Ed Hearn has been delivering motivational speeches for years. In fact, he is considered one of the top speakers in the entire nation. He wrote a book titled “Conquering Life’s Curves.”
His story is pretty straightforward. In 1986 he was a catcher on the New York Mets World Series team, and his future could not have been much brighter. He was on top of the world and ready to cash in after being traded to the Kansas City Royals.
That never happened. In short order, a serious shoulder injury ended his major league career. Years later a local columnist pointed out that the trade of Ed Hearn from the Mets to the Royals might have been the worst trade in the history of the club.
That stung Hearn, particularly since the shoulder injury was minor compared to a myriad of health issues that had continued to impact his life over the years. In May of this year, Hearn’s latest kidney will have been functioning for 10 years.
This is kidney Number 3 for Hearn. One lasted nine years; one was rejected almost immediately. In fact, he has spent considerable time surviving with NO kidneys via dialysis treatments. Health-wise, this once superb athlete has been a medical disaster.
But these days Ed Hearn doesn’t want to talk about himself, his struggles or how he has overcome them. He wants to talk about his only child, Cody, and his wife Tricia.
They are the real heroes in his life.
An avid golfer and baseball player, Cody developed soreness in his arm last year. Ed and Tricia figured it was tendonitis from swinging a golf club. After all, Cody was an energetic 17-year-old.
If only it was something as simple as that. You see, last November, Cody was diagnosed with Burkitt’s lymphoma - a rare form of aggressive Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The news is the kind that can shatter a family.
However, when Cody’s parents broke the news to him that he had cancer, his first response was, “When I beat this I will be a cancer survivor!!!” With that attitude the family faced his illness head-on.
A junior at St James Academy, Cody today is supposed to finish his final rounds of chemotherapy in February. He has lost his hair. The treatments have knocked him for a loop at times. But when he starts to feel better he is immediately back with his classmates doing things teens do.
Cody has faced the cancer with the belief and faith that his father preaches in his talks: You grow the most when you face challenges.It has been a unique experience for Cody’s dad. Not only is Ed seeing what he has preached so much being put into action by his own son, but he is also able for the first time to see things from the difficult role of a caregiver.
“For twenty of the twenty-five years of our marriage Tricia has been my caregiver,” he says of his nurse wife. “Now I have a much deeper appreciation of what my wife has gone through with me and the cross she has carried all that time.
“You know with me she kissed a prince and got a frog,” he says without a hint that he is joking.
Ed says now that he is in the position of being a caregiver along with Tricia taking care of Cody he has come to realize that the role of caregiver is harder than being the patient.
“You know, I am convinced it is easier to be in bed looking up than it is to be the one looking down and providing care,” he says. “I certainly have a new appreciation of what she has gone through all the years with me. She is a special person.”
In a funny way, Cody’s illness has had another very big side effect on the Hearn household. Tricia has now been able to spend some very special quality time with Cody.
“Cody and I have hunted, fished, I coached his baseball team and done other things that bonded us very closely over the years,” he points out, “but his illness has enabled Tricia to develop an even more special bond with him. It is wonderful.”
Ed also thinks Cody has developed an even greater empathy and “depth of soul and spirit” by facing his illness.
“We all take our health for granted,” he says. “Cody will gain a maturity from this you won’t see from a high school student. We’re very proud of how he has handled this challenge.”
Maybe the words on the Christmas cards the Hearns sent to friends in December captures the family’s outlook on life best: “Where there is great love, there are always miracles.”

KC Sports & Fitness Column
By John Landsberg