How a Bridgewater Little League mom learned to walk again as her son learned baseball

Bridgewater American Little Leaguer Hunter McHargue was just 3 years old when his mother, Maria, was learning how to walk again.

At the time, the McHargues had been living overseas in Madrid when she began experiencing excruciating back pain. Within less than two months, a tumor the size of a golf ball had developed in her spinal column, and she was unable to walk.

After speaking with doctors, the tumor required emergency surgery, so the family flew back to Boston, where she had the tumor removed at Mass General Hospital.

The surgery was successful in getting the tumor out, but following the surgery, she was paralyzed from the waist down on her right side.

It took her the next two years to re-learn how to walk again while in rehab.

Stuck in the house while recovering, Maria and Hunter had a lot of time on their hands. Since he was a baby, she said that her son had always loved sports. He would look for anything that was round or spherical to hold on to, throw, or play with.

“I had to hide the fruit bowl because anything that was circular, he was throwing,” she said.

When not rehabbing, Maria McHargue was sitting in a recliner, staying off her feet. One day, a family friend had brought over some rubber mat bases for Hunter to use in the backyard. He began learning how to run the bases and play wiffleball while Maria watched him from the window inside.

Watching him learn the basics of baseball became her motivation for getting better.

“It was something that was one of my therapy goals, to go outside and play with Hunter,” she said.

Over time, Maria McHargue began to go outside with Hunter. As he rushed around the bases, she would be next to him with her walker.

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Now, she watches her son run those bases for his Little League team, standing and walking on her own.

During Bridgewater’s state championship win over Acton-Boxborough on Sunday, Maria McHargue said jokingly that she didn’t sit down once due to the excitement. She watched as her son made a diving play for the final out to send Bridgewater to the New England Regionals for the first time in program history.

"The moms and I, we call ourselves 'The Fence Girls,’” Maria McHargue said with a laugh. “We can’t sit at a game, we have to stand up the whole time ... just cheering on the boys.”

Even when Hunter was playing on the 8-year-old team, she recalled having to sit down for most of the games, still trying to regain control of her walking and standing ability.

But as Hunter McHargue got better at baseball, so did Maria with her recovery.

Reflecting on both of their very different journeys, Maria said that she now sees Hunter’s progession in baseball as chapters in her recovery.

“I’ve even thought about, for myself, I can see my recovery through each stage for Hunter,” she said.

Maria will get to continue cheering on her son and the rest of Bridgewater Little League as they play Vermont champion Burlington American on Saturday at 10 a.m. in Bristol, Connecticut.

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: How a Bridgewater Little League mom learned to walk again as her son learned baseball