By Albert Ledezma
Sports Editor
12-year-old shows that a team isn’t just together on the field
The California State University, Dominguez Hills softball team is riddled with outstanding student-athletes.
But one stands out. Even though she has never played a game.
Her name is Raven Stewart, the honorary student-athlete for the CSUDH softball team. The 12-year-old was honored by the team April 14, on Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Day, where she threw out the ceremonial first pitch. The softball team wore special purple uniforms, to represent Cystic Fibrosis Awareness. The left sleeve of the jersey’s read “Team Raven” with a purple ribbon decal below.
Raven is one of three honorary student-athletes paired at CSUDH through the non-profit Organization Team IMPACT. The other two are on the baseball and men’s basketball teams.
Though by all appearances, Raven is a healthy 12-year-old, the stark reality is she has a terminal illness, Cystic Fibrosis (CF).
According to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation website, CF is “a progressive, genetic disease that causes persistent lung infections and limits the ability to breathe over time.” The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Patient Registry estimates that more than 30,000 people are living with CF in the United States and more than 700,000 worldwide.
Raven Stewart signed her letter of intent for the softball team on Sept. 19, 2017, with a full press conference and cameras.
Stewart was paired with the CSUDH softball team through Team IMPACT, a non-profit organization that “through the power of team, kids and student-athletes accept, motivate, and inspire one another — changing the game for everyone involved,” according to the Team IMPACT website.
Raven is the youngest of three siblings, as she has two older brothers. And as unprecedented as it may sound, all three have CF. Marisa and Eric Stewart, Raven’s parents, are both carriers of the defective CF gene though they had no knowledge of it or have any family members diagnosed with it.
“That’s why it is so rare for two parents to come together with that,” said Eric. “There’s only 30,000 kids in the U.S. that have it so it is rare that [my wife and I] found each other.”
Raven was diagnosed at the age of two and was seemingly healthy, but her health began to slowly deteriorate as she got older. By the third grade, she began to get sick often and her hospitalization increased, to about four or five times a year.
Her lung health began to get poor, “which is really the scariest thing about CF, the lung problems,” Marisa said. At minimum, Raven would be hospitalized 10 days to two weeks. But there have been instances where she has been there longer.
“The longest she was ever in the hospital I think was five weeks at one point,” Marisa said. “So, it has affected her a lot of ways. Missing a lot of school and missing a lot events she wanted to go to. We’ve had to cancel her birthday party a couple times…because she’s not well enough to do all that.”
Raven only goes to school two times a week. The rest of her work is done independently. She’s put in independent study mostly during flu and winter season, said Raven’s parents. Since her immune system is weak, the family does the best it can to stay away from other people who may be sick or have germs.
“She wants to be at school, but the more exposed she is to other kids, then the more likely she is to get sick and then when she gets sick, its serious,” Marisa said.
With such a rare illness, Raven must take extensive amounts of medication and treatments to stabilize her CF.
Though her illness will prevent her from participating in team sports, the pairing with the CSUDH softball team through Team IMPACT is significant. Raven can receive the same camaraderie and feeling one gets when being part of a team.
“It’s fun… I was never a part of a sports team, I usually just couldn’t do it because I would miss a bunch of practices and stuff,” Raven said. “I would be in the hospital all this time. (The softball players) would come visit me all the time (in the hospital). We would play games and they make me feel included.”
Despite her sickness and trips to the hospital, she is a true member of the softball team. She was invited to the softball team’s Christmas party, to their banquet, even goes into the dugout during home games.
“[The softball team] really are putting up so much effort, that they care about her and they really want her to be a part of [the team],” Marisa said. “It’s not just for pictures or for show. They really care about her.”
Softball coach Kim Aggabao picks up Raven on Wednesdays and takes her to practice. Raven has developed an unbreakable relationship with Aggabao and other players.
“I love [Coach],” Raven said. “She is just so nice and caring and she’s always included me all the time.”
Every time Raven is at practice or games, the softball players get excited to see her, said Coach Aggabao. Raven is an added inspiration for the team to work harder through adversity since she is going through something more difficult.
“We have been lucky enough to have Raven Stewart join our team through the awesome organization called Team IMPACT,” said Coach Aggabao. “She has been a blessing to not just me, but all the players.”
“We are so grateful,” said Marisa. “We really are, for the effort of it, the attention to our daughter, we’re just so grateful for the whole program, for all of the effort, especially the coach and the team as a whole to include her… it’s very motivating.”
Photos by Kyle Umeda
