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Restaurant inspections: April 19, 2015 Tempo Videos Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » Obits Blogs TV Listings Movie Listings Oregon Outdoors Oregon Healthy Living Special Sections Business Services NEWS NOW Since You Asked: Manholes can give you a wake-up jolt ... US, Canada unveil rules to boost oil train safety ... Medford police join in move to body cams ... Since You Asked: Manholes can give you a wake-up jolt ... US, Canada unveil rules to boost oil train safety ... Medford police join in move to body cams ... PREPS Unbreakable Butte Falls/Prospect athlete Scofield fought for his life, and won Comment By Dan Jones Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Dan Jones Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 24, 2015 at 8:36 PM By Dan Jones Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 24, 2015 at 8:36 PM --> SPENCER SCOFIELD WHO: Butte Falls junior who has participated in football, basketball, wrestling, baseball and track for both the Loggers and Prospect. WHAT: In 2010, Scofield was diagn... » Read more X SPENCER SCOFIELD WHO: Butte Falls junior who has participated in football, basketball, wrestling, baseball and track for both the Loggers and Prospect. WHAT: In 2010, Scofield was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Transverse Myelitis, which usually permanently paralyzes the patient. He worked tirelessly in physical rehabilitation and has defied the odds, returning to sports.   » Social News BUTTE FALLS — If Spencer Scofield was mad at the world, who could blame him? The Butte Falls High junior was blindsided with a rare disease that nearly killed him five years ago. To this day, the 17-year-old lives with numbness and pain, the reverberations of trauma that nearly fully paralyzed him. Before that, his life involved trips to hospitals for a brain cyst. After that, his brother almost died when he was severely burnt. But Scofield isn’t upset. He’s thankful: to be back on the baseball field, to have a family that cares about him and to give back. “I’ve got to be,” he says. “If you aren’t positive, life is going to be terrible.” The 5-foot-8, 175-pound Scofield was told by doctors he may never walk again in 2010 after being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Transverse Myelitis, a neurological disorder caused by inflammation across the spinal cord that usually permanently paralyzes the patient. Scofield was rushed to a nearby hospital in an ambulance and was later flown to a Portland hospital. He survived, but was still partially paralyzed. Medical experts saw a wheelchair in Scofield’s future, but he did not. For six weeks Scofield learned how to walk again. And here he stands, with a smile on his face, a five-sport athlete posing for a newspaper photographer. After spinal surgery and countless physical therapy sessions, he played football and participated in wrestling and basketball with Butte Falls and the Prospect Cougars. He’s doing baseball and track this spring. Scofield appears as an average teenager, but not without extraordinary effort. Some days are very hard. The spots on his spinal cord that were damaged leave a side of his body and his legs numb at times. He gets jolts that send his legs kicking out underneath the dinner table. Nerve pain always lurks. But that’s OK. Life is good, he says, because he has one to live. Race for his life A 12-year-old Scofield collapsed April 1, 2010 at Butte Falls Elementary School. He was sitting in class, catching up on homework, when he felt extreme back pain. Spencer recalls he could barely breathe but didn’t want to let it show. He developed a headache and asked his teacher if he could go to the office. As he opened the door, he collapsed. His vision went blurry and he felt numb. Scofield was sent to a nearby hospital, where he stayed overnight before being flown to Portland. It was the first plane ride of his life. It took three days to diagnose the disease as Scofield’s body shut down. TM is rare, with approximately 1,400 new cases each year. Spencer jokes that he had a better chance of winning the lottery. The disease affects people of all ages, but there are bimodal peaks between the ages of 10 to 19 years and 30 to 39 years. Researchers are not certain of the exact causes of TM, and no effective cure exists. Recovery usually begins within two to 12 weeks of the onset of symptoms and may continue for up to two years. If no improvement is made within the first three to six months, complete recovery is unlikely. The paralysis had risen from Scofield’s feet to his chest as medical staff scrambled to find answers. If it were to go any higher, he’d stop breathing. Doctors had speculated that perhaps it all started when he fell on his back playing basketball, with the jolt setting off a chain of reactions. It was when a neurologist compared MRI results that discrepancies were identified, leading to the discovery. “We had to come to grips with him never walking again,” recalls Janelle Scofield, Spencer’s mom. “We were talking about how we would make our home wheelchair accessible.” Spencer next did rehabilitation work for five weeks. The first day of rehab, doctors carefully stood him up and he passed out within 20 seconds. “After that I worked my butt off,” Scofield recalls. “They told me I could never play sports again. I didn’t believe it. I said, ‘I will play sports.’” Doctors marveled at Scofield’s progress, Janelle says, and her son returned home the Friday before Mother’s Day. He left the hospital with a cane and a wheelchair in tow, determined to ditch both. “He told me, ‘I will not be stuck in this chair,’” Janelle says. “He said, ‘I will be on that field again.’ He was not going to let this stop him from living his dreams.” Back in the game It took about a year for Scofield to react to the patellar reflex test — tapping a knee with a hammer — and his physician and mom cried when that happened. The rehabilitation continued and he returned to sports in the eighth grade. His first action was a basketball game. “My mom was biting her nails,” Scofield recalls. “But I had a lot of fun and was just thankful to be out there.” He was the MVP of the team that season. Even with their son taking extra precautions, it’s nerve-racking for Janelle and dad Stryder. “We just pray him through every game,” Janelle says. “Sometimes I am just sick to my stomach because one bad blow to the back and he could be where he was before. But he’s meant to keep going on. We can’t hold him back from doing what he loves and being a kid. How can we hold him back from that?” Scofield says he knows he has to be careful. “One time I split my knee open and I didn’t even know it happened,” he recalls, noting the numbness in parts of his body. “Six stitches, just messing around.” Jim Mannenbach, the wrestling coach at Butte Falls, says Scofield has shown inspirational courage. “When he came out I was a little nervous about him wrestling competitively, knowing about his back issues,” he says. “My first recommendation was to work on technique and gradually work him in. After getting the OK from his parents, he wanted to start out faster than I planned. He’s a competitor. “It was really neat to see him because he just got more and more confidence and self-esteem as the year went on. He’s never satisfied with where he’s at.” Scofield has been a catcher for the Cougars, who share the baseball team with Butte Falls. On the field, he’s just one of the boys, Prospect-Butte Falls baseball coach Darren May says. “He’s a good kid to work with,” May says. “He’s focused and works hard. He’s a pleasure to coach. He does what you tell him to do.” Giving back Spencer and his little brother Brycen now deliver gifts to children at hospitals locally and in Portland. On May 13, 2010, Brycen was burnt in an all-terrain-vehicle crash while he was riding to feed animals on the family’s ranch near Butte Falls. He was in critical condition in a medically induced coma, recovering from burns across his head and body, as well as in his lungs. His burns have since healed,and Brycen is happy, healthy and whole. That year, Janelle says, was a “whirlwind of absolute horror.” But the family has since shifted more of its attention to helping others. On one visit to a burn center, Spencer played video games for an hour with a boy who had suffered third-degree burns on his legs. “I’ll remember him for the rest of my life,” he says. Scofield says he was thankful to be there that day, with that boy. He can share himself, his story, and feel good about it. It was a reminder that his roughest moment has somehow changed him, for the better, and that makes the world feel like a good place to Scofield. “You know, I wasn’t mad at the world,” he says. “I was just dealt a tough card. It’s made me a better person. I think I see things differently now.” Reach reporter Dan Jones at 541-776-4499, or email [email protected]. Find him online at twitter.com/danjonesmt By Dan Jones Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Dan Jones Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 24, 2015 at 8:36 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. fantasy football 2015 Fantasy Football Outlook for Ravens Stars Apr. 29, 2015 at 6:30 pm Fantasy Football Outlook for Seahawks Stars Apr. 22, 2015 at 3:05 am 2015 Fantasy Outlook for Chargers' Stars Apr. 17, 2015 at 6:15 am Fantasy Outlook for Dolphins Stars Apr. 14, 2015 at 6:37 am Biggest Fantasy Winners, Losers in Free Agency Apr. 8, 2015 at 2:45 am Fantasy Football Outlook for Bears Stars Apr. 7, 2015 at 1:09 am calendar Connect with MailTribune.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services Home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Announcements Obituaries Story ideas Since you asked Alerts Email Alerts RSS Feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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