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Pitcher on the mound after offseason scare

By BRYAN BURNS
Published March 24, 2006

The players were in the middle of a typical offseason conditioning routine: situps, pushups and squats followed by two laps around the field. Kekeuwa, a 17-year-old senior who was Stallbaumer's standout pitcher from a team that had gone 14-10 the season before, was expected to be a leader younger players could look up to.

Stallbaumer wasn't happy to see him like that.

"I addressed him: 'Come on, let's go.' I didn't expect to see him struggling to finish," Stallbaumer said.

Kekeuwa, however, was feeling different. He knew what exhaustion was. He had dealt with that after rehabbing an elbow injury as a sophomore.

He could tell this was something more serious.

"I wanted to keep running, but I couldn't breathe," Kekeuwa said. "Then my left arm went numb."

Stallbaumer came over to see what was wrong.

"He looked pale. He was kind of holding his hand over his chest and said, 'I can't breathe.' "

Stallbaumer walked Kekeuwa inside the locker room and sat him on a sofa.

"His hands were clammy and cold. He couldn't get comfortable," Stallbaumer said. "He complained that he felt sharp pains, and then they'd go away."

When the ambulance pulled up to the locker room, the EMTs initially diagnosed a pulled muscle.

"They're wheeling Hanani away and he's looking at me like, 'Huh-uh, this isn't a pulled muscle,' " Stallbaumer said.

At the hospital, X-rays on Kekeuwa's heart came back negative. X-rays of his lungs, however, revealed a hole. Doctors told Kekeuwa he was suffering from spontaneous pneumothorax, or a collapsed lung.

The doctor's couldn't explain why his lung had collapsed. They told him it could have been something he was born with.

Or, it could have been a bubble that developed recently in his lung and burst. Whatever the cause, there was an 85 to 90 percent chance that it would never happen again.

Kekeuwa only wanted to know one thing: Would he be able to pitch his final year?

"That's all that was going through my mind," he said. "I kept asking the doctors how long it would take to recover. The doctors couldn't answer that question."

For six long days in early October, Kekeuwa rested in a hospital bed. A hole was cut in Kekeuwa's body under his left arm to insert a tube into his lung. The tube would make sure no fluid got into his lungs. The hole would repair itself. A box sat next to Kekeuwa's hospital bed collecting the drainage from the tube.

"It was pretty gross," Kekeuwa said.

A couple of days before Kekeuwa's scheduled release from the hospital, Brandon High School held its homecoming dance.

Kekeuwa was a candidate for homecoming king, and he wanted to attend. His doctors resisted initially, but finally relented.

"The hospital staff did a great job getting him ready," Stallbaumer said. "They discharged him from the hospital and gave him all the warnings, made him sign waivers. After the dance, he was admitted back into the hospital and stayed another two days."

Kekeuwa went to the dance, a tube still inserted into his body. A collection bag was concealed under his suit. He didn't have any setbacks from attending, but he didn't win homecoming king, either. "The vote took place before all of this happened," Stallbaumer said.

A couple of days later, after pulling the tube out - "kind of like starting a lawn mower," Kekeuwa recalled - he was discharged from the hospital for good.

Doctors told him he could begin throwing in six to seven weeks. When Kekeuwa started throwing again in mid December, he was a little scared of what would happen.

Kekeuwa gradually shook the jitters away and slowly began regaining his form. A month later, during an intrasquad scrimmage, Kekeuwa felt like the pitcher he was a year before, the pitcher who was a Times all-county second-team selection. He knew he'd be okay.

Kekeuwa returned to the baseball diamond in time for Brandon's season opener, apparently no worse for the wear. He picked up where he left off in 2005, jumping out to a 2-0 record. He threw a one-hitter against Freedom and struck out eight batters in his first game back.

"To see him battle all of the injuries and illnesses is exciting," Stallbaumer said. "Everything has happened to this kid. He sees it as a challenge. He's out to prove a point. A collapsed lung isn't going to keep him out."

It's just another game to Kekeuwa, something to compete against as he says. And like the baseball games he pitches, Kekeuwa rarely loses.

[Last modified March 24, 2006, 11:07:45]