Suzanne Vachon '15 Recruiting Profile

David Whitley
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July 29, 2011 4:07pm EDT

At 14, Suzanne Vachon shows pride, perseverance worth celebrating

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Suzanne Vachon has a rare nerve disorder. As she cheered for her softball team to win a national title on Thursday, it was a sadly refreshing sight.

Sad because here was a 14-year-old girl on crutches who’d give anything to play. Refreshing because here was a 14-year-old girl on crutches who’d give anything to play.

Suzanne Vachon, 14, is battling a nerve disorder, but she doesn't want sympathy. (Disney) Disney

That innocent desire is too often missing in far more famous athletes. And I’m not just talking about Albert Haynesworth, though he got a million times the attention that Suzanne did on Thursday.

Not that she was complaining. Bellyaching is almost as irritating to Suzanne as her nerve disorder. And that’s saying something.

“My mind’s not really going along with my body,” she said.

That’s a simple explanation of Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD). It’s a weird medical condition you wouldn’t wish on anyone. How weird?

Suzanne’s team, the Central Connecticut Comets, has been competing for the USSSA World Series all week. On the first day of competition at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, it was approximately 96 degrees with what felt like 4,000-percent humidity.

Suzanne wore a sweater.

The next day, No. 6 was sweating just as hard as her teammates. Suzanne stood and cheered from the top step of the dugout at Disney World. That’s about all she can do to help, besides paint her fingernails and toenails orange, and wear an orange ribbon in her blonde hair.

Her odyssey began last August. She was playing soccer and got kicked in the back of her left leg.

“I thought I had a cramp,” Suzanne said.

She got home, took a bath and started screaming. Her skin felt as if it was being peeled off. It took six MRIs and two weeks for doctors to diagnose RSD.

Basically, the nervous system gets all crossed up. The slightest touch feels like a hot needle is being jabbed into the skin.

Suzanne’s sensitivity started in the leg then spread upward. The condition is usually triggered by trauma, though millions of kids get kicked each year and very few end up in wheelchairs.

There is no cure for RSD. Physical therapy consists of things like putting a towel on Suzanne’s leg and gently pulling it away. It was torture, but those techniques desensitized the nerves. On top of RSD, however, she also came down with POTS. Or as Suzanne said:

“Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome.”

Try saying that 10 times.

If Haynesworth tried, he’d need a water break. Though he would still have found the strength to cash all those checks the dopey Redskins gave him. Now they’ve shipped him to New England, which makes everyone happy in Washington except the guy in charge of selling replica No. 92 jerseys.

They’ve been marked down from $85 to $9.95 at the Redskins store. You can bet a lot of New England fans will soon be paying full price to dress like Albert, assuming he passes the team’s conditioning test.

That particular spoiled jock saga was far bigger news Thursday than the Comets vs. the XPlosion from Farmington, N.M. But as I watched Suzanne lean on her crutches, I couldn’t help thinking about Fat Albert, Terrell Owens, Vince Young, Stephen Garcia and other athletes who squander, pout and take their blessings for granted.

Blessings like not having to spend 15 minutes getting out of bed each morning.

The POTS is a malfunction of the nervous and circulatory systems. The blood volume to the brain dips when a person stands or sits up, causing dizziness, thirst, fatigue, headaches and weakness. Suzanne starts her day by slowly rising from bed while sipping an entire bottle of Gatorade.

For a long time she needed crutches to get around. Her left foot had curled inward, and each step felt like walking on hot coals. Then Suzanne met another RSD sufferer who told her the only way to walk again was to start walking again.

She went home and threw her crutches in the basement.

You want tough? Suzanne broke her elbow two years ago throwing a runner out at first base. The play continued and she threw another runner out at second base.

She didn’t even know the tip of her elbow bone had been torn off.

The doctor said he’d seen that kind of torque injury before, but only in physically mature males.

Suzanne needed two surgeries to repair the damage. She smiled and showed me the scars, but added a word of caution.

“I don’t feel sorry for myself,” she said. “And I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me.”

It’s hard not to. After months of rehab, she was back at shortstop when the season began. She was batting .552 in the fast-pitch league, and then three weeks ago her leg gave way as she walked up some stairs. She played a few more games, but something wasn’t right.

It could be a relapse of RSD; doctors don’t yet know. Even the dream-makers at Disney can't make her wish come true this week.

“She just wants to get better and get out there,” said her mother, Wendy. “She doesn’t want sympathy.”

Meanwhile in New England, Haynesworth was getting a sympathetic welcome.

I know whose jersey I’d rather buy.