Scott Humes isn’t a morning person but the Worthington Kilbourne High School senior was a little more lethargic than usual during a morning session at the American Hearing Impaired Hockey Association camp in Chicago last June. When Kevin Delaney, a camp instructor and a skating skills and development coach for the Chicago Blackhawks, asked Humes about his lack of energy, he thought the hockey player was pulling his leg. “I said ‘I’m trying my hardest but I’m just really tired. I’m having a kidney transplant next week,’” Humes says chuckling. “The guy thought Scott was joking,” says Jane Humes, Scott’s mother who donated her kidney to her son on June 19. “He was thinking ‘Oh sure you’re having a transplant next week.’ He felt horrible when he found out Scott was telling the truth.” The coach’s confusion was understandable. Even though he was competing with a kidney that was functioning at six percent, Scott kept his impending surgery a secret from his coaches and his teammates and continued to play last season. A year later, the forward is getting back to where he was before his kidney started to fail. Scott scored seven goals and had eight assists in Kilbourne’s first 16 games, including two goals in a 7-6 overtime loss to DeSales on Dec. 21, one goal and two assists in a 5-1 win over Olentangy on Jan. 3 and two goals and two assists in an 8-5 win over Watterson on Jan. 4. “Before the season started, I’ve never been so out of shape,” Scott says. “I thought I could maybe skate one lap (before) puking in the trash. Right now I’m playing shifts like I normally did. It’s been up and down but lately it’s been more up than down.” “He’s a born fighter,” Jane adds. “He has been defying the odds since Day One.” To understand where Scott is now, one has to go back to July 15, 1995 when he was born in Western Massachusetts with a myriad of health problems. His first eight days were spent on life support at the Boston Children’s Hospital because his lungs hadn’t fully developed. Additionally, one of his kidneys had to be removed and the other was seriously damaged. “The doctors said one of the big obstacles for him was going be when he hit puberty,” Jane says. “In the back of our minds, we knew the day (he’d need a kidney transplant) was coming.” HOCKEY PART OF THE DNA Despite his health conditions, Scott gravitated toward hockey. Perhaps that too was in his DNA. Jane worked in the media relations office for the National Hockey League headquarters in Montreal. His father Mike was the senior vice president of business development for the Columbus Blue Jackets from 1999-2004 and is now the executive vice president for the Phoenix Coyotes. As soon as Scott started playing when he was three years old, he was hooked. “I just liked that feeling of stepping on the ice. Everything in your head goes away. You can be yourself for an hour or two,” he says. “Once you have the itch for hockey, it never goes away,” Jane adds. Sound can be as important in hockey as sight but Scott says being hearing impaired has never slowed him down. Although he can’t hear opponents creeping up behind him, he can sense their movement on the ice or see them coming through their reflections on the protective glass in the rink. “I’m constantly moving my head to see what is going on,” he says, adding with a laugh. “I can’t make my head go 360 degrees around. I’m not an owl but I’m always moving my head side to side to see where everything is to make sure I don’t get hit.” “He’s just has that hockey sense to him,” Kilbourne hockey coach Paul Roman says. “He has an infectious smile (when he is on the ice).” SIGNS THAT SOMETHING WAS WRONG The absence of Scott’s ever-present grin was Roman’s first clue something was off with Scott last season. Known for his energy and his on-the-ice toughness, the forward began to shy away from contact. “I wasn’t sure what was going on,” Roman says. “Anytime you have a hockey player that’s avoiding contact, you know something’s up. Either they’re scared or they’re in a protection mode. Scott isn’t a kid who would be afraid.” Roman wasn’t the only one who noticed the difference. Teammates began to notice spikes in his energy level. Some began to question his work ethic. Yet Scott never let on that doctors told him before the start of the season his remaining kidney had started to slip. “They thought I was just dogging it,” he says. “They were saying ‘What’s going on with you? You’re being lazy.’ Once they found out (after the season), they were shocked.” Doctors began closely monitoring Scott’s health after he went through an eight-inch growth spurt between his freshman and sophomore year. Jane will never forget the look on her son’s face when he was told he needed a transplant after a doctor’s appointment on Oct. 17, 2012 As they were leaving, Scott confided to his mother “I’m so scared.” “What are you scared about?” “I’m scared about missing my senior year of hockey.” “I don’t think he grasped the bigger picture,” Jane says. “Scott isn’t really emotional but when he found out, he had a momentary breakdown. He said ‘Why? Why is this happening? Why me?’ Ten minutes later he wanted to go to Canes (a fast food restaurant) and that was it. He has the right to say (about his health problems) ‘This sucks’ but in 18 years he has only said it about twice in a 10-minute period.” THE PERFECT MATCH The Johns Hopkins University medical website, hopkinsmedicine.org, states it can “take anywhere from a month to two years” to find an acceptable match between a kidney donor and a recipient. However, the two learned Jane was a perfect match for her son in March and the surgery was set for June 19. Prior to the transplant, Jane’s only “major” surgery came when she had her wisdom teeth removed when she was 18. Scott expressed some reluctance about accepting his mother’s donation. “I said ‘Are you kidding me?’” Jane says with a chuckle. “I’m always the one sitting the waiting room. This is the best thing I could do.” In May, Scott’s kidney function continued to decline and his doctor worried Scott may have to go on dialysis. Among her many concerns, Jane began to worry her son receiving treatments three times a week would interfere with Kilbourne’s exam schedule and they might need to come up with a plan for the end of the school. At the same time, Roman was putting together his roster for a summer league hockey team and the Humes had to explain to the coach why Scott wasn’t going to play. “I told Scott ‘We need to tell people. People are starting to need answers,” Jane says. “Scott said I don’t mind telling people. I don’t want them to look at me and go ‘Poor Scott.’ “I told him the biggest problem you’re going to have is people aren’t going to believe you. They’re going to say ‘OK maybe you’re a little bit pale but there’s no way you’re having a kidney transplant.’ He did get that response a lot.” Once the Humes’ secret was out, neighbors, the Kilbourne hockey community and even complete strangers sprang into action. After the surgery, families organized to bring over dinners and players volunteered to mow their yard. The Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Columbus Blue Jackets delivered one of the bigger surprises. When asked what his wish was, Scott said he wanted was a new car stereo. What he got was a customized upgrade to his SUV, complete with the Blue Jackets logo and a hood autographed by members of the team. The car was delivered to him by Columbus left wing Mark Calvert following a hockey practice this fall. “Calvert asks ‘Are you Scott? Your car is waiting outside,’” Scott says. “I never expected the Blue Jackets to do so much.” ANOTHER BIG SURPRISE One of the biggest surprises for the Humes was something that didn’t happen. Scott defied the doctor’s predictions by never needing to go on dialysis. Originally he was told he wouldn’t be permitted to go the AHIHA camp, which had always been one of the highlights of his summer. In the weeks leading up to the camp, Jane asked the physician if Scott was healthy enough to go. The doctor told them they’d see how he performed on a test that afternoon. In a random turn of events, his kidney function improved. “It was so bizarre,” Jane says. “In that one moment, the function had gone up a little bit, so they cleared him to go. The hockey was a great way to spend the week. We weren’t sitting around moping and thinking about what was going to happen.” “The doctors asked ‘What did you do before the transplant? Did you lie in bed?’” Scott says. “I said ‘I played hockey.’ ‘What kind of hockey? Was it like street hockey?’ I told them ‘No, actual hockey.’ Some of the doctors were like ‘OK we’re stumped.’” THE LONG ROAD BACK The transplant required more than a month of recuperation for both Scott and Jane. Neither could drive a car nor lift heavy objects afterward. One of the turning points for Scott was when Roman stopped by Nationwide Children’s Hospital to drop off Scott’s Number 13 jersey. The gesture’s message was simple: “We want to see you back on the ice.” “A day or two after the operation, you could just see that spark back in his eyes. He had life,” Roman says. “The fact he (believed) I could come back gave me confidence,” Scott says. “I wasn’t able to do much for the team last season. This year I wanted to come back and do more.” Roman, however, says he had his doubts. “That summer my coaches and I would talk and we’d say ‘He had a kidney transplant in June and they think he’s going to be back on the ice in October? No way.’ That’s a credit to Scott. He did it.” Once again Scott found a way to defeat the odds. While he was struggling to rebuild his stamina, he learned to communicate with Roman. Early in the season, Scott would make a cutting the throat gesture which meant he couldn’t go anymore and Roman would pull him off the ice. As the season went on, Scott was able to skate longer and be a part of more shifts. The turning point came when he scored a goal in a 5-1 win over Olentangy on Dec. 6 in the Worthington Kilbourne Invitational. He then followed it up with the two goals against DeSales. “You could see this shift in his confidence,” Jane says. “When he scored that goal against Olentangy, I just put my head down and started crying. Just the fact that he is out there skating is amazing.” “I think I’m doing pretty well for a kid who just had a kidney transplant in the summer,” Scott adds with a smile. “I’m so grateful for what I have. Sometimes I wish some people could go through what I did because they’re not as thankful (for all they have).” One of the things Scott is most grateful for is the support of his mother and his sister Allie. It’s not uncommon to see the forward emerge from the locker room after a game and wrap his arms around his mom. “He doesn’t mind letting everyone know he loves me,” Jane says. “He is so kind to me and so appreciative of what I did for him. That’s every reward I could want.”