And if you knew what Chimene Kirkham knew as she watched her son, Jarran Harris, labor toward the finish line, his arms and legs pumping, you’d cheer, too. It was a moment Kirkham never dreamed possible.
When Harris, a state qualifier in track and cross country for Tenino High School, was 5 years old, he was diagnosed with alternating hemiplegia, a rare nerve disorder that causes temporary paralysis. In August, just two months before Harris ran at the 2A state cross country meet, he had his worst episode in eight years, leaving him with stroke-like symptoms.
His speech was slurred. He couldn’t drink anything without it spilling. He lost dexterity in his hands.
Yet on the first day of cross country, there stood Harris, ready to run.
“I try not to think about it,” Harris said about his lifelong struggle with his health. “I just think about what my coaches tell me to do when I run. I just run.”
To his mother, this is what courage looks like – her son running down the track or along a grassy field in cross country. Friday at the Class 1A District IV track meet in Rainier, Harris, a junior, will compete in the 3,200- and 1,600-meter runs and will run a leg on the 400 relay.
“I’m so proud of Jarran,” Kirkham said. “I’m so proud of what he’s done and who he’s become.”
To appreciate Harris’ achievement, you first have to know what he has overcome. Episodes of alternating hemiplegia come suddenly and can last hours or days. The body becomes numb or paralyzed. The left side of Harris’ face has an ongoing numbness that makes it difficult to smile. He’s one of just four people in Washington with the illness. Fewer than 100 people in the United States have it.
There is no cure and the cause of the illness is unknown. Harris takes no medication. Kirkham took him off a prescribed medicine when he was 5 after it altered his personality.
“He went from being this nice kid to getting in fights,” Kirkham said. “A baby sitter called and said she’d never watch him again.”
Harris downplays the effect of his disorder, even making light of it.
“I’ve had this disease all my life and I don’t know how to pronounce it,” he said with a laugh. “I’ve had a few problems here and there. Mostly the memory loss and the muscle weakness. When my muscles get weak it changes how I run.”
But Harris doesn’t talk about his illness with his coaches.
“He never uses it as an excuse,” said Bryan Hoddle, Harris’ cross country coach. “I’ll ask him how he’s doing and he just doesn’t talk about it. He’ll say he had a bad race but he (won’t) mention anything about (the disease).”
At first, Hoddle watched Harris closely, worrying about how he was handling a workout or a race. But those concerns disappeared.
“I watch him, but I don’t try to make a big deal out of it,” Hoddle said. “My son, Andrew, is diabetic. At the beginning you wonder if everything is going to be OK. Now, I don’t. Same thing with Jarran.”
Harris’ teammates know about his illness. It’s not a dark secret. Hoddle said no one makes an issue about it.
“It’s more about how that Jarran is the real good runner,” Hoddle said. “The kids really like him. He’s one of the most popular kids in the school.”
In the classroom, Harris has to work hard to keep up with assignments. His mom said writing sentences is a struggle for her son.
“I have him in my U.S. history class,” Hoddle said. “He works really hard. He keeps up. He’s very tuned in in class. I tell him that Bruce Jenner was dyslexic. He just has something he has to overcome.”
Over the years, Kirkham has tried not to be the overly protective mother, shielding a son who faces a lifelong illness. She got help from her husband, Harold, Jarran’s stepfather.
“It’s something that I fight,” Kirkham said. “Luckily, I have a husband that says, ‘No, he needs to be able to do that.’ My husband has been very supportive.”
When Harris was younger, Kirkham never tried to soften the burden of his illness by saying it would simply go away and life would be fine.
“I taught him that it’s his disease,” she said. “I told him he was going to have to live with it. For him, it’s what he lives with every day. It’s hard. But you have to make it through. You just take it one day at a time.”
Maybe what’s most surprising about Harris is not what he’s become – a state qualifier in cross country and track.
But it’s what he’s not – a loner, someone afraid to turn out for sports.
“Jarran is my strength,” Kirkham said. “He just amazes me every day.”
Gail Wood: 360-754-5443
