SOUTH PLAINFIELD (WABC) --
Like kids all over America, Matthew Hannon plays baseball with his brothers in the front yard. Sometimes he is serious, and other times he is goofy. However, just being out there - being anywhere for Matthew is a victory. Matthew was diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma as an infant. The cancer is in his lungs, liver and left arm.
"His chance of survival was 30%," says Matthew's Dad, Chris.
Matthew survived after aggressive chemotherapy and an operation to remove his left arm near the elbow. Now, Matthew has some stuff to do - like swimming and baseball.
This year, Matthew pitched on a local baseball team, perfecting the exchange of his mitt from his left arm to his right, just like former Yankees pitcher Jim Abbott did. Matthew admires Abbott, but his real hero is Bethany Hamilton, a surfer who had her arm bitten off by a shark.
Hamilton was not slowed down, and neither has Matthew.
"Stay strong and believe," he says.
Matthew Hannon lost his arm to cancer as a toddler. "I don't want to be treated any different," he said. "No one does."
Mary Ann Bourbeau, Correspondent
SOUTH PLAINFIELD – Matthew Hannon doesn't let anyone tell him he can't do something just because he has one arm. That includes playing on the Marlins with the South Plainfield Junior Baseball Club.
The 7-year-old has the support of his family, the coaches and his teammates, which was evident when he pitched for the first time recently.
"He did really well," said coach Ray Downey. "It's amazing to watch him."
In the first inning he pitched, Matthew had two strikeouts and one walk, and no runs scored.
Of course his parents, Keri and Chris Hannon, worry about their son, afraid that he might get hit with the ball. Hannon keeps his mitt under his partial left arm when he pitches, then quickly puts it on his right hand after he throws the ball.
"You can see he doesn't want his disability to stop him from doing anything," SPJBC board member Joe Scrudato said.
Keri Hannon said her son was born with cancer. She found a lump in his arm when he was six weeks old. The doctor thought it was a deformed bone, but by five months, it had grown quite large.
"Matthew is a miracle," his mother said. "They didn't expect him to live the first year."
His left arm was amputated one-inch above the elbow a week before his first birthday.
"The doctors told us because of his age, he would probably never realize the difference," she said.
Matthew, who is in second grade at Riley School, will tell you the same thing.
"I don't want to be treated any different," he said. "No one does."
He grew up playing baseball in the yard with his brothers, 8-year-old Justin and 11-year-old Nicholas. He also has a stepsister, Laura, who is 21.
"Matthew will try anything," Hannon said. "He tries to keep up with what Justin does. He played rec basketball this year and he held his own. He swims, dives and plays Wii and Xbox just as good as everybody else. He even climbed the rope in school. He tried riding a bike, but sadly he can't do it. It's very frustrating for him."
"The umpire was very impressed," said Scrudato. "He didn't give him the ball because he had one arm. He did it because Matthew had a great game."
Hannon's family sees him as an inspiration to others and they are right beside him in anything he tries to do.
"Matthew is just a miracle," said his brother Justin. "He's a great baseball player for a kid with only one arm. All of us Marlins are lucky to have him on the team."
http://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/life/2014/07/10/meet-inspiring-year-old-baseball-player-one-arm/12490295/
