In today’s episode of This Hits Different, Shelby Cassesse tells the Fan Morning Show about Bethel Park baseball player Ben Hudson, who has battled through diabetes to become a leader on his team.
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This Hits Different Episode 29: Bethel Park baseball player battling diabetes
Ben Hudson was just seventh months old, his parents noticed something suddenly seemed off. When Ben stopped eating and drinking, they rushed him to the hospital in the middle of the night.
It was more dire than they thought. Ben's father Bill Hudson says doctors told them Ben's body was shutting down.
“They said probably 15 (more) minutes, and he could’ve been gone,” Bill Hudson said.
Quick testing showed Ben's blood sugar was sky high - helping the doctors reach a quick conclusion.
“The doctor came in and nobody knew what was gong on,” Bill Hudson said. “And he knew right away. He said, ‘your son has diabetes.’ Of course, then things became, like, ‘oh my gosh.’”
A jarring experience for the Hudson’s, who now had to take care of their infant son in a new way.
“We just constantly had to check, pinch his finger and draw blood and check blood levels, six or seven times a day,” Bill Hudson said.
But for Ben - now a senior at Bethel Park, it's all he's known.
“It just adds a little to the challenge,” Ben Hudson said. “But that’s part of sports.”
Sports is something else Ben has always known, starting with t-ball as a young kid, he now starts on Bethel Park's baseball team and plays deck hockey with a local travel league, which took him all the way to Slovakia a few years ago.
His health has never held him back. Ben attributes much of that to his support system.
“There’s a lot that goes into it,” he said. “Family helping me every day, all of my friends now know that there’s something wrong with me. They help, my family helps. It’s tough sometimes, but it’s all I know.”
That team support no greater than Bethel Park's last season which ended in a state championship.
“It was one of the greatest months of my life,” Ben Hudson said. “Going on the four-hour bus rides across the state and stuff, that’s when you really get close to everybody. It’s just awesome. That’s the top thing we can do in high school baseball, and we dd it.”
And for a father who has watched his son leap those health hurdles for 17 years, it was a proud moment.
“It’s really a great ride,” Bill Hudson said. “It makes us very proud of him. Not only that he’s overcome the whole thing, but that he’s playing at a very high level.”
Up next, Ben is deciding between a few local colleges. And no matter what challenges he faces - health or otherwise - he plans to do it with the same attitude that's gotten him this far.
“I want to be normal, and I am normal. I don’t need to make an excuse that, ‘I have diabetes, so I can’t do this. I can do it, so I’m gonna.”