About Me

From the moment I could walk, I was swinging and throwing something. My parents still laugh about it to this day, that how as a toddler, I would grab anything I could use as a ball just to hit it with my bat. Of course something would occasionally break and my excuse was to say that I was going to be a baseball player when I grow up. 

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At five years old, everything changed. I was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. For the next four and a half years I went through multiple rounds of chemotherapy infusions, blood transfusions, and hundreds of chemotherapy spinal taps. Yet as soon as I got home after treatments, I would grab my glove, ball and bat. My parents or older brother would toss me pitches in the yard, no matter how tired I felt. Once I finally got medical clearance, I was allowed to join a little league team. There were many days I went straight from the chemo chair to the field, even though my hair was gone, skin was pale and I had a port under my skin, I played. People often asked my parents why they let me play, or how I even had the strength to get on the field after harsh treatments. The answer was simple, baseball made me happy, and they wanted me to feel like a normal kid.

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Baseball gave me an escape from the pain and an identity when cancer tried to take mine away. Doctors even said baseball was one of the best things for me, it kept my body moving which helped me keep my strength and my spirits high. I truly believe that happiness in baseball, and faith in God were the most powerful parts of my healing.

 

As I grew older, I wanted to turn what I had been through into something that helped others. That is why in 2023 I created Noah's Grand Slam Heroes, with the support of my community and generous donors, I have collected toys and gifts to give to pediatric cancer patients at Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C, the same hospital that saved my life. I deliver everything around the holidays because I know firsthand what it’s like to spend Christmas or a birthday hooked to an IV pole. This effort has allowed me to give back to kids walking the same uncertain road I once had, and is the accomplishment in my life I’m proudest of.