There are those that choose to believe in coincidence. And there are those that tend to believe nothing in life is coincidence.

 

For the Warner family out of Buckhannon, what happened nearly a decade ago involving their daughter may have been coincidence or it may have been among the greatest blessings they experienced in the 16 years that they were able to spend with their daughter Lacey. Again, it all depends on one’s perspective.

 

A little more than a year ago today, 16-year-old Lacey Warner passed away as the result of complications due to heart failure. Warner was born with a condition called “truncus arteriosus.”  Her mother Debbie described it as a condition where an individual is born without a pulmonary artery.

 

“All the branches of her heart were not there and everything was grown together,” said Debbie.

 

What that meant was surgery after birth at West Virginia University Hospital. For the first seven months of her life, Lacey Warner was on life support and, for a while, hope was in short supply.

 

“Eventually, doctors told us there was nothing more they could do. We weren’t okay with that,” said Warner.

 

Because of that, Steve and Debbie Warner solicited a second opinion from Boston Children’s Hospital Heart Center, which is the largest pediatric heart program in the United States. Eventually, little Lacey was flown from WVU to Boston where Debbie said they ended up redoing her first surgery.

 

“They were able to help because they have roughly 20 surgeons and are more specialized, but while Lacey was at WVU she suffered a stroke. The stroke caused some brain damage and she was moderately medically retarded,” said Debbie. “She also dealt with epilepsy.”

 

Eventually, the little girl whose family was told there was nothing that could be done, came home to Buckhannon. Even with her medical conditions, the family grew together as there was more than enough love to make even the most difficult of situations tolerable.

 

Lacey eventually began her schooling. She was a special education student first at Union Elementary, then at Buckhannon-Upshur Middle School and eventually enrolling a Buckhannon-Upshur High School and made it just short of her sophomore year when she had her heart failure.

 

It was during her days at Union Elementary School that Lacey came home with something in her backpack. The backpack was a flyer asking for participants for the Challenger Division of Little League baseball. For those that read this blog, they know that the Challenger League is a special league and is the absolute best sports have to offer. It provides a Little League baseball experience to children that suffer from various physical and mental disabilities.

 

Were Steve and Debbie Warner interested in getting Lacey involved in Challenger? Absolutely.

 

Mike Martin, who along with his wife Kim, are the individuals behind Challenger in Bridgeport, remembers the phone call coming to them from the Warner family. And he remembered something very striking.

 

“They wanted to get their child involved and we were thrilled to have them. She let us know about the flyer she had and we asked her where her daughter went to school,” said Mike Martin. “When she told us Buckhannon we were taken a little bit aback. We had just passed out flyers in the schools, but only Harrison County. We never sent a single flyer to Upshur County.”

 

Yet it was there. And to Debbie Warner that was really all that mattered.

 

“I don’t know how she got that flyer other than it was in her backpack. My initial reaction was to get involved because Upshur County didn’t have a program,” said Debbie. “I remember asking Kim if she minded if I could get others to come out from Upshur County and there was no hesitation. She told me to bring as many children as we wanted.”

 

Thus, it began for the Warner family. Counting Lacey, the Warner family would have seven total Challenger players that came from Upshur County. In relatively short order, she realized just what a gift that random flyer was that was placed by an anonymous person in her daughter’s backpack.

 

“Lacey just loved it. It made her feel like ‘wow, I can hit the ball.’ She loved running the bases and being out there with the kids her level. It was a time where should could run and play and feel totally normal. For all of us, it was the perfect outlet,” said Debbie.

 

It was so perfect, in fact, that Steve and Debbie began coaching in the second year of Lacey’s time there until giving it up this past year as her daughter’s health faded and she eventually passed away. In 2014, Steve and Debbie Warner never made it back to the Bridgeport  Recreation Complex for another season of Challenger.

 

Last weekend, they returned. And they returned not only for all the right reasons, but for the very reason that makes Challenger League something that transcends sports. It provided yet another moment that was good for the soul and it’s safe to say it was something the Warner family felt in their own souls and something that was felt by everyone around them.

 

The Warner family was the guests of Challenger on opening day. During the day, Mike and Kim Martin led the way to have the Braves team – one of eight that allows play for nearly 100 special needs children – to be officially renamed Lacey’s Braves. The family was presented with a team jersey bearing her daughter’s name.

 

“When they presented us with the jersey there were a lot of tears, but I think there were tears that were good tears because they brought back a lot of happy memories,” said Debbie. “That was the first time we had been back to the field. I was so happy to be there again because I knew Lacey loved to be there. I know she would want us to be there and see everyone, especially all of her friends. I think back to her time at Challenger and realize that Kim and Mike Martin are just unbelievable people that do so much for children and they do it for the right reasons.”

 

Lacey’s name will continue to live on as long as Challenger League continues. For the Martins, that’s likely going to be a long time as it’s in their DNA to do good. Debbie said it’s likely they’ll also return.

 

“We’ll continue to go to games and maybe we’ll even coach again one day. We have a grandson and I’m on the road a lot now so time can sometimes be an issue, but that’s a place where everyone needs to be at some point,” she said. “(Challenger) is a bunch of truly special kids enjoying the game of baseball with no peer pressure and with their friends and buddies who just adore them. It’s perfect and I’m so thankful Lacey was involved.”

 

In 2014, more than 500 people showed up to celebrate the life of Lacey Warner at the chapel on the campus of West Virginia Wesleyan. They came to pay tribute to a child that doctors in Boston described as “amazing” to the point that her first and second surgeries both are included in the Harvard Medical textbooks.

 

“She brought so many people together and it was evident that day,” said Debbie.

 

Among those 500 individuals were teachers, family, doctors and friends. And there were those the family had met through Lacey’s outlet in baseball – her Challenger League friends and family.

 

They came because they met in a place where the only thing asked of a child is to have fun. They came because of a flyer placed in a backpack roughly a decade earlier.

 

Coincidence? You make that call. A blessing? Absolutely. 

 

Editor's Note: Top and bottom photo (below) shows the Warner family receiving the framed jersey from Mike and Kim Martin last Saturday. In the top photo in the story, Lacey is shown with her Challenger League friend while she runs the bases and hits the ball in the next two pictures. In the last photo inside the story, Lacey is shown last year prior to her surgery with Boston Red Sox player Mike Napoli who Debbie said was "Lacey's hero" and that Napoli "loved Lacey."