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Baseball League Organizes Benefits For Player

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By JOHN CEBALLOS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 3, 2007

RIVERVIEW - For the past couple of years, Jesse Byers complained about throbbing headaches whenever he played baseball.

'He would tell us that his head hurt really badly while he was playing, but when he was resting he would feel fine,' said Terry Byers, Jesse's father.

Jesse, 13, who has played baseball since he was 5, is a member of the Riverview Rangers, a 13-under Amateur Athletic Union Team that formed in 2002.

Recently, teammates and coaches noticed Jesse's coordination and his baseball skills had declined considerably.

'I have a son around the same age, and they all grew up playing baseball around each other,' said Casey Lowe, coach of the South Shore Tarpons, another area AAU team. 'Jesse was always a bull among the other kids. We just assumed he was a bit off because he was growing into his new body.'

In late August, as he played first base, Jesse misjudged a routine throw from a teammate that hit him in the eye.

'It was just a weird play because he's been such a good player for such a long time,' said Randy Ramos, Jesse's coach on the Rangers. 'I've known him for a while, and he's always been a great kid, but he hadn't been the same for a while.'

The next day, he underwent emergency brain surgery after complaining of a severe headache during a light workout with his team.

'That day, I really felt like my head was going to explode,' Jesse said.

East Bay Little League, which hosts Riverview Ranger home games, is organizing a pair of events to help the Byers family with their hospital bills.

The league will sponsor a benefit walk down Apollo Beach Boulevard at 5 p.m. Sunday. There also will be a car wash at 10 a.m. Oct. 27 at Vance Vogel Park, 13012 Bullfrog Creek Road, Gibsonton.

'The car wash is the same day as the park's fall festival, so we figure there will be more people out there anyway,' Lowe said.

Jesse had hydrocephalus, a condition more commonly known as 'water on the brain,' which occurs when cerebrospinal fluid accumulates because of blockage in the brain's ventricles. Hydrocephalus causes increased intracranial pressure, which can lead to progressive enlargement of the head and mental disability.

'The doctors said he had a lesion above his brain and, whenever he would participate in physical activity, it would block the fluids in his brain,' his father said.

Jesse underwent surgery to have a shunt put into his body. The shunt drains the fluid and eliminates the pressure.

'It doesn't really bother me at all,' Jesse said. 'I mean, sometimes if I hit it by accident, I can feel it, but otherwise it's fine.'

Jesse underwent an MRI Sept. 27, but so far there have been no complications from the surgery.

The eighth-grader is trying to catch up with the schoolwork he missed. Most of all, he's eager to get back on the baseball field.

'He absolutely can't wait,' Terry Byers said. 'We've been lucky so far because the doctors said the only sports he can't participate in are football and wrestling.

'I think that's fine by him because he really loves baseball.'

For information on the benefit events, call (813) 927-1795 or e-mail Jennifer Delage at suncitydental@aol.com

HELPING OUT

WHAT: Fundraisers, a walk and a car wash, for Jesse Byers

WHEN/WHERE: Benefit walk, 5 p.m. Sunday along Apollo Beach Boulevard; car wash, 10 a.m. Oct. 27 at Vance Vogel Park, 13012 Bullfrog Creek Road, Gibsonton

INFORMATION: (813) 927-1795 or e-mail Jennifer Delage at suncitydental@aol.com

Reporter John Ceballos can be reached at (813) 865-1555 or jceballos@tampatrib.com.

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