For Trent

Gerke is ready to make his pitch

By TRENT GERKE

July 14, 2009 9:58 AM

Trent Gerke is a 13-year-old honors student at Goleta Valley Junior High School who was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) in April. Since then, he and Wyatt Taylor have been designated by the Santa Barbara Foresters Hugs for Cubs Program as the youths the team is playing for. Today's 5 p.m. game against the California Wahoo at Uyesaka Stadium is dedicated to Trent, and he will throw out the ceremonial first pitch. According to Foresters general manager Pat Burns, all proceeds from the game will go towards assisting in his medical costs. Trent Gerke sat down with News-Press correspondent Mike Takeuchi and talked about his recovery and what being a part of the Foresters has meant to him.

Since I went to their camp five years ago, the Santa Barbara Foresters have been a big part of my life. And since I was diagnosed with AML, I feel more part of the team than ever.

I have always been a competitive person, whether it's basketball or trying to get perfect attendance at school. My dad (Jeffrey) who is my best friend and I have constant contests on who can eat faster. So when I got with the Foresters another competition was to get as many foul balls as I could for the free Cold Stone Creamery coupons.

Some of the kids would get mad, but I would enough balls where the guys in the press box were calling me "Foul Ball Trent". Foresters coach Bill Pintard would just laugh at me. Sometimes, when a player would hit his first home run for the team, we would try to retrieve their ball, like with Vinnie St. John last year.

I was ready to do the same thing, along with playing hoops and getting good grades in school this year, when I started feeling really tired and sore all of a sudden. My dad took me to the doctor and they said I had back pain. Dad took me back again and I was told to go to the emergency room.

After being diagnosed with AML I didn't know how serious it was. I was just bummed I was going to miss school for the first time in years. I didn't realize how serious it was until I started getting my first chemotherapy treatment. That was the worst and scariest time of my life.

In constant pain, I had to rely on a morphine drip to get me through each day. I couldn't eat because my gums were bleeding, I couldn't move my neck, and my hair started falling out. Luckily I couldn't remember those things and the 106-degree fevers that came.

The bad thing is I don't remember when the Lakers' Luke Walton called me and the decorations and cake that the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation did for me on my birthday. My dad remembers and said the cake was good. Jerk (haha)!

But I do remember one thing Coach's visit. Coach and (hitting coach Gary Woods) Woody came into my room the first day and told me to stay positive. It was here that I began realized that I have to have a good attitude if I want to get better. I also learned to appreciate Coach and all the things he's done for us that nobody else knows about.

Former and current players like (infielder) Ryan Goetz called or visited. They all said the same thing Coach did, that I was part of the team.

The next two rounds of chemo have been 100 times easier. There have been some complications, but we've gotten through them. It has been made easier because of guys like, Vinnie whose family gave me a bunch of USC stuff, and (relief pitcher) Matt Hutchison, who came by to hang out with us at the hospital for a few hours. Hutch is a great reliever, but he's not very good at (the board game) Uncle Wiggly. When he played us he came in last.

The Foresters aren't the only team that has been great. We had a Hugs for Cubs night at Angel Stadium, where Torii Hunter and Vlad Guerrero signed autographs and took pictures for the group. My favorite baseball team, the Dodgers, invited us down to a game. Laura Levinson and Polo Asencio were especially great in helping me meet Andre Ethier, who is my favorite player. Andre was really encouraging. Later Polo talked to Joe Barkett who asked me if I wanted to announce "It's time for Dodger baseball!" before the game. Heck yeah!

When I got up to the mike, I was really nervous. I would have rather have had to shoot a free throw in front of 40,000 people than talk. But I did OK and when I went off the field, the Dodgers were running on. As he went out, Andre pointed at me and gave me a thumb's up. That was pretty cool.

Although it kind of stinks being sick, I have had some incredible experiences and met some amazing people like my doctor, Daniel J. Greenfield and the nurses at Cottage Hospital. Some of the people who I have known all of my life, like my Grandma Barbara (Gerke) have been just amazing.

But the one person who has been the best is my dad. We have always been close, but through this whole ordeal, he's been unreal, staying up at the hospital every night, trying to get me to eat, talking trash with me to challenge me to get better. I can't put even into words how much he's meant to me. He's the most important thing in the world.

When I take the mound today, I will have all of them in my mind when I try to throw a strike for the first pitch. I have to throw a good one, because after throwing a strike the first time, I bounced it on the Fourth of July game. But I think with all the backing of family, friends, and the Foresters, I will be fired up to put one in there.