Willow Glen Resident

Cover Story

Photograph by Vicki Thompson

On Fire: Stealing bases in the AA Nationals is nothing short of a miracle for Leroy Ramirez, who was diagnosed with spina bifida. At age 5 he had a tumor the size of an orange removed from his back.

All Star

Leroy Ramirez, who once used a wheelchair, is pitching in the Willow Glen Little League

By Alicia Upano

Like a future Rickey Henderson, Leroy Ramirez fearlessly swiped two bases during a Willow Glen Little League game in late May.

Henderson, the all-time leading base stealer in the game, played for the Oakland A's, Leroy's favorite team. Leroy began playing for the AA Nationals a year ago, after his mother, Michelle Moore, turned him into a fan.

Leroy runs, pitches and cheers just like all the other boys, but at age 11 he is a newcomer to the Little League team. He's grouped with boys a few years younger, many of who began playing T-Ball at the age of 5, when Leroy used a wheelchair.

"I never thought he'd be running," says Leroy's grandmother, Maria Molina, as she watches him on third base. "I'd love to see him slide."

Leroy was born with club feet and was diagnosed with spina bifida. Spina bifida is a disabling birth defect that affects 70,000 people in the United States, according to the Spina Bifida Association. In severe cases, children develop hydrocephalus, fluid in the brain that must be drained. Other complications include paralysis, incontinence and learning disabilities.

But Leroy's condition wasn't immediately apparent when he was born. He had several surgeries starting at 12 months to correct his feet deformities.

When Molina tried to enroll Leroy in preschool, Leroy was rejected because he was incontinent, she says. His grandmother consulted a neurosurgeon at Kaiser Permanente, who told her Leroy had spina bifida.

Molina tears up as she recalls the memory. His limbs were not working properly, which made walking difficult, she adds. His hands trembled, making writing a challenge.

Eventually, at age 5, he had a tumor the size of an orange removed from his back. The tumor came from fluid leaking in his spinal cord, a result of spina bifida. The surgery cut many nerves, forcing Leroy into a wheelchair for kindergarten through second grade.

Yet Leroy was determined to be a "normal kid," and walk again. After physical therapy, Leroy began to walk with a limp. The walk turned into a run. And his newfound mobility enabled Leroy to discover sports--whether it was playing ball at Bramhall Park, soccer or swimming, Leroy was on the move.

"He always wanted to do football, but he can't get injured in his back," his mother says.

The problem of not being able to play a sport was solved when Leroy fell in love with baseball and joined the Willow Glen Little League. He was inspired by his mother's love of the game. The two frequently watched the Oakland A's together and Leroy eventually joined Little League. Mother and son also played a friendly game of ball on Mother's Day.

"He struck me out three times," she says, smiling.

Moore gave birth to Leroy when she was a teenager and her mother is Leroy's primary caregiver. But Moore, and recently Leroy's father, Leroy Ramirez Sr., are frequently in the bleachers, cheering for him. On May 23, mother and son hugged in the dugout, a baseball glove dangling from his embrace.

A real fighter

When Leroy joined the Willow Glen Little League, the coaches and parents assumed Leroy was simply a shy boy who was excited to play and compete. However, one day early in the season, the Nationals' "team mom" Sandy Torres noticed Leroy was a bit winded after a run. She decided to look at his health records and discovered he had spina bifida.

"When I found out, I was almost in tears," says Torres, who refers to Leroy as "one of those walking miracles."

Little League proved fortuitous for Leroy. Not only was it a level playing field where every child got an opportunity to participate, but it has drawn Leroy out from his shy exterior and build his self-esteem, Moore says. The team, on the other hand, gained a good batter.

"For a first-year player, he fits in really well," coach William "Tink" Bowles says.

At Little League games, the excitement is not only in the baseball diamond but also in the stands. On the green-painted bleachers sit families with dogs in tow, hooting and hollering as if it was the World Series. They are there at least three days a week, for two games and one practice.

In this close-knit group is Molina, who rushes from her job as a medical assistant in Sunnyvale to watch Leroy play. Like Leroy, Molina has a history of determination. The mother of four children, Molina came to the United States from Guatemala in 1988. Although she had worked for years in the medical profession, coming to the United States meant starting all over again.

Molina struggled with English and did janitorial work. With persistence, she mastered the language and went back to school to receive certificates in medical assisting and medical transcription.

In her scrubs, she smiles at Leroy in the dugout, his eyes framed with glasses, his mouth stained pink from candy.

"Are you tired?" she asks.

"No," he replies.

His grandmother says Leroy gets tired later, after he comes home. Nevertheless, he relishes coming to the games and so does she. "When I come here, I feel like it's a family," she says.

Sometimes work schedules conflict with the Little League, and Leroy is left without a ride. Bowles rights the problem and picks him up for practice and games.

"That's what Little League is about; it's about giving everyone a chance to play," says Bowles' wife, Mary Anne. "If you can help someone out, why not?"

To the coach, Little League is not only about baseball, it's about teaching the young players to be kind, safe and to have fun. Often, he's in a father-figure role. Some players need a high five, others, like Leroy, need a ride.

"If you're having fun, then everything else will come," Tink Bowles says.