachary's resolve have kept in the game. The high school sophomore's passion for baseball remains just as strong as when he was 8 years old when his mother and father helped him run the bases in little league by stabilizing his body at every turn. Even when his disease sapped the strength from his legs at age 11 and he had to use a wheelchair to get around the bases, he kept playing. Zachary, who's a boy scout and Special Olympian, hasn't made it back onto the baseball field since last summer's games. That will all change Friday, Aug. 15 when he participates in the Home Run for Life during the South Bend Silver Hawks game.
"It will be great to see the joy on his face," says his mother. "Baseball is something he truly loves and to be there with him on the field will be just as special for me."
Please join Memorial Children's Hospital and your Silver Hawks in cheering on Zachary Talley as he completes his Home Run for Life at Four Winds Field on Friday August 15th. For more information about Memorial Children's Hospital and Pinwheel Heroes like Zachary Talley visit qualityoflife.org/childrenshospital.
The South Bend Silver Hawks are a Class A minor league team affiliated with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The team is owned and operated by Swing-Batter-Swing, LLC whose sole shareholder is Andrew T. Berlin of Chicago, IL. To purchase tickets to a game visit www.SilverHawks.com , call the Box Office at 574-235-9988, or stop by between 10:00a.m.-5:00p.m.