Battey returns to court after stroke

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BOULDER, Colo. — Just the other day, the 6-foot-8 redshirt freshman quietly slipped on his Colorado basketball jersey for a photo shoot.

Instant tears. A simple task he doesn't take for granted.

Last December, Evan Battey was playing hoops with his buddies when his right leg went numb. Then, his right arm. He tried to speak but couldn't. Battey suffered a stroke that day along with two seizures.

Nearly 11 months later, the 20-year-old forward from California will make his Buffaloes debut — with feeling back and his speech constantly improving.

“I'm thankful to be out here,” said Battey, whose team opens the season next Tuesday against Drake. “I'm thankful just to be alive today.”

Looking back, there were signs for Battey, who redshirted last season due to NCAA eligibility requirements.

Like how two months before his stroke he was unable to pronounce words following a weightlifting session. He texted his mom, Rosalind Lewis, that he felt funny.

But his speech soon returned. He pushed the episode from his mind, because “I was in the best shape of my life at the time,” Battey explained.

The day after Christmas, Battey and his buddies were playing basketball at a Los Angeles gym when he experienced numbness from head-totoe. His friends called his mom, who happened to be a few minutes away and quickly drove over. By the time she arrived, he was walking on his own but his speech appeared weakened. She took him to the emergency room where doctors performed a scan and discovered a blood clot. He was given a drug to break up the clot and transported to another facility specializing in strokes. While in the ambulance, Battey suffered a seizure. At the facility, he had another.

After four days in the hospital going through a battery of neurological and cardiology exams, the doctors had no explanation for what caused his stroke. It remains unknown.

“The good news was the tests came back as, H`ey, we don't feel like there's going to be longterm effects,’ ” Colorado coach Tad Boyle said.

At first, Battey's balance was off. He struggled to make a fist with his right hand. His smile was uneven. But everything gradually returned through physical therapy. His speech remains a work in progress.

Two weeks after his stroke, the Buffaloes were playing at Southern California and Battey attended morning practice. For the first time — and with his right arm still feeling weak — he shot a few 3-pointers.

He made one. Then another. And another.

“I was feeling it,” he said. “I was making them all from muscle memory. It was a good sign for my teammates to see that I'm shooting again.”