2B — February 18, 2019
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Each Friday, Declan Mitchell 
goes to Riley’s Children’s Hospi-
tal in Indianapolis.
If you went there looking for 
him, he would be the one dressed 
head-to-toe in sports attire, as he 
always is: jersey, socks, the whole 
works. Sometimes it’s Michigan 
gear. Sometimes it’s a LeBron 
James day. Sometimes it’s the 
Indiana Pacers.
Declan’s mother, Sarah, says he 
likes to show off his uniform to 
the nurses.
And then Declan, just 11 years 
old, sits in a chair for four hours 
and gets a blood infusion. Once a 
week. Every week.
Declan has Hunter Syndrome. 
It’s a rare, genetic disease that 
only affects males, and it means 
that he is missing a particular 
enzyme that is crucial to cellular 
repair. Fewer than 500 boys in the 
country are affected by the condi-
tion.
Hunter Syndrome is degen-
erative, and there is no cure. 
Declan can still walk and run and 
climb stairs, but eventually, that 
will change. He is cognitively 
impaired — Sarah estimates he 
has the intellectual ability of a 
three-year-old — so his speaking 
ability is limited, though he is able 
to communicate what he wants or 
needs. That, too, will cease even-
tually.
The life expectancy for Hunter 
Syndrome used to be just 15 years. 
Thanks to these blood infusions, 
which replace the enzyme Declan 
is missing, that number could be 
doubled.
“Honestly, he really loves going 
(to the hospital) so much, because 
it’s a part of his life,” Sarah told 
me over the phone two weeks 
ago. “He doesn’t think anything 
different, and on Fridays, we go 
there.”
So every Friday, Declan sits. He 
eats snacks and watches movies 
to pass the time. He loves Michi-
gan football, since his grandma 
graduated from the University 
and his mom attended for a year, 

so his favorite thing to watch is a 
Michigan football DVD.
“We actually have to keep 
replacing (it). Thank God it’s on 
Amazon,” Sarah joked. “It’s like 
one of his favorite movies, and it’s 
so worn out because we watch it 
all the time.”
But that’s Declan. A neighbor 
described him as a creature of 
habit. He watches sports habitu-
ally. He plays basketball habitu-
ally. He wears jerseys habitually.
These things make him tick. 
More importantly, they allow him 
to live as normally as he can. 
Declan was born a healthy 
baby.
It wasn’t until he turned three 
that Declan was diagnosed with 
Hunter Syndrome, and even then 
it wasn’t a simple thing to diag-
nose.
Declan’s pediatrician didn’t 
suspect 
anything. 
His 
occu-
pational therapist thought his 
breathing was off, but Sarah says 
she wrote it off as allergies and 
asthma. He had some ear infec-
tions and respiratory issues, but 
again, on its own, those traits 
didn’t immediately jump out as a 
sign that something was wrong, 
especially for something as rare 
as Hunter Syndrome to be sus-
pected.
It took an occupational thera-
pist and a speech therapist who 
recognized some warning signs 
to push Sarah and her husband, 
Tim, to bring Declan to a special-
ist. It was that genetic doctor who 
finally connected the dots.
“When we got the diagno-
sis, we thought, this cannot be,” 
Sarah said. “There is no way this 
could be this severe. Because he 
was talking, and he was happy. 
Granted, he was a little bit sore 
and some things, but we didn’t 
know.”
Sarah and Tim started googling 
Hunter Syndrome, and they saw 
pictures of other boys with the 
condition.
“We were like, ‘Oh my God, 
they all look like him,’ ” Sarah 
said.
From there, the Mitchells went 
the only way they could: onward. 

Sarah stumbled onto some blogs 
made by mothers of other boys 
with Hunter Syndrome, and she 
reached out to them, joining a 
supportive community of people 
going through the same thing.
Sarah says new families often 
have a lot of questions early on, 
and it’s clear she knows from 
experience.
The Mitchells enrolled Declan 
in their local public school in 
Westfield, Ind., where he has 
learned in a modified classroom 
since he was in preschool. He has 
an aide, Andrew, who spends each 
day with Declan and helps facili-
tate his day.
The goal, in the end, is to make 
Declan’s life as normal as possible, 
both in school and out. For some-
one like him, that means keeping 
most things in his life consistent 
and familiar while integrating 
any new things — like curricu-
lum or new relationships — slowly 
around him.
So when Declan moved to mid-
dle school, where he takes classes 
now, he spent the prior summer 
getting familiar with his new 
teacher, Maureen Craver.
“We just did a lot of really fun 
stuff just to get him excited to be 
in the new classroom with me and 
in a new school,” Craver said. “He 
loves basketball, so we played a 
lot of basketball and a lot of fun 
games. So I got to kind of know 
him that way and know what he 
liked and what he didn’t like.”
Craver had never heard of 
Hunter Syndrome before meeting 
Declan. Beyond the summer spent 
with Declan, she met with Tim, 
Sarah and Declan’s last teacher, to 
get familiar with the intricacies of 
Declan and Hunter Syndrome.
But optimizing Declan’s expe-
rience is a group effort. The 
principal, assistant principals, 
secretaries, teachers and even the 
other students play a part in mak-
ing Declan feel as comfortable as 
possible.
And, believe it or not, sports 
come in here too.
“I think he uses it as a way to 
connect with other people,” Crav-
er said. “So he wears some sort of 

— usually an NBA team — shirt or 
jersey every day. You know, he’ll, 
if he’s maybe a little shy around 
someone or if we have new peer 
students come in, he’ll kind of 
look down at his shirt all coy and 
use it as a talking point.
“… All the administration and 
teachers and staff here know that 
about Declan, and so if our gym 
teacher sees him in the hallway, 
she’ll say, ‘Oh, Declan, I love your 
Heat shirt today!’ to start a con-
versation. Or sometimes it’s other 
boys in the hallway with different 
sports shirts on, and he’ll go up to 
them and say, ‘Oh, Pacers shirt.’ 
So he uses it as definitely a way to 
connect with people.” 
At home, things have changed 
since Declan was diagnosed.
Sarah used to work on the 
wealth management team at 
Merrill Lynch. Declan began to 
have some struggles in daycare, 
though. He was sick a lot, and 
because of a lack of awareness 
that accompanies Hunter Syn-
drome, he would push kids over 
and become irritated.
So Sarah and Tim decided 
Sarah should become a stay-at-
home mom.
“It wasn’t a decision I would 
have normally made, but it was an 
automatic decision, like, I would 
just stay home with him,” Sarah 
said. “So for a few years, we just 
lived on Tim’s salary, and that was 
very unplanned, so things were a 
little tight.
“But that was just what had to 
be done.”
Sarah has since picked up a 
part-time retail job, while Tim 
works as a vertical sales manager 
for a global electrics company.
In a way, though, taking care 
of Declan is a full-time job, and 
Sarah would be the first person to 
tell you that she can’t do it alone. 
Her parents have moved closer to 
home to help out, and the commu-
nity around her helps too.
None of this is to say that any-
body is complaining, because 
whatever Declan requires in 
attention he gives back in happi-
ness.
Declan likes to take walks to 

neighbors’ houses to play basket-
ball. Oakley says everyone is just 
happy Declan can play.
He has made friends with the 
other children in the neighbor-
hood, including Oakley’s son, 
Dylan, who passes down basket-
ball jerseys for Declan to wear.
“I know that, like, he’s kind of 
a handful,” Sarah said. “He’s just 
kind of a busy kid with a short 
attention span, and like a low 
vocabulary. So he can be kind of 
a handful, but I know the people 
who know us, like, he’s so happy. 
And he brings a lot of people so 
much joy.
The worst part of Hunter Syn-
drome is the degenerative part.
Declan has some problems 
climbing stairs. At some point, the 
Mitchells will need to move into a 
one-level home.
Special education students are 
allowed to attend school until 
they are 22. For most students, 
Craver says the goal is to move 
students into a “supported home 
environment,” and even get them 
a job. For Declan, though, that 
may not be possible, depending on 
how healthy he can stay.
“I know people who have 
already 
been 
through 
that 
because I have friends in the com-
munity,” Sarah said. “So I kind 
of know what that journey looks 
like, because of other kids that are 
the same age that are more severe, 
a little further ahead and a couple 
years older. But it’s just, kind of, 
nothing prepares you for it, even if 
you know what’s coming. It’s just 

kind of crappy.”
What is here now, though, is 
something that Declan, Sarah, 
Tim and everyone who knows 
them is thankful for.
He can still talk — things like 
‘mom’ and ‘dad’ and ‘I want that 
movie.’ That is not a small thing.
“It sounds weird, but we’re 
very grateful for that,” Sarah said.
And more importantly, Declan 
still makes an impact on those 
around him. When the Mitchells 
take a trip to the grocery store, 
Sarah says they always run into 
people who know Declan.
Declan can still watch Michi-
gan football and the NBA. He is 
still active, still shooting hoops at 
neighboring houses.
Something about Hunter Syn-
drome is that Declan isn’t capable 
of understanding that he is any 
different than other kids. The 
people around him see to it that 
his life is improved as much as 
possible.
The kicker is that, along the 
way, Declan has done the same in 
return.
Money is being raised to fund 
research for gene therapy, which is 
thought to be a potential cure for 
Hunter Syndrome, at projectalive.
org. There is also a gofundme page at 
www.gofundme.com/projectalive. As 
of the writing of this article, the page 
has raised $2,268,810 with a goal of 
reaching $2.5 million.

SportsMonday Column: Declan Mitchell and the joy he brings

Michigan sweeps Binghamton

Going into the eighth inning 
on Saturday, the No. 17 Michigan 
baseball team (3-0 overall) was 
tied 4-4 with Binghamton (0-3). 
It was the second game in a three-
game series, with the Wolverines 
notching a 10-0 victory in the first 
game of the series.
Saturday, 
though, 
was 
a 
different story. Michigan went 
down 4-2 in the third inning 
after senior third baseman Blake 
Nelson’s three errors propelled 
Binghamton to score three runs.
“We had a tough defensive 
day on Saturday, but that’s a 
fluke,” said Michigan coach Erik 
Bakich. “It’s just a hiccup. I don’t 
anticipate very many games like 
that, but those days happen and 
we just have to move on.”
Clawing its way back to even 
the score against the Bearcats 
with a run in both the fourth 
and 
fifth 
innings, 
Michigan 
was looking to find momentum. 
Finding it in the bottom of the 
eighth, Nelson singled to left field 
and advanced to third on two 
wild pitches, allowing sophomore 
shortstop Jack Blomgren’s single 
to knock him in for the go-ahead 
run.
With the nail-biter on Saturday 
done, the Wolverines came to play 
on Sunday. Holding the Bearcats 
to two runs, they broke out with 
a six-run eighth inning to win the 
game 12-2.
“I and my coaching staff like 
the way we put the exclamation 
mark on the weekend with the 
six-run eighth inning to really 
extend the lead,” Bakich said. 
“The game was much more in 
question than 12-2, but it took a 
six-run burst there in the eighth 
to really separate.”
All three of the weekend games 
were won on the back of the 
pitching, with junior right-hander 
Tommy Henry throwing seven 
shutout innings and redshirt 
right-hander 
freshman 
Isaiah 
Paige notching two of his own.
Saturday saw junior right-
hander Karl Kauffmann pitch 
10 strikeouts, only allowing one 
earned run. Freshman Willy 
Weiss finished the game with a 

clutch save, striking out the side 
after allowing a leadoff single.
Sunday was more of the same, 
as sophomore right-hander Jeff 
Criswell got the start, allowing 
only one run in five innings. 
A team of relievers showed 
the game out, headlined by 
sophomore left-hander Angelo 
Smith — who threw two innings 
with four strikeouts and one 
earned run, striking out two and 
getting a groundout after coming 
on with the bases loaded in the 
sixth inning.
Pitching, though, wasn’t the 
only thing going for Michigan. 
Holding a batting average of .315, 
the offense held its own. Sunday 
brought two triples, by Blomgren 
and redshirt senior Miles Lewis, 
and a homerun from sophomore 
catcher Joe Donovan.
“As a coaching staff we were 
really impressed with the balance 
of our offense with multiple 
threats throughout our lineup, 
one through nine,” Bakich said. 

“A combination of both speed and 
power. It’s just a tough lineup to 
get through.”
One offensive star of the 
weekend has to be Blomgren, 
who had five runs batted in — 
including the winning one on 
Saturday.
“He hit a huge triple today that 
really separated the game and 
what it means is that we’re really 
deep,” Bakich said. “He may be 
in the nine-hole in our team, but 
he might be in the two-hole or 
leadoff spot on another team.”
All of the Wolverines’ offensive 
production came without junior 
outfielder 
Dominic 
Clementi, 
who had a team high .368 batting 
average last year and was out with 
an abdominal sprain. Clementi is 
questionable for next weekend’s 
series against The Citadel.
Even so, this opening series 
could not have gone much better 
for Michigan, who has come out 
of the gates as fast as it could have 
hoped.

Pitching leads ‘M’ past Bearcats

In the top of the sixth inning 
on 
Sunday, 
Angelo 
Smith 
walked into the worst possible 
situation for a pitcher: bases 
loaded, nobody out. 
At 
least 
one 
run 
for 
Binghamton (0-3) seemed all 
but certain to everyone but 
the sophomore left-hander. 
Smith struck out his first two 
batters on six pitches and got 
his third batter to ground out 
on the next pitch to escape the 
jam. 
The 
No. 
17 
Michigan 
baseball 
team’s 
pitchers 
shut down the Bearcats this 
weekend in its season-opening 
series. Five of this weekend’s 
hurlers are still holding onto 
a perfect 0.00 earned run 
average. The Wolverines kept 
the Binghamton confused all 
weekend, holding it to six runs 
on the series. Michigan swept 

all three games, winning 10-0 
on Friday, 5-4 on Saturday and 
12-2 on Sunday. 
“Our three starters, Tommy 
Henry, Karl Kauffman and 
Jeff Criswell all gave us very 
solid outings and did a really 
good job of minimizing free 
passes,” said Michigan coach 
Erik Bakich. “All of them did 
a great job of 
attacking 
the 
strike zone.” 
One 
particularly 
strong 
performance 
came 
from 
Tommy 
Henry, 
who 
started 
the 
Wolverines’ 
first game of 
2019 on Friday. The junior 
left-hander held Binghamton 
to six hits and no runs over 
a dominant six innings of 
work, striking out nine in the 

process. 
Michigan also saw strong 
performances 
in 
shorter-
inning 
stretches 
from 
its 
bullpen. Redshirt freshman 
right-hander 
Isaiah 
Paige 
allowed only a single hit and 
no runs over three innings 
of work out of the bullpen 
on Friday. Freshman right-
hander 
Willie 
Weiss 
earned 
his first career 
save 
in 
his 
first 
collegiate 
outing for the 
Wolverines. 
He struck out 
the side to end 
Saturday’s 
nail-biting 
contest 
and 
seal Michigan’s 
come-from-behind victory. 
“Striking out the side in his 
one inning on Saturday, Willie 
really showed some electric 
stuff,” Bakich said. “It was 
really great to see.”
Michigan’s 
pitching 
was 
so dominant that many of 
the hurlers got little or no 
work over the course of the 
weekend. Some of them will 
have to pitch in a scrimmage 
this week to reach their target 
number of innings pitched and 
stay on pace for the season-
long goals set for them by the 
coaching staff, according to 
Bakich. 
Though 
fewer 
of 
this 
year’s pitchers have in-game 
experience on the season so 
far, 
the 
Wolverines’ 
arms 
will be plenty rested for next 
weekend as the team heads 
down to Charleston, S.C. to 
face the Citadel. Many of the 
pitchers also have college 
experience behind them from 
previous seasons, so with 
almost a week’s rest before 
their next game, the pitching 
staff will look to put out 
another weekend of shutout 
work. 
“We certainly feel great 
about our veteran pitching 
staff,” Bakich said. “That they 
were able to give us three 
quality starts on the weekend 
– it was great to see.”

ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer

KENT SCHWARTZ
Daily Sports Writer

FILE PHOTO/Daily
Sophomore left-hander Angelo Smith escaped a bases loaded, nobody out situation in the top of the sixth inning during Michigan’s 12-2 win on Sunday.

We certainly 
feel great about 
our veteran 
pitching staff.

MIKE PERSAK
Daily Sports Writer

COURTESY OF SARAH MITCHELL
Declan Mitchell was diagnosed with Hunter Syndrome at age three.

Read the full story online at 
MichiganDaily.com