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THE
GOOD GUY'S WINNING:
Kevin
Kernan . New York Post . New York, N.Y.: Jun
20, 2004. pg. 062
 ED Hearn's
1986 World Series ring shimmers as he speaks.
Life can be as unpredictable as that glorious
World Series.
The ball went
through Bill Buckner's legs to allow the Mets
to live their
Comeback for the
Ages, but no one on that Mets team has
been through the kind of comeback Hearn has staged.
The
former catcher has survived not one, not two,
but three
kidney transplants since
being
diagnosed with the disease FSGS (Focal
Segmental Glomerulosclerosis) in 1991.
He's also survived
two bouts of cancer. Each night he
needs the aid of a breathing machine, and each
day he
takes over 50 types of medication.
Despite the
hardships, Hearn is making the most of this delicate
life. He
is an ambassador
for
the NephCure Foundation, a nonprofit
group seeking the cause of the kidney
diseases
Nephrotic Syndrome
and FSGS, which often strike youngsters
from 1 to 8 years old and afflict
as many people
as cystic fibrosis.
Hearn, 43,
is not just trying to raise money and awareness
through
his Bottom
of the Ninth
Foundation, he is trying to strengthen
the country's moral fiber, too.
How
many athletes
are doing
that these days?
"The
bottom of the ninth doesn't happen," Hearn
asks, "unless the home team,
the good guys, are tied or behind,
right?
Our country
is behind
in the character area. It's time
for a character comeback in the
bottom of
the ninth."
Hearn is one
of the good guys, and isn't it interesting
there
is a new
book out
there glorifying
that
wild 1986 Mets team entitled "The
Bad Guys Won!"
Says Hearn,
who was traded to the Royals after
that magical season
for David
Cone and soon
suffered a terrible shoulder injury, "My
mom just read that book and called
me up and said, 'God
bless you, you were an angel. If
I had known all that stuff was
going on, I
would have
died.' "
Hearn played
only three seasons in the majors, from
1986 to 1988,
but
the course
his life
has taken has allowed him to reach
out to many people.
In April, he even spoke before
Congress to try to increase funding
for FSGS
research.
"On bad
days," Hearn says, "all
I have to do is go to the files
and pull out some letters
people have written me and know
that I've made a difference in people's lives.
I tell
people
I could have played 20 years and
not have the chance to impact the lives I do
today."
When I ask
Hearn if he has heard from his 1986 Mets teammates,
he
says, "No, it's very
interesting, and it's disappointing." Hearn
has remained close with Gary Carter,
even naming his son Cody Carter
Hearn after the
Hall of Fame
catcher.
Hearn never
dwells on the negative. He recently met with
Nets center
Alonzo Mourning, who also
suffers from FSGS. The two plan
to work
together to get the word out on
the disease.
" 'Zo told me to just get the ball into the post," Hearn
says with a smile.
For Hearn, this and every Father's
Day is special. When 9-year- old
Cody was
2, Hearn started
writing letters to him.
"If I
wasn't going to be around," Hearn says, "he
could go through all that stuff
over the next 10-15 years. He would have something
that he
could go back and read."
Those
letters became Hearn's life story
and his book, "Conquering
Life's Curves," and
set Hearn on his journey of becoming
a motivational speaker (www.edhearn.com).
He is the only
athlete to be awarded the prestigious
Certified Speaking
Professional designation from the
National Speakers Association.
All proceeds from
his book and most
of the money from speaking engagements
go toward his charity work.
"Two
years ago I had my third transplant," says
Hearn, who lives in Kansas City. "Challenges
teach us a lot. You either win
or lose by how you face challenges.
It's easy
when you
are on
top. Look at the '86 Mets. That
team should have won several years
in a row,
but the
stuff that
was going on behind the scenes
took that team down. That team
didn't handle challenges."
The
challenge was never greater than
after his first kidney transplant
in 1992. When
his beautiful
wife, Tricia, a nurse, was at work,
Hearn pulled out a .357 Magnum
in
his basement
and contemplated
suicide. Instead of ending his
life, he realized life was worth
fighting
for, no
matter the
challenge.
"When you break a bone, it comes back stronger," Hearn
says. "You combine the upbringing
with the challenges, and it allowed
me to make
it through
and create a perspective.
"Sure, I'd like to have the financial freedom
that a lot of guys have who I played
with, but I have a wonderful joy through the work that
I do," he says. "When
you get down on one knee and talk
to a 9- year-old
kid
who is going through this, he can
talk to me at a
level he can't talk to many other
people because I've been there.
I've done that,
and I can hand
him my phone number and say, 'Hey,
if you get in trouble, give me
a call.'
"To look up at his dad after you say something
like that and see the smile ear
to ear, that is what it is all about.
"I always
thought my purpose in life was to be a big-league
ballplayer. I thought
that was what it was all about, being the next Johnny Bench,
but it's not."
It's being
Ed Hearn.
"God's
plan was amazing for me," Hearn adds. "It
sure wasn't my plan, but I do believe
he has a plan for each of our lives.
It's our
job to
discover that plan, which is usually
connected to a test. I thought baseball
was the test.
It wasn't. I have a passion for
life these days
I never had on the baseball field."
Life
is his World Series comeback.
To learn more
about FSGS and Nephrotic Syndrome, log on to www.edhearn.com or www.nephcure.org.
Reproduced
with permission of the copyright owner. Further
reproduction or distribution is prohibited
without permission.
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