Ballplayer’s sacrifice saves his little sister – Rio Rancho Observer

Rio Rancho High School senior baseball standout Garrett Gouldsmith knows the meaning of sacrifice, not only as it pertains to baseball but also in life.

You see, Gouldsmith, 17, once donated bone marrow to his younger sister Gabby (now 13 and a student at Lincoln Middle School); that sacrifice saved her life. The family was living in Reno at the time; Buddy and Heather Gouldsmith moved their family to Rio Rancho in August 2015.

Five years ago my sister was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia, he said, sounding like Doogie Howser.

Aplastic anemia occurs when bone marrow does not produce enough stem cells due to damage. These stem cells develop into the different types of blood cells, including red blood cells, which deliver oxygen to other cells of the body. Mild to moderate cases may not need treatment, but severe cases may result in death and require emergency care.

It is genetic, Gouldsmith said. Its a one-in-five million chance of developing this. It is a super-rare disorder.

Originally, there wasnt really a plan for her treatment, other than a sibling bone marrow (transplant), and they had to be a perfect seven-out-of-seven HLA (human leukocyte antigen) match, which basically means that they have to have the same seven blood-marker identifiers.

So me and my brother (Gunner) got tested. Gunner was a six-out-of-seven match; I was a seven-out-of-seven match, which was a major blessing, a dream come true, he said. So about a week later, after they went through some testing and I finished up playing in Little League districts, I went and donated bone marrow on July 15, 2011. And that was after she went through her rigorous chemo treatment.

After she received the bone marrow, her numbers in terms of T cells, her white blood cells, her red-blood cells all the numbers started to go up, he explained. Everythings been going in a positive way and this past December, right before Christmas, we got the greatest Christmas present of all time: She was officially considered out of remission and cured.

If the baseball future pales, he said, theres no plan to enter the medical field: It was five years of talking about this stuff every single day, he said, that led to his expertise on the subject.

What about that bone marrow donation?

In terms of my baseball career, Id take my sisters life over my baseball career every single day, Gouldsmith said. At the time, it was just, Hey, lets do what we have to do to so that my sister can get healthy again and we can get back to as normal a life as possible.

I was sedated for about two-and-a-half, three hours, he recalled. The treatment itself is three little tiny holes in your lower back, and then they fan with a needle about 150 times in each hole and extract bone marrow.

Being sedated at the time, the bone-marrow removal was painless, but, he said, I felt it later, for about the next week.

After they do that, they put it in a little bag, send it off in an ambulance to a lab so they can do what they need to do in terms of filtering it, he said. And then its put into an IV bag and it just goes into her like an IV.

At the time, back in Nevada, She lost all her hair; she had to wear a mask for the better part of two years, wherever she went, he said. Inside, in terms of our house lifestyle, she could only eat certain foods, if it was packaged, frozen.

The survival rate for patients with aplastic anemia under age 20 who have a bone marrow or stem cell transplant is 80 percent, according to St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital.

With that nightmare and its happy ending behind him, Gouldsmith said hed love to get back to the Class 6A championship game at Isotopes Park in what would be his final game as a Ram.

Thats where he played his last game with the Rams, stranded on second base in the bottom of the ninth, the potential tying run when Wille Baez looked at a third strike to end the extra-inning 2-1 loss to Carlsbad.

The 2016 season was Gouldsmiths first in New Mexico, but it wont be his last: He was an early signer to play at the University of New Mexico, where his father is an assistant coach. Last years District 1-6A Player of the Year, he said he chose UNM over Nevada (back in his hometown of Reno), UCLA and Arizona because of the Lobos success on the field and their success in developing players and moving them on to the next level.

Thats right: Gouldsmith would love to play Major League Baseball, like his shortstop idol, Derek Jeter.

We play the same position, Gouldsmith said. I love the way he did things, both on and off the field. He kept to himself, stayed out of trouble off the field and was a superstar on the field.

Obviously, we dont have the same body type (The Lobos list their recruit at 5-foot-9, 160 lbs.), he said, then likening himself to Houston Astros shortstop Jose Altuve (5-6, 165; the shortest player in the majors).

Murphy and Gouldsmith are thankful the season opener is still a few weeks away (Feb. 23 in El Paso; the starting shortstop was injured at of all places a Lobo baseball camp.

Playing in a scrimmage, I just dove for a backhand, he explained. I didnt think anything of it at the time. I originally came out of the game because I jammed my thumb diving for that ball.

I just kind of sat out, then went home and tried to grab a water out of the fridge and couldnt lift my left arm, he said. Doctor said that nothing surgical needs to go on so I just have to give it some time before we head off to El Paso for our first tournament of the year.

Gouldsmith was expected to get the doctors clearance to practice and play this past Thursday.

Gouldsmith knows theres a lot of hard work ahead of him, to make that MLB dream come true.

Murphy terms him the best five-tool player hes ever had, although Gouldsmith downplays the power tool of that description.

He batted .562 with three home runs, 12 doubles and five triples, with just three errors in 108 total chances.

My goal for this season, obviously, is to win a state championship, but over and above that is to raise money to give back to the community for all the help they gave us and our family during that time.

My plan for this season, to kind of give back to the community in ways the community gave to us when we were going through this, is to have people donate money in terms of a pledge donation or just a flat donation for every base I steal to the Jessie Rees Foundation (negu.org).

(Jessie Rees was a beautiful, athletic, smart and compassionate 12-year-old girl who bravely fought two brain tumors for 10 months and two days. Her fight started March 3, 2011, and ended Jan. 5, 2012, when she lost her battle. During her courageous fight, Jessie decided to focus on helping other kids fighting cancer that couldnt leave the hospital.)

Their phase is Never Ever Give Up, he said. (Ill) donate all the proceeds I receive to them.

Our plan is to, obviously, respect the game first (He sounds like Jeter here.) and steal when necessary and helpful to the team first, he said. Our coaching staff and players have been really supportive of what Im trying to do, and Ive been very grateful to them.

Garrett almost lost his sister, Murphy said. It becomes real personal for the whole team, because now it hits home this is one of us.

It makes it that much more important for us to help him out, he said. We tell these kids all the time that playing baseball is a very small part of this program We really pride ourselves in the community work we do work with the policemen, work with the fire department, doing things for people in the community and this is just another way for us to prove that.

Baseballs still a game. There are so many things in life that are so much more important than baseball, like this, Murphy said. This is what we want our kids to learn about. You can use baseball not only to have fun and play the game, maybe get a college scholarship out of it, but you can also use it for a lot of other good things, like this cause.

To contribute to Gouldsmiths Steal 4 Joy fund, make a one-time pledge or pledge-per-stole-base via head coach Ron Murphy at ron.murphy@rrps.net.

Gouldsmith swiped 31 bases last season, but Murphy wont be giving him the green light every time No.8 is on base.

What you have to understand is were not out there, just trying to steal mucho bases, its still underneath my guidelines, me coaching third and the steal sign and the green light.

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Ballplayer's sacrifice saves his little sister - Rio Rancho Observer