After a life-threatening battle with leukemia last summer, few would have expected Gary Ferguson to be back this spring for his second season as Brookville High School’s softball coach.
“We’re amazed that he’s here, I mean absolutely amazed, because there were times there when we thought he wasn’t going to be there anymore,” assistant coach Shannon Bryant said after a recent practice.
“We thought we were going to lose him.”
Junior pitcher/second baseman Hope Johnson calls his return an answer to “prayers and prayers and prayers.”
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At Brookville — which lost its longtime principal Jim Whorley in a boating accident in 2008 — Ferguson’s recovery has been a feel-good story for the school.
“It was an inspiration to me, I know that, for him to be that strong and strong-willed,” said Bees athletic director Larry Kidd, who Ferguson succeeded as softball coach last spring.
“It’s remarkable what he’s been able to accomplish with the help of the doctors and the faith and the family that he’s surrounded with,” he added.
His wife, Alicia, who helped nurse him back to health, is at the top of that list, along with their 4-year-old daughter, Ashley.
His brother Kevin, a former standout football player at UVa, and Bobby Walker, head of area basketball officials, organized a golf tournament fundraiser at Falling River in Appomattox in the fall. The communities of Appomattox — where Ferguson was born and lived until last year — and Brookville both stepped up to the plate to offer support through bake sales and yard sales, car washes and raffles.
“Both (areas) really did reach out to me in my hard times and I appreciate all the prayers, cards, everything they’ve done for me,” Ferguson said.
More than anything, he’s just thankful to be alive.
“God left me here for a reason and, hopefully, I’ll find out what it is.”
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Four days after the Bees lost at Tunstall in their first Group AA state softball tournament appearance in years, Ferguson was admitted to Lynchburg General Hospital, where a bone-marrow test revealed acute leukemia.
“It just attacked me all of a sudden,” said Ferguson, 43. “Right after the season, it was June 6, I went to one of my cousins’ wedding, and I thought I was perfectly fine … and it hit me like a ton of bricks.”
On the way to the reception, he felt unrelenting pain in his stomach. He asked his wife to take him to the hospital.
“My white blood cell counts were so low, it wasn’t fighting off any infection or anything,” Ferguson said. “My lungs failed, my kidneys failed and on top of that with the leukemia, they airlifted me from Lynchburg to (UVa Medical Center) on June 9.”
Doctors at Lynchburg General told Alicia Ferguson that he might not survive the flight.
“When he landed (in Charlottesville), there were about 30 doctors surrounding him, from hematologists to oncologists and infectious disease doctors.
“He was walking around with leukemia for a month,” said Alicia, who spent 40 days at a hotel in Charlottesville and was with her husband 24-7.
“His body was filled with infection. That’s why everything started to shut down because his immune system was depleted.”
He spent the next 50 days at UVa, including 27 in the intensive care unit, the first week unconscious and two weeks on a ventilator. Altogether, he was hospitalized for 97 days.
“It was a battle, man, I’m telling you,” Ferguson said. “Going through the chemo and all … I wouldn’t wish any of that stuff on anybody.”
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Ferguson wound up back in the hospital three times, after each of his three monthly chemotherapy treatments that ran through September.
“Every time I did it … it did something to me, either my blood pressure or a fever or whatever, to put me back in the hospital for like eight to nine days,” he said.
The side effects were devastating.
“With the leukemia, I had dried gangrene in my right foot, so they ended up amputating my leg below the knee,” said Ferguson, who was fitted for a prosthetic leg in October.
“I had five toes cut off on my left side. When I say it’s been rough, it’s been rough.”
He lost more than 100 pounds.
“I had lost all the color, you name it,” he said. “My face was gone, everything, my arms. It was unbelievable. Even me, to look in the mirror, I’d look at myself and go, ‘What happened?’”
Ferguson’s players helped him through the healing process.
“I went to see him several times in the various hospitals he was in,” Johnson said. “It was hard at first seeing him that way, but every time I walked in, he always knew who I was and we’d just sit there and talk about ball and it kept him going.
“It was really inspiring for everyone,” she added. “As many girls that could come see him, it was another day he could get through it, and he did.”
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Now, the leukemia is in remission and Ferguson is back up to more than 180 pounds.
He still must take maintenance chemotherapy pills for the next two years to prevent any existing leukemia in his blood from spreading.
“I feel pretty good,” Ferguson said. “I’m not out of the woods. I’ve still got some doctor visits to go to. Just like anything else, it could come back, but we’re hoping, with the maintenance medication that I’m taking over two years, it won’t come back.”
He’s been on disability from his job at Thomasville Furniture in Appomattox, and is going through physical therapy and exercising at the YMCA.
“I’m still not 100 percent with my prosthetic, but I’m getting there,” Ferguson said. “I lose my balance every now and then and may look I’m on drugs or something.”
Clearly, he is fully committed to coaching.
“I’m glad to be here,” said Ferguson, who has yet to experience a losing season as a head coach — six in girl’s basketball, five in softball. “I’ve been coaching for 17 years and it’s part of my life. I really do feel good. Being around these girls, it’s fun. It really is.
“I know some days are going to be better than others,” he added. “Some days, I’m going to feel rough. That’s when I’m going to depend on my assistants even more.”
Ferguson still has his competitive fire as a coach.
“It’s there,” he said. “Every coach has their style. I try to stay away from the yelling, but sometimes, you just can’t. Sometimes, kids come in and are just going through the motions. Sometimes they want you to yell at them every now and then.”
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With his health, Ferguson’s personality has returned as well.
“Gary’s never lost his sense of humor, even when he was sick,” said Kidd, who has known Ferguson for 15 years, the first 10 at Appomattox High School, where they coached football together. He’s coming back to being the old Ferg everybody knows.”
“He’s totally his old self,” Bryant added. “You hear him. There’s that fight in him. I’m thankful that he’s here, and the girls are, too.”
“He’s back, oh definitely,” Johnson added. “He’s had that (personality) back. We all know it. It’s just Ferg, and we love him.”
Ferguson has shown his team he can do everything he did before, like serving up fielding practice.
“He’s hitting to us and he’s doing great,” Johnson said. “He gets a little attitude sometimes with it. One day at practice, he said, ‘Am I going to have to take this (prosthetic leg) off and show you all how to do this drill right?’ And we just all laughed. So he’s keeping it fun, keeping it exciting every day.”
Late in last week’s practice, Ferguson coached Megan Arrington through an at-bat.
“Much better,” he said after she adjusted her swing against senior pitcher Megan Yeaples, fouling a pitch off for a second strike. “See the ball and hit it. You’re good. Let’s go.”
Then, after Arrington connected for a home run over the fence in left-center on the next pitch, he shouted, “That-a girl!” as she rounded the bases.
Figuratively, Ferguson has been running them with her and — following a long, difficult road to recovery — has arrived safely at home.
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