AGR bowler Cameron Hurwitz overcomes rare disease and keeps on bowling. Shawn Dowd

Cameron Hurwitz, freshman at Brighton High School, practices bowling Monday, April 10, 2017. Hurwitz is a two-time AGR bowler. (Photo: SHAWN DOWD/@sdowdphoto/, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)Buy Photo

When you think of tough athletes, football and hockey players quickly come to mind.

But a bowler?

Someone who learned that with determination and the love of family, friends, teammates and one anonymous bone marrow donor living 1,500 miles away striking down a rare and deadly blood disease is indeed possible?

Cameron Hurwitz stands 4-foot-11 and weighs 84 pounds with Skittles in his pockets.

But the Brighton High School freshman is a big man on the lanes, leading the Barons this season with a 216.5 average, making the coveted six-man state tournament composite team, where he led Section V to a third-place finish, and being named All-Greater Rochester for the second time in three seasons.

He has rolled three 300-games (two sanctioned) and just recently recorded a personal-best 799 series in competition.

There was a time when opponents sized up Hurwitz and took him for an easy mark. No more.

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Hes pretty well-known now, Brighton coach Jason Wasserman said. What they cant believe is thathes only in ninth grade and doing as well as he is. He reads lane conditions as good as anyone out there. Hes able to make adjustments on the fly, he knows what equipment to use at what time and then hes just so consistent with his shots.

Thats what happens when you bowl nearly every day from the time youre eye level to a ball rack. When you have parents, Caryn and Scott Hurwitz, who nurture your gifts with unconditional love. When a big brother, Reese, a senior on the Brighton team with a fine 210 average of his own and is headed to Purdue to bowl, is always there to cheer the strikes and help you handle the splits and open frames of life.

Cameron, 14, a hard-throwing right-hander, throws a ball that takes a sharp, last-second right-to-left hook into the pocket that makes pins explode like fireworks on the Fourth of July.

He has had many mentors but in large part he is a self-taught prodigy.

As a big PBA fan who would like to compete on tour someday, he has long watched bowling on television and the internet. He reads bowling magazines, studies the history of the gameand can recite the career statistics of PBA stars. His favorite player is a kindred spirit, 5-foot-5 Norm Duke, a family friend whose autograph he wears proudly on his green Storm bowling shirt.

For good measure, Cameron drills his own balls, customizes his own bowling shoes (blue and fluorescent green on this day), and has ideas for other bowling products that his dad, who owns a motorcycle parts manufacturing business, helps bring to life. Some have already caught the attention of people in the industry.

I think it came from watching the pros on television all the time and picking it up, Cameron said when asked where his style and passion for all things bowling comes from. I love all the physics behind bowling and just the fact you have to use your mind to be able to perform. Anybody of any size can be great at bowling as long as you know the right way to do it and as long as you know what each piece of equipment does for a particular oil pattern.

Bowling alone during off-hours, wearing a mask to prevent against infection, Cameron Hurwitz never gave up on dream of normal life and returning to Brighton High School team.(Photo: CARYN HURWITZ)

Understanding bowling science helped Cameron enjoy his best season so far, but it was medical science that got him back on the lanes.

A little more than two years ago while in the seventh grade, Cameron was getting ready to leave for the Section V tournament when his mother spotted black-and-blue marks on his arms and legs. A phone call to their family doctor led to blood work, which led to instructions to take her son to the emergency room immediately.

He had extremely low platelets, which clot your blood, and they told us to pack a bag, youll be there for many days, Caryn Hurwitz said.

It was six days to be exact, during which Cameron was diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia, a rare and serious blood disorder in which the body stops making enoughnew white and red cells and platelets.

His bone marrow had just shut down and with so few platelets he was at great risk, and with no immunity he couldnt be around people, Caryn Hurwitz said.

While undergoing treatments at Golisano Childrens Hospital, Cameron was unable to attend school and was quarantined at home for over five months. When given the OK by doctors, his lone escape was making trips to area bowling centers where generous owners allowed him to practice during off-hours to the public.

Encouraged by upticks in his white cell counts, Camerons caregivers couldnt say no when he begged to compete in the prestigious United States Bowling Congress Junior Gold national championships in the Chicago area in July 2015. While wearing an antiviral mask and in between receiving seven-hour blood transfusions at a Chicago hospital, Cameron made the televised final, placing second in the U12 division.

The boy behind the mask became a media celebrity and inspiration in the bowling community. He made the cover of Bowlers Journal and PBA stars became his fans. Hall of Famer Pete Weber posted a good luck video message on Facebook to Cameron.

Hed bowl without hardly any oxygen (in his bloodstream), Caryn Hurwitz said. I dont think people really understood how hard it was for him, but as long as he could go, even with the low blood counts, he kept bowling. When I think about, Im amazed.

Unfortunately for Cameron, the treatments he received didnt produce the desired results and as his eighth-grade school year began, he was placed on the national Be the Matchbone marrow registry.

Waiting times for a match can vary, but in Camerons case one was found in just a few months. And on Dec. 29, 2015 he underwent a transplant at Boston Childrens Hospital, a painstaking procedure where a patients body is re-started with new stem cells that need time to grow and take hold.

Six weeks in the hospital were followed by six more months of isolation, school tutoring, the entire Hurwitz family living in the germ-free lane, and the family bonding like an alleys glued wooden strips.

Throughout his recovery, Cameron kept bowling after hours, determined to be ready for his freshman season. Bowling had become his medicine.

So many gracious people had followed his story and said, When were closed come in and you just bowl, "Caryn Hurwitz said. He went in there and said Im just going to get stronger and do this. And he did.

Four months ago, on Camerons one-year checkup, the Hurwitzes received the news they prayed for: His blood counts were all near normal and he could resume living a normal life.

The mask went into the trash like an old pair of bowling shoes.

The feeling of freedom that you can go someplace and not have to wear a mask, it was awesome, Cameron said. For six months, I couldnt do anything. I could be anywhere outside but the only place inside I could be was at my home or the hospital.

He knew he was back the day he saw his hero, Norm Duke, in Columbus, Ohio, and returned to him a title ring that the 38-time tour winner had given him in the hospital in Boston. Cameron used it as inspiration during his recovery, then knew what he had to do.

I know how tough it is to win a PBA tournament and I didnt want to just accept something from him like that, he said. It was his hard work, not mine.

Put an X down in the character frame.

While the high school season started slowly for Cameron, he came on strong and raised his average 10 pins in the final fourmatches.

His 1,298 series (six games), including 244 and 257 games, led all Class B bowlers at sectionals and paced Brighton to third place. At the state tournament, he led the Section V team with a 1,288 series with high games of 215, 220 and 255.

At first I think I put too much pressure on myself, wanting to do well so badly, said Cameron, whose 95 average in the classroom rivals his performanceon the lanes. Once I just relaxed a little bit, I was bowling a lot better and I ended up bowling four amazing series the last four matches to make the composite team.

In his 19 seasons as Brightons coach, Wasserman has never met anyone with Camerons level of interest in every aspect of the game.

Bowling is his No. 1 thing, Wasserman said. Funny, but Id visit him in the hospital and there he was watching bowling on TV. What kept him going was his goal of getting back this year, and sure enough he was out there at the start.

All thanks to another hero hes never met a 30-year-old father of five sons from Rowlett, Texas, near Dallas who became his bone marrow donor.

Bryan Eddy, 30, of Rowlett, Texas and his 1 1/2-year-old son Leo. Eddy, Cameron Hurwitz's bone marrow donor, was moved to give back after his own son needed blood transfusions during 15-hour surgery to save his life after being born with a defect.(Photo: BRYAN EDDY)

Bryan Eddy, who manages a Texas Roadhouse restaurant, signed up for Be the Match while spending many hours walking the halls of Texas Childrens Hospital in Houston where his son, Leo, was born prematurely with a birth defect.

Thankful for the blood donations that helped save his son who needed surgery and spent three months in the hospital Leo is a healthy 1-year-old today Eddy was moved to give back. In just one month, he was contacted and told he was an O-negative match for a young boy in Rochester, N.Y.

Doctors extracted Eddys liquid marrow from both sides of his back near his pelvic bone under anesthesia and it was shipped to Boston.

After one year, patient and donor have the option of learning each others identity. Eddy and the Hurwitzes have spokenby phone and plan to meet this summer.

Hes a great kid and Im so happy it all worked out and he came through. Its pretty exciting, Eddy said. I was just doing anything I could to help someone else. It was my first time under anesthesia so I was nervous about that but it was really no worries on my end. I did the procedure on Monday, I recovered on a Tuesday and I was back to work on Wednesday. Cameron did all the work, my deal was easy-peasy.

After learning of Camerons bowling prowess, Eddy, a big sports fan, has watched his YouTube videos.

Hes good and I can tell what a great family they are, he said. So much love. To talk to Caryn and hear the joy in her voice and Cameron, to know I helped him out, there are no words to describe that.

As there are no words to properly say Thank you for the gift of life.

He sounds really cool, Cameronsaid. I cant wait to meet him.

Caryn Hurwitz, who put her home hairdressing business on hold to take care of her son, never hesitates these days to encourage people to give blood or join the bone marrow registry.

Were so grateful, she said. Every days a blessing. I feel its my calling now to get people to sign up and to be an advocate. Something like this, it changes you. What you set out to do and what youre here for now.

Soft-spoken and modest, Cameron isnt comfortable telling his story, but he knows it might help other kids battling an illness or facing some other challenge.

Inside his personal pro shop at his dads business, Magnum Shielding on Monroe Avenue, there is a ball drill press twice his size that was a gift from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. A poster from his hospital stay hangs on a wall: Happy Transplant Day Cameron, AKA Lil Duke.

At first it was kind of interesting to tell people but right now I dont like thinking about the past, he said. But Id tell them (other children who are ill) to stay strong and see the bright side of things and eventually everything will just be a memory.

As usual, the kid hit the pocket.

LROTH@Gannett.com

More:
Brighton bowler Cameron Hurwitz rolls on after bone marrow transplant - Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

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