P-R COACH TENDS TO TEAM, AILING SON
Bryson Ackermann has a polio-like illness. His fight ‘motivates’ dad to keep coaching.
Afive-time WPIAL champion and winner of more than 300 games, Jeff Ackermann was ready to step away from coaching basketball because of his son’s condition.
Bryson Ackermann is 6, a firstgrader who loves basketball like his dad. But Bryson Ackermann is in a rehabilitation center, trying to get stronger, trying to recover from acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), a polio-like illness he contracted in mid-October that left him unable to walk.
Almost every other night, Jeff Ackermann or his wife, Jill, sleep in Bryson’s room at the Children’s Home of Pittsburgh. The couple also have two other younger children to care for, and Jeff is a teacher at Chartiers Valley High School. But with Bryson’s condition, Dad’s plate was more than full. It was overflowing.
Still, when the high school basketball season begins Friday night, Ackermann will be on the Pine-Richland bench again. He only decided two weeks ago to return as coach — and his son was a factor. Simply because Bryson is motivating Dad.
“Just the things that Bryson is able to do motivates me,” said Jeff Ackermann. “Like when he was in the hospital, he had a breathing tube and couldn’t talk. He was able to come up with these hand signals that could let us know when he wanted something. He came up with them on his own.
“It’s pretty remarkable to watch him. He has no idea. He doesn’t know what AFM is. He doesn’t know why he could play basketball one day and two days later he couldn’t stand up any more. … No one is more tired than Bryson. He gets woken up on a nightly basis for treatments. He never gets more than three hours of sleep at a time. He has rehab every day from 8 to 4. But just how he is able to deal with everything is motivating to me.”
This is the first time Ackermann has talked publicly about his son and coaching, since Bryson was diagnosed with AFM in mid-October.
On Oct. 13, Bryson played a basketball game at the Collier Township Community Center (the Ackermanns live in South Fayette). He did not feel well that night and pretty much stayed on the couch
the following day. The next day, he was having some balance issues, so the Ackermanns decided to take Bryson to UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. On Oct. 16, he was diagnosed with AFM, a rare illness that sometimes leaves children paralyzed.
“There was a time, when if someone came up to me and told me how they felt bad, I would just break into tears,” said Jeff Ackermann, 46. “I cried more in those first three weeks than I cried in the last 40 years of my life.”
Bryson Ackermann was one of a few confirmed AFM cases at Children’s Hospital this fall. As of mid-October, there were 62 confirmed cases in the country in 22 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Doctors and researchers do not know the causes of AFM or how it’s contracted. Bryson has months of rehab ahead and his father said doctors will not predict the future for someone with AFM.
“By no means is he out of the woods yet,” said Ackermann. “But I do think he has gotten stronger and I think he has a lot of potential. He kept movement in his legs and is trying to regain the ability to walk. Unfortunately, some other people have lost the use of their legs.”
A parent’s worst nightmare is watching a sick child. Jeff Ackermann said it is the family’s goal to have either him or his wife, another family member, or good friend be with Bryson 24 hours a day.
Jeff has won two WPIAL titles in the past four years as boys coach at Pine-Richland and he also won three WPIAL championships as Moon’s coach.
“Staying busy helps me, for sure,” said Jeff, whose career record is 313-138. “My wife and I made the decision that I would coach. I can still see Bryson, sleep there at night sometimes. We had a scrimmage [last weekend], and I just went after the scrimmage and stayed the night with him.”
So Jeff Ackermann will coach again and try to guide a Pine-Richland team to a WPIAL title game for the fourth consecutive season. He admits Bryson is often on his mind when he coaches, but he said the players at Pine-Richland and his coaching staff (Bob Petcash and Tony Parise) are two of the reasons he came back to coach.
But he also decided to talk for this story just to give a big thank you to many people — from the basketball community, to players and coaches from other sports teams, to countless people from many surrounding communities.
A high school girls soccer team sent the Ackermann family a card and a donation. Youth sports teams have done the same. Former high school basketball coaches Ron Richards and Ben O’Connor have run youth basketball clinics to raise money for Bryson’s medical costs.
A former neighbor of the Ackermanns started a GoFundMe page for the family last month. As of Tuesday morning, 947 people had pledged $61,373.
“Someone like [Butler coach] Matt Clement has been reaching out with texts from day one,” said Jeff Ackermann. “That’s someone who we’re probably going to have huge games against this year. So many coaches have reached out. People from out of state have done things for us. It’s just overwhelming.
“People say the world isn’t what it used to be. I’ll tell you what, there are more amazing people out there that I ever knew.”
One thing Ackermann will miss this season is not having his son around at practices and games. Bryson was around plenty last season, sitting on the bench or being in the locker room after games.
“Last year was one of my favorite years because he was there,” said Ackermann. “It’s one of those things that a lot of coaches dream about, having your daughter or son hang around the team. He was at the age to do that last year. The players at Pine-Richland were amazing to him. They treated him like a king. Hopefully, in future years he can be around again.”