Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Cancer was no match for her biggest fan

By STEVE LEE
Published June 19, 2005

HUDSON - Courtney Law's life already had been turned upside down, as she had dealt with her parents' divorce and her father's brain cancer.

Tragedy hit home again in the Hudson athlete's sophomore year.

Art Law, 46, had a seizure while watching his daughter's softball game at Gulf. Once again he cheated death, surviving a blood clot in his lungs.

"We almost lost him," said Law's ex-wife, Carolyn Law. "He was sitting next to Jackie (their oldest daughter and a 2002 Hudson graduate who played softball and volleyball) and all of a sudden she started screaming, "Mom!' I was sitting behind them and Courtney was in the dugout."

"We were up at bat and I ran out of the dugout," Courtney recollected. "Suddenly, I was freaking out and crying. It was hard not to."

Another recovery later and Art, who had been living elsewhere in west Pasco before his surgery in 2003, returned to the family home in Hudson. He has lived there two years, though the former high school sweethearts, who were divorced for 10 years, never remarried.

"It was a family decision to take care of him," said Carolyn, a business banker. "There was no question about it. We take it one day at a time, but this is our life. You try to cherish it."

Added Courtney: "When he got sick, we (including brothers A.J., 15, and Brock, 6) got closer to him."

When Art, a former retail salesman who is unable work, is not home playing Mr. Mom - "He takes care of us just as much," Carolyn said. "He's a vacuum-a-holic." - he can be found at his daughter's games.

"Before getting sick, I didn't miss anything," Art said. "I love watching her play."

Law, 18, led the county with a .519 batting average as a freshman and is a four-time all-Sunshine Athletic Conference ballplayer. She also played volleyball and soccer, graduated in May and has signed to play softball at Pasco-Hernando Community College.

During Law's sophomore year, her father had extensive rehabilitation and still has problems with vision, speech and memory. That year, Law did not play soccer and slumped to a season-low .328 (she averaged .397 as a junior and .426 last season).

"When I started going to the doctors she didn't want to do anything else but find out what was going on with her dad," Art said. "She wanted everything to be good for her dad."

"He didn't expect to come through that surgery," Carolyn said. "It was very tough on the kids, Courtney especially. There were days when she would sleep with his picture right by her pillow. Then there were days she'd turn the picture upside down (on her dresser) like she was mad at him for getting sick."

Art, who played baseball and hockey growing up in Long Island and in adult softball leagues in west Pasco, could not be happier for his children's involvement in sports. He did, however, express concerns when his first two children were daughters.

"I couldn't wait to have sons," Art said. "I wanted boys who would be involved in sports. When Jackie was born I said, "Oh my God. What am I going to do with a girl?' But I really enjoyed them because they liked to do athletic things. If they liked to do girls things, I probably wouldn't have known what to do.

"Luckily, they liked sports and I took it from there," added Art, who occasionally has coached both of his daughters' softball teams. "Jackie was good, but I could see (natural ability) in Courtney."

Art, who stopped coaching in 2002 when vision problems signaled the onset of his brain cancer, admittedly misses being on the field.

"I had to stop because I couldn't see out of my right eye," he said. "I didn't think it was much, because you don't want to think it's much. I didn't want hear it at first, then I said, "Let's do what we've got to do.' "

"He's pretty focused on what Courtney's doing," said Paul Vescio, who coached Law the two seasons she played soccer at Hudson. "He didn't miss much."

While Courtney declares softball her favorite sport, Art thinks she is even better at soccer, making all-conference twice. "That's my opinion," Art said. "Don't get me wrong, she's good at both sports. But softball is what she loves to do."

Art attended many of Jackie's games and often watches A.J. (basketball) and Brock (baseball and soccer) compete. But he admits to being partial to Courtney and does not plan to miss her home games at PHCC.

Barring another setback, Law has no doubt about seeing her father in the stands.

"Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger," she said.

[Last modified June 19, 2005, 00:38:17]