Easter Spotlight: 2023 Pitcher Haley McManus May Have Multiple Sclerosis, but Her Faith Will Lead Her to Victory

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.” — Proverbs 3:5-6 (King James Version)

Haley McManus, a pitcher for Carolina Cardinals Nationals 16U, quoted this Scripture to her team on November 8, 2020.

She stood in front of her teammates to express the importance of them trusting in the Lord to achieve their dreams and do what He will find pleasing in His sight. Standing in front of her team was difficult on that day, but she had faith that God would help her through any difficult times in her life.

Several months later, Haley never dreamed how her faith would be tested.

Country Girl with a Love for the Lord

A 16-year-old, fun-loving, country girl, the Class of 2023 grad attends East Wilkes High in Ronda, North Carolina—a very small 1A school where students still hold the doors open for their teachers and prayers are still offered before Friday night football games.

Haley lives in a place called Traphill where, in her backyard, are bears, turkeys, deer, and many other forms of wildlife. The Carolina girl loves to fish, go four-wheeling and play in the river. Growing up, her dad took her trout fishing constantly and instilled in her a love of nature and wildlife.

Funny with a humble, yet sharp personality and sense of humor, it is rare that you ever see Haley without a smile on her face and trying to make those around her laugh.

Those close to her, family, friends and parents, though, quickly attest that one of Haley’s greatest attributes is her faith and her love for the Lord.

Haley has grown up in a Christian home with her father, Ronnie McManus, a Baptist preacher as her father and her mother, Tracee McManus, always working in the field of special education.

As a young girl, her mother explains, the athlete was taught to respect and value faith, family and friends.

“Haley was taught from an early age to put God first in all things, to stay humble and remain true to who you are, never change because of those around you. She is a very unique girl as she comes from a very conservative home where respecting others and sticking to the old paths are valued.”

Her younger brother, Caleb, has always been an inspiration for her too. He has grown up with a rare disease in both hips that causes him to have difficulty walking.

Humble Softball Beginnings

Haley began playing softball when she was around 10 years old and was one of those kids who was always taller and stronger than the others. When she started, she would play in the outfield and usually hit near the bottom of the line-up.

As a beginner in the sport, Haley continued to play in recreational leagues and would practice with her father and work on batting. During her second year of 10U, she played third base and began to hit the ball better, although—no matter how hard her parents tried to get her on the hometown travel ball teams, nobody was interested.

Haley continued to work, and she decided she wanted to pitch. Her pitching was wild at first, but it was always hard and fast. She worked at it diligently and during her 7th grade year, the young athlete was introduced to Billy “Chief” Gerrald, a respected pitching coach from Clemmons, North Carolina.

Gerrald worked with Haley on mechanics and technique; he also taught Haley life lessons along the way.

One time Haley was worried about pitching on a team where an excellent pitcher preceded her. Haley said, “I can’t fill her shoes.” Chief replied, “No, you can’t… she took her shoes with her when she left and you are bringing your own pair with you.”

Haley began to improve consistently and by her 8th grade softball season, she was clocked throwing 63 mph. Anyone who watches Haley pitch and has caught her describes her as a pitcher who throws “a heavy ball.”

It wasn’t long before Haley began to get noticed and, before long, she was playing travel ball with a hometown team. She continued to play with some larger organizations and was eventually asked to play for Monte Sherrill and John Garner on the 16U Carolina Cardinals Nationals Team.

Success in the Circle

Haley McManus was not a name recognized by many, but she had played against the Carolina Cardinals in the Spring prior to joining the team in the Fall and it was during a game against them that she was clocked throwing 67 mph.

Haley had always thrown hard and fast, but she was also beginning to master movement pitches. Her drop ball, especially, caught the eye of several D1 college coaches who began noticing Haley as she was preparing for Nationals.

Many began to reach out to her travel ball coaches and pitching coach and everything was beginning to lineup for Haley to achieve her goals of pitching at a large D1 college in the Power Five.

The young athlete was confident on the mound and never showed emotion while pitching. There were times Haley’s parents had to remind her to remain humble no matter what and remind of the Bible scripture: “ The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.”

After every sermon her dad preaches, he states, “If any good came of it, give God the glory.”

Prophetically, this would become an even more important theme in the softball standout’s life… though not in the way she or anyone else could ever anticipate.

Something Changed

Beginning in January of 2021, Haley was attending pitching lessons weekly as always. She was on the verge of hitting 70 mph in her lessons; however, her pitching coach noticed her speed was off slightly.

He assured her mom and dad that “girls fluctuate, but if she ever slows down more than 3-4 mph, there is something to worry about.”

“Well, that day came,” Haley’s mother recalls.

Every Sunday in January, the athlete attended lessons in the evenings, but, consistently, her fastball times were dropping off at least 1-2 mph.

Uncertain and concerned, Haley and those in her circle had unspoken questions: What in the world was going on? Was Haley not practicing enough? Were her mechanics off?

Her parents talked with her constantly about achieving her dreams: “If you want softball at an elite college level to become a reality for you, you have to work harder.”

Another red flag emerged… during Haley’s training sessions she could barely lift eight pounds of weights above her head on her right side. She had always been an extremely strong girl—the power pitcher was squatting close to 300 pounds and benching 140 prior to this.

What was happening? No one had any answers.

Numbness

One morning in early February, Haley’s right thumb went numb; the next day her hand was numb and each day the numbness spread throughout the right side of her body.

Unsurprisingly, the avid athlete and outdoor enthusiast grew more and more scared, not knowing what was happening as a cloud of numbness spread across her body.

Haley and her family tried to think of what could be going on–she had attended a CrossFit session one day prior to her thumb going numb—her parents and trainer thought that perhaps she had done something to pinch a nerve while doing pull-ups.

Her mother took her to the chiropractor for adjustments, which helped some, but not much. After several sessions, Haley had two deep tissue muscle massages. The massages seemed to help more. The numbness was reversing itself and, eventually, only Haley’s hand and thumb were numb.

Next, her family decided it was time to visit her pediatrician. Haley was evaluated and given steroids to take for 10 days. She was told that if her numbness did not go away, to come back for more tests. Despite all efforts, the numbness remained.

So, Haley’s pediatrician ordered an MRI and referred her to a sports medicine doctor. A week later Haley had the MRI and visited the sports medicine doctor. The doctor looked at her MRI, told her and her mother that he was a very open and honest doctor.

He informed the both of them this was not a sports injury of any type, Haley had something neurologically wrong. He informed them he was not a neurologist or radiologist, but he knew what he saw on the MRI. Haley had lesions on the spinal column which were very similar to patients who have multiple sclerosis.

Multiple Sclerosis Markers

The sports medicine doctor contacted his friend who is a pediatric neurologist that specializes in MS, and he also ordered the additional MRI’s Haley would need before her visit to the neurologist.

“Wow! What do you do now?” Tracee asked now rhetorically. “As a family and a young 16-year old girl, what do we do? Well, our family turned to the One who holds tomorrow.”

Their faith, all agreed, would carry them through.

“Maybe God has a different plan for Haley’s life than what was thought,” the athlete’s mother explains. “His plan has to be trusted.

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” — Jeremiah 29:11 KJV

Haley’s church, family, and community began to embrace Haley and pray for her. Her church family had a special prayer the night before her next set of MRI’s to pray with her.

The teenager told the church that eventful night, “When I first found out about this, I could not sleep. I had a friend spend the night with me to keep me company. She fell asleep, and I knew she could not help me right then. So, I started praying. I felt Jesus take me in His arms, hug me, and tell me everything is going to be alright.”

On March 16, 2021, Haley and her parents visited with the pediatric neurologist. He spent two hours with them going over things. Her MRI’s revealed Haley has two lesions on her brain and two on her spinal column. She has demyelination (damage to the protective covering, the myelin sheath, that surrounds nerve fibers in the brain, optic nerves and spinal cord) in the central nervous system.

There were things that had been occurring with Haley that a parent may not have even noticed until they realized something is wrong. The young softball player had been getting very tired easily, for example, and her coordination was not quite what it used to be.

Everything had been so subtle except the numbness she experienced along the right side of her body. The pediatric neurologist went over a list of things which could be why Haley was experiencing these symptoms. Infections could cause them, there were several autoimmune diseases which could cause the symptoms, and there was no way to make a quick diagnosis.

More tests would need to be conducted and further investigation. Haley would need a spinal tap.

The same evening of March 16th, Haley’s high school softball team had its first game. Haley decided she wanted to try to pitch. Her coach, Derrick Hill, agreed to let her.

“He continually encourages Haley and says that she loves the game too much and is too stubborn to not beat this,” Tracee adds.

The pitcher’s fingers are numb constantly and she cannot feel the seams on the ball. She also cannot tell when to release the ball so her pitching location is sporadic. In her first game of the season, Haley pitched to four players, threw one strike, and walked a run across the plate.

Prayers for Haley

However, when she left the circle, Haley received cheers as she returned to the dugout. She quickly pulled her dad to the side and said, “Go catch me.”

She cried as she went with her dad to work; he cried too. She said dad, “I cannot do this.” His reply was, “You never could. He has to do this through you.”

That night at East Wilkes High School, a community gathered around Haley and prayed for her. After the game, every player and coach from both sides gathered around her and prayed.

Something bigger than the game of softball was taking place. Haley told Hill the next day she did not want to pitch anymore until her numbness was better. She was discouraged and broken.

The following day, Haley had another high school softball game. The athlete’s last at-bat the count went to two strikes and, like a scene from a Hollywood movie, she hit a home run.

Coach Hill hugged her as she came across the plate and said “You needed that. It is still in there!”

A parent from the opposing team knew Haley was having some medical issues and he was determined to get her the home run ball. That night her dad wrote on it, “I can’t but God can.”

… He Can

“This has been our family’s motto,” her mother says. “We can do nothing… but He can.”

On the morning of March 29, Haley went for a spinal tap. While the nurse practitioner performed the spinal tap, she informed the family that Haley’s original bloodwork showed she had ANA present in her blood. This basically meant Haley had something that was making her body attack itself. She would need to have more blood work after the spinal tap.

This second set of blood work would help determine what autoimmune disease Haley might have. On March 31, the pediatric neurologist called Haley’s mother. He told her all the bloodwork came back negative for certain autoimmune diseases, such as Lupus.

However, one test came back positive.

Haley’s spinal fluid had Oligoclonal bands in it, and her blood did not. Haley’s mother had been doing lots of research over the last few weeks. She knew this was another marker for multiple sclerosis.

The neurologist had the conversation with the family that multiple sclerosis is very difficult to diagnose, especially in teenagers. He told them that if everything Haley had experienced and her MRI”s were seen in an adult, they would be immediately diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Adults have a 1 in 1,000 chance of developing the disease. However, teenagers are not immediately diagnosed because there is only a 1 in 100,000 chance of a teenager having the disease.

On March 31, the doctor informed Tracee through the phone call that, technically, Haley could be said to have multiple sclerosis. However, he wanted to meet with the family to discuss options with them and decide how aggressive they want to be with treatments.

A Bigger Mission

This Wednesday, April 7th, the family will travel to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina to discuss next steps. Haley still attends pitching lessons every week. She still goes to her trainer every week, and she is still practicing and playing with her high school softball team.

Asked “If you could go back a year ago and give yourself a message what would it be?” the athlete responds: “Be humble before you are humbled.”

Haley McManus wants to be on the mound again and achieve her dreams of pitching in college, but if one soul will accept Jesus Christ into their heart or one life change because of her experience, it will be worth more than any college scholarship.

Coach Sherrill, like many who have come across Haley on and off the field, has no doubts that she will prevail… whatever that looks like.

The Humble Gentle Giant

“What can I say about Haley?” Sherrill begins.

“Do you want a great leader in every aspect? Enlist Haley.”

“Need an unselfish stud pitcher who can sit the bench and root passionately for another pitcher on your team? Listen to Haley.”

“Do you need a dominant pitcher throwing 66 mph velo with a hard high spin count and crazy spin efficiency? Put Haley on the lineup card.”

“Do you need a good ole country girl to help you in a tree stand and find a trophy 10 pointer? Show your hunting license to Haley.”

“But most importantly, do you need a humble gentle giant to speak up about her Christian values in a Sunday morning testimony in front of several teams? Call Sister Haley.”

“What you can say without reservation is Haley has already won. She has won in her attitude and her view of this world only being her temporary home and this her temporary body.”

Sherrill, the DIII head coach at Pfeiffer University as well as Haley’s travel ball coach finishes with a statement of faith as well.

“Although her current prognosis is not pleasant and her journey may a struggle, this kid WILL leave her mark in this world in this game of life. Haley and her family serve the Mighty Physician and value everyone’s prayers. I love this kid.”

Faith undaunted and with a personality that draws people in, Haley confesses how she’s able to deal with the scariness of her situation and the uncertainty of her future.

“My personality,” she admits as being her source of strength. “I am a goofball and like to have fun!”

Faith… and the Future

Earlier this week, Haley’s mother was touched by an Instagram Haley posted.

“She wrote this on her Instagram this morning… it blessed me.”

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  John 3:16 KJV… lately, I’ve found out that we are not promised tomorrow.  My life has been changed dramatically lately and I hope that when it comes down to it you can say “all is well.”

She also has a plan for where she wants to be in five years.

“In college, pitching, and pursuing a career in Fisheries Biology,” Haley says.

The McManus family knows and trusts what Preacher Ronnie testifies to his congregation every week: we might know what the future holds, but “God has a perfect plan for Haley McManus.”

The athlete herself, when asked what she would tell other girls about trying to achieve their dreams with softball or life in general puts it best:

“Live every day to the fullest. Never take anything for granted.”

*****

We invite everyone to offer their prayers and best wishes for Haley; if you would like to send a note of support, email me at [email protected] and I’ll make sure to forward to her!

— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball

Here is a special video devotional Haley did titled “Glimmer of Gladness:”