Turiaf’s heart big in many different ways
Ronny Turiaf reminds me of the Grinch Who Stole Christmas.
He’s just the opposite.
Dr. Seuss’ grinch possessed a heart that was three sizes too small, which led to way too many sour grinchy frowns and a dour world view.
Turiaf, on the other hand, swept up Zagland with a headful of dreadlocks, a wide Carribbean grin and arms as deft at hugs as slam-dunks.
His outsized warmth makes all the more sense when you realize this former Gonzaga University basketball star’s aorta was at least 50 percent too large.
Doctors repaired his aortic valve and last week he flew to Spokane to recover with his friends here. He asked for some privacy, but as soon as he’s better, his gregarious nature will likely return. In the meantime, it’s significant to remember the stands at Gonzaga basketball games hold a batch of extroverted fans with big hearts of their own.
This week I spoke to a couple of them – each dealing with her own health problems this summer, yet each concerned about Turiaf, too.
Turiaf may have no more devoted fan than 80-year-old Emma Wasson. She’s been undergoing a batch of tests lately, and doctors have discovered an ulcer. Yet when a friend heard her crying on the phone recently, it wasn’t about her own diagnosis – it was about Turiaf’s.
“He’s just like your son,” the friend said.
“He is my son, my adopted son,” said Wasson, the mother of 10 children of her own. “They’re all my sons.”
She’s sent cards and notes to Turiaf. Her advice: Listen to your doctors. Do exactly what they say. It worked for her when she was hospitalized with Guillian-Barre syndrome.
“I just hope he listens to what the people tell him to do,” she says fervently.
Debbie Hieber has been too sick lately to follow all the news about Turiaf, but at Deaconess Medical Center last week she grinned broadly at the uncanny link between her and her favorite player from Martinique.
A season-ticket holder, Hieber’s known for all sorts of funny, open-hearted gestures designed to show her love of the Zags.
When former player Zach Gourde painted his toenails blue for luck, she not only decorated hers to match, she brought a bottle of blue nail polish to the stands. At games that year, she painted blue thumbs all around.
She originated the Zag-head-on-a-stick idea, joining friends to blow up photos of the team members, glue them to large sticks and dance them around in front of their faces during each game.
Last season she wore green to support player J.P. Batista who grew up under Brazil’s green and yellow flag. And when she’s not cheering on the team from the stands, she’s feeding dinner to the players.
But this summer, her friends believe she’s gone way too far in her solidarity with the Zags.
She became seriously ill three weeks ago. “I thought I was dying,” she says. Doctors first thought it was viral meningitis. But several tests later, they’ve discovered the Turiaf link.
In her case, the disease is a bacterial heart infection which has damaged her mitral valve. Next week she’ll roll into the operating room for open-heart surgery. As with Turiaf, doctors hope to repair the damage rather than replace the valve. Afterward, they predict she’ll need three months to recover – which should have her back at McCarthey Athletic Center in good health for the start of the season.
A few days ago two former Gonzaga players – Cory Violette and Blake Stepp – stopped by her room to wish her well. It’s filled with flowers, balloons and posters, the visible prayers of her wide circle of family and friends.
Who can tell what other coincidences doctors may find?
But this much I know about Debbie Hieber’s heart: It already resembles Turiaf’s – exceedingly warm and generous, and splashed a true Gonzaga Navy blue.