The Boy Who Could Fly

BDAClub

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Jun 23, 2004
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Lower Mainland
For Mattias Hemmingson, like Lance Armstrong, it was always about the bike.

When he was two-and-a-half, he was riding a two-wheeler. When he was three, he was following his mother, Lori, and father, Drew, all over the trails of North Vancouver. By the time he was five, he'd graduated to a mountain bike, which was also when he discovered BMX.

"His first time was a total nightmare," Drew Hemmingson says. "He had his mountain bike and he crashed into the same kid twice. The kid's mother yelled at him as he crossed the finish line.


"I thought, 'He'll never do that again.' But when we got back to the car, the first thing he said was, 'When can we go again?'"

Mattias would get better. At six, he was the national champion for his age group in Canada. At seven, he repeated as national champ and began racing against the best young riders in the States. At eight, he was at a training camp in Kamloops, preparing for the world championships and giving every indication that this was just the beginning; that he had a future.

And at nine, he had a brain tumour.

Mattias, Matt to all, passed away last weekend at Canuck Place with his mother and father in the room after a 14-month battle with a disease which has no conscience. I wish I could tell you there was a reason for this. I wish I could tell you his passing served some greater purpose and left behind a lesson for all of us.

But I can't. All I can tell you is the kid had a gift, that he loved his bike, and in his eight-and-a-half good years he found something which gave him joy and purpose. There isn't much to feel good about in his story. But look at this picture and tell me Matt Hemmingson wasn't happy when he was on his bike.

"He was fully aware BMX had become an Olympic sport," Drew says. "It was one of his goals. Who knows, maybe he would have got sick of it.

"I doubt it, though."

No, you can ask yourself a lot of questions about this kid. You don't have to ask that one.

Matt, it seems, inherited his love of bikes from his father.

"We'd always take him with us and he'd go anywhere," says Drew. "He was absolutely fearless."

But when he found BMX, he also found his calling. He loved the speed. He loved the competition. He loved the feeling that he could fly.

I mean, what kid wouldn't? The difference was Matt's talent. About the time he won his second national title, he started racing in the U.S. at the highest levels available to his age group. There, while racing on the same tracks the pros use, he had a second-place finish in Pasco, Wash., and earned enough points in just four races to finish as the 10th-highest seven-year-old on the 25-race circuit.

The Hemmingsons, in fact, were beginning to contemplate life as a BMX family. With the 2007 world championships scheduled for Victoria, Matt was at the top of his game and beginning to serve notice that he could develop into a world-class rider. He was the talk of a camp in Kamloops. That July, the family headed to another training camp in California and were planning to travel to Vegas for a race before heading to Disneyland.



And that's when the first signs appeared.

It didn't seem to be much at first. There were balance problems. Matt seemed to be a bit off. He sat out the first day of training but got on his bike for the second before his father pulled him off the course. Doctors examined him in California but, really, what could be wrong with this kid who seemed so full of life?

When they returned to Vancouver, an MRI revealed the awful truth. An inoperable brain tumour. The words every parent lives in mortal fear of hearing.


After the diagnosis, Matt and the family did the best they could and there were some good days. In addition to his racing, Matt was something of a minor celebrity for his trick riding and he'd been befriended by some of the local professionals. The pros, including stars Jay Miron and Dave Osato, came to visit him a couple of times. Osato gave Matt his gold medal from the X Games. That helped. It helped a lot.

This summer, BMX also made its first appearance at the Olympics and Matt and his father watched the competition together.

"He couldn't talk by then," Drew says. "But you could tell he enjoyed it. He still had this big belly laugh."

As for the other days, Matt was on heavy doses of steroids which bloated him cruelly. When he was racing, he was built like a very short linebacker. Towards the end, he'd put on 40 pounds. His father said that wasn't Matt. That wasn't who he was.

But it was the damnedest thing. For everything the kid went through, for all the pain and suffering, he never complained. He never asked, "Why me?"

He did tell his father, "Dad, I'd just like to walk again." But whenever he was asked how he was feeling, he'd repeat the same thing over and over again.

"I'm good."

In this section, you will read any number of stories about athletes who are described as heroic and courageous. You will read stories which laud their character and their heart. Sometimes these terms are so overworked, they lose their meaning. And sometimes, you see the real thing in a nine-year old boy and you are transformed.



I really don't care for Ed Willes as a reporter it's usually the same drivel.....he finally found something different....WOW as a parent my heart goes out to them and I immediately think of all the dirt bags walking around that this would be a more suitable ending for them not a 9 year old boy.

But most of all I'm moved by his parents and of course Matt's amazing spirit and strength....a reminder to all of us to make the most of the life we have!!


Jodi's thread made me think of this so I thought I'd share it.
 
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